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First Review of Intel's New Classmate PC

Posted by timothy on from the want-one-already dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Intel gave the press a sneak preview of its 3rd generation Classmate PC at IDF. It looks like this guy managed to kidnap the only working sample for a while and write up a full report. It looks like a major departure from the original, with a rotating touch screen and Atom processor. There's no official word on pricing yet, but no doubt the OLPC guys will try to rain on Intel's parade."

7 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Rotating screen by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That tiny pivot in the middle seems like a good target for kids to break the computer.

  2. I remember... by pembo13 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    when this was about bring open devices to poor, but not too poor, children. Now it's just a new first-world toy.

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    1. Re:I remember... by TheSeer2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As far as I know OLPC hasn't ended. And... why can't we have both? There's helping the poor but why shouldn't those that can afford better computers be allowed to buy them?

  3. XP to prepare kids for adult life by ericferris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From TFA: I can understand why a Windows environment would be considered desirable in an educational tool, since the children will be learning to use the OS and applications that theyâ(TM)ll be encountering in their adult life.

    What a brillant insight!

    See, a kid using Windows XP in high school will encounter Windows XP applications in ten or fifteen years. Why, he will work with only Windows XP his whole adult life. Otherwise, he'd have to be trained to be flexible and to learn by himself as soon as high school.

    This brilliant insight also explains why Vista has failed on the marketplace. Why, when the average worker left high school school in the 80s, all the Apple IIs and C-64s in the school computer labs were running only Windows XP! No wonder he refuses Vista!

    Thank God we have good, insightful journalists in this country. Otherwise, we might see all kind of crap printed on the web.

    Note: yes, that was sarcasm. All of it. Thank you for noticing.

    --
    Fantasy: http://ferrisfantasy.blogspot.com/
    1. Re:XP to prepare kids for adult life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      (not the same AC as grandparent)

      You seem to forget that the OLPC was supposed to be an educational tool, not a cheap laptop.

      It was not about giving children an early experience with business software, it was about educating them, through constructivism.

      Even if we forget the educational side, even if we assume winxp will be out there for a hundred years, yes, it is better for kids to learn to adapt to any OS than just have them trained in WinXP.

  4. When will people learn? by Yaztromo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    I can understand why a Windows environment would be considered desirable in an educational tool, since the children will be learning to use the OS and applications that theyâ(TM)ll be encountering in their adult life.

    That's quite the prediction there, predicting what OS is going to be in predominant use when today's 7-year-olds enter the knowledge workforce in 15+ years. And even if the author turns out to be correct, and Windows is still in predominant use beyond 2020, it's highly doubtful that whatever version is in use then is going to come close to resembling Windows XP.

    Really, at the age group these systems are targeted towards, the operating system shouldn't matter. The ideal of these systems isn't to teach operating system usage, but to use interactive applications for sharing information and teaching non-computer skills. You could do that with OS/2, and it's not going to impair anyone's ability to learn how to use an OS in the future. Heck, I started back at that age on a Commodore PET, and it certainly hasn't affected my ability to use a modern day OS.

    Yaz.

  5. Re:Let's remember who started the parade by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    MS on the other hand, clearly has a monopoly.

    Oh, clearly. I mean it's not as if I can pick from one of a hundred alternate operating systems ranging from mainstream (Apple, several Linux distros) to obscure. Definitely a monopoly, because I literally have no choices but to buy Microsoft products. Apple doesn't exist. There aren't dozens of Linux distros for various purposes. It's just crazy how much of a monopoly Microsoft has.