The inventor of the Sugar user interface used in the One Laptop Per Child's XO says his company is developing a version for Intel's own low-cost laptop.
(Credit:
Intel)
Walter Bender said in an interview Thursday with PC World that "a community volunteer is working with Intel on Sugar for the Classmate PC. Sugar Labs helped to expedite the relationship."
Bender is the inventor of the kid-friendly interface, which sits on top of a computer's operating system. His company, Sugar Labs, was spun off from OLPC in May. At the time of the announcement, Bender said Sugar Labs was already talking about sharing the UI with at least four other low-cost laptop makers, including Asus.
He described OLPC as the "primary, but not exclusive, downstream project" for Sugar Labs, and confirmed that the two companies continue to work together on further development of the UI.
That Intel will be working tangentially with OLPC again is notable. The chipmaker left its position as board member of OLPC in January, citing "fundamental differences" between the two companies' visions for low-cost computing. Previous to that, OLPC's founder Nicholas Negroponte had asked Intel to stop selling their Classmate PC platform because it was interfering with sales of the XO. Unsurprisingly, Intel declined his request.
Updated 6:15 AM PDT to reflect official announcement, as expected.
The biggest name in computing is joining the growing mini-notebook fray.
On Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard announced its new Mini-Note PC, due to begin shipping next week. You might recognize it as the HP Compaq 2133, which was the internal HP name back when early images were leaked online.
HP's Mini-Note has an 8.9-inch screen and weighs in at 2.6 pounds. (Click image for photo gallery.)
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)HP's entry into the trendy mini-notebook market is certainly the biggest name--so far. To get an idea of how popular these devices are of late, check out Amazon.com's list of 10 most-purchased PCs. Three of Amazon's top 10 notebooks are versions of the Eee PC from Asus. The rest is comprised of Sony Vaios and Apple MacBooks. That a traditional white box PC maker is in the same list as those two, which are pricier laptops with a legacy of good design is fairly amazing--but not entirely shocking. The Eee PC has been the talk of the gadget and tech world since its fall 2007 launch.
Now HP has just put its fairly large boot smack into the middle of Asus' territory. Will it be able to steal the Eee PC's thunder? It has a good chance. Though it's slightly bigger than the Eee PC, the Mini-Note also has big brand-name backing, and slightly more flair for design than the Eee.
Though HP is flaunting the low-end $499 version of the Mini-Note, don't be fooled. This is not a pricing competition with Asus. HP is the largest PC manufacturer in the world, and if it wanted to make the most inexpensive Windows machine out there, it likely could.
Instead, it chose a combination of mature features (Wi-Fi, USB, a Via processor) with some nice bonuses, like a spill-proof keyboard, a shock-resistant hard drive, and a sleek aluminum case.
What's more likely is this: It's probably the first major fork in the road for this category of computing. NPD is predicting that many more manufacturers will throw their hat into this same ring sometime this year (Acer is rumored to be next). The devices will probably break along the lines of an Eee PC-type device, and the Mini-Note: low-cost, Linux-based Web companions versus tiny, full-featured Windows notebooks, according to Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group.
Key features
The Mini-Note is nice-looking and boasts some appealing features: it weighs in at 2.6 pounds, has an 8.9-inch screen with 1280x768 resolution, and comes with an optional Webcam. But the difference here is it could, if need be, actually function as a primary computer: the option of SUSE Linux with a 64GB solid-state drive or Windows XP or Vista with up to 160GB of hard drive space.
HP touts the Mini-Note as "smaller and lighter than many math or science books."
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)The key difference for a lot of users, however, will be the Mini-Note's keyboard. It has essentially a full QWERTY keyboard, shrunk just 8 percent smaller than the traditional typing surface we're used to.
On low-cost laptops intended for students--like the XO from One Laptop Per Child, the Eee PC from Asus, and the Classmate PC from Intel--a major complaint and a key limitation is the twee keyboard, which poses a challenge for average adult-size fingers. That's why the keyboard--and not the screen, the battery, or the motherboard--is driving the form factor of the Mini-Note. HP says it built the entire machine around the custom keyboard.
Like the three aforementioned machines, the Mini-Note is not aimed at the mass market. It starts on the low end at $499 for the Linux, SSD version, but a fully configured device with Vista can top out at $1,200.
Who'll use it?
For its part, HP is looking at two very specific niches of users for the Mini-Note--primary and secondary school students, and business travelers. Though Asus also insisted it was targeting kids with the Eee PC, HP's brand name and more sophisticated configuration options give it much more room to actually reap a profit from these things, noted Rubin.
HP might ship the most computers in the world, but it also recognized an opportunity they could be missing out on, according to Dan Forlenza, vice president and general manager of HP's business notebooks division.
"We like (market) share, but we're more interested in profitable growth," Forlenza said in an interview.
Education is a niche in which HP doesn't lead. The Palo Alto, Calif., PC maker shipped just over a million computers to U.S.-based K through 12 students last year, which puts them in third place behind Dell, with 2.7 million PCs in schools, and Apple with 1.2 million units, according to IDC.
"The mass market (for these kinds of devices) isn't as wide as a lot of folks think because of their limited functionality," said Richard Shim, PC analyst for IDC. Though the feature set of small notebooks like the Mini-Note and its ilk will expand in the coming years, its best feature--the price--will lose its shine as mainstream notebook prices also continue to fall.
Notably, HP isn't trying to market this as a UMPC-like device that could work for everyone. It's a wise move that could spare the Mini-Note PC from the same fate as HP's previous attempts at this category (the Journada, the OmniBook), according to Shim. "We all have drawers full of handhelds that can attest to that. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of wiggle room in the market for this type of product from a mass-market standpoint."
Boasting bigger screens, bigger hard drives, and an integrated Webcam, updated versions of the Classmate PC were introduced at the Intel Developer Forum Thursday.
The 7-inch Classmate PC in blue
(Credit: Intel)Blurred images of laptops that looked strikingly similar to the Classmate have been floating around the blogosphere over the last couple of weeks, popping up with different names, like the 2go PC. That's just one version, which will be made by Computer Technology Link, or CTL.
Intel creates the basic design for the Classmate PC, a category of computer the chipmaker is calling a NetBook, and regional manufacturers put their own spin on it.
The latest versions will be available starting this month with a 9-inch screen and a 30GB hard drive. It will sell for between $300 and $500. Those prices put it just above the cost of the Classmate PC's chief competition, the XO from the One Laptop Per Child program. The XO costs just under $200, and is chiefly targeted at students in developing nations.
The price of the new Classmate PCs put it in direct competition with the popular Eee PC from Asus, which is also a small, light laptop. From the beginning, Asus has said its Eee PC was intended for children, not necessarily for emerging countries, however. The larger screen, bigger hard drive, and higher price show Intel intends to go after mainstream Western markets now, too.
Don't miss CNET's full review of the new 9-inch Classmate PC.
More low-cost laptops are headed to a retailer near you.
Intel plans on expanding the distribution of its inexpensive, school children-friendly Classmate PC to U.S. and European retail outlets, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday.
Intel's Classmate PC
(Credit: Intel)The Classmate will sell for $250 to $350, Lila Ibrahim, general manager of Intel's emerging market platform group, told Reuters. Apparently Intel has already been conducting pilot programs using the devices in classrooms in the U.S. and Australia.
Though the Classmate is already available on the retail markets of India, Mexico, and Indonesia, this will be the first time the device has been for sale to consumers in the developed world.
Intel designed the PC for use in schools in developing nations. Local manufacturers build them with customized software configurations for the needs of specific local markets.
The XO from the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which also builds low-cost notebooks for the same markets, has been available via retail in the U.S. for a while. OLPC had a promotion where consumers here paid $400, which bought one XO for them and one for a school kid in the developing world.
But they're not the only ones jumping into this fray. Asus launched its low-cost, stripped-down Linux-based Eee PC last fall specifically for the U.S., Japanese, and European retail markets, and caused quite the stir. It sold 350,000 units in the first quarter it was available here, and is making some of the biggest names in computing a wee bit nervous. It's giving pause to worldwide PC leader Hewlett-Packard, and second-largest notebook manufacturer Acer, both of whom are said to be readying their own low-cost, small form-factor laptops for sometime this year.
The Eee PC certainly is bringing cachet to the tiny, Linux-based laptop segment, but will that translate to the cheaper Classmate PC? The Classmate is a bit clunkier looking, and has a silly-looking (though great for kids) handle on the spine, whereas the Eee comes in a variety of colors and looks like a laptop an adult wouldn't mind being seen with at his or her local coffeehouse.
SAN DIEGO, Calif.--The citizens of Serrana, Brazil, are not waiting around for Intel or Nicholas Negroponte to deliver low-cost PCs to their school children. Instead, they're taking the matter into their own hands.
A Brazilian student tries the Serrana digital desk
(Credit: Victor Mammana)Starting at the end of this month, the Serrana Digital Desk project will get underway when 200 surface PCs that transform into desktop PCs will be placed in classrooms in the city of 45,000. It's a trial run of a new, very local program that is intended to give kids computers in the classroom while involving as many community members as possible in the implementation of the project. See a video of one of the desks here (Note: it's a Brazilian news feature in Portuguese).
CNET News.com sat down with Victor Mammana, who heads up the display branch of the Brazilian government's Ministry of Science and Technology, here at the U.S. Flat Panel Display conference.
Mammana's interest in the project is two-fold: he's a physicist by training and co-invented the low-cost tablet display that will be used in the Serrana digital desks, but he's also involved evaluating the impact and utility of low-cost PC programs for education for Brazil.
He's worked closely with Nicholas Negroponte, who heads up the One Laptop Per Child initiative, as well as Intel, which has its own version, the Classmate PC. Both Intel and OLPC are currently bidding for the contract to provide their low-cost laptops to Brazil's federal government.
The Serrana project is intentionally local to the core. It wasn't Mammana's idea; instead he was approached by the mayor of Serrana, Valerio Galante, a man who Mammana describes as "passionate" about education. The mid-size urban city that's 3 hours outside Sao Paolo wanted to institute a local solution to bringing technology to their 7,000 school kids by taking the school desks already in classroom and refurbishing them with tablet PCs built into them. The key is that the desks will be refurbished in Serrana, and the technology is Brazilian made.
Victor Mammana, head of the Information Display Division for Brazil's Ministry of Science and Technology
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News.com)"The idea is not to make a business out of that, but more like a social franchise," said Mammana. "It's interesting, this idea of providing a local solution for a local problem."
When Galante approached Mammana, the mayor already had a site picked out to refurbish the desks. By employing local workers to do that, as well as maintain the new computers, the city of Serrana wants to demonstrate that education is not just taking place in the classroom, but also when young students see their older family members and community pitching in to find a local solution, said Mammana.
The tablet PCs, which feature 15-inch LCD with multi-point technology (not a touch screen, but the surface can pick up more than one stylus at a time), will cost less than $30 each to build, and incorporating them into the desks will cost roughly $550. Though that's significantly more than the idea of a $100 to $200 laptop, that's fine with them.
"The tabletop seems more expensive than a single (laptop) device, but by investing in the whole economy, it's OK if it's slightly more costly," Mammana said.
The tabletop PCs will have WiFi connectivity, Intel Celeron processors, small solid-state drives (no local hard drive) and will run a version of Linux. Each classroom will have its own server where all the data will be kept, and each teacher will have access to a content management system where they can input their lesson plans. Digital chalkboards at the front of the classrooms and will connect up with the desks.
The Serrana project is significantly different from the cutesy laptops being pitched to the federal government in other ways too. The biggest difference is that the digital desk isn't a mobile product, but Mammana, who's spent two and a half years exploring this segment of computing, says he's unconvinced portability is necessary in this case.
"I'm not sure how important mobility is for 8- to 12-year-old kids," he said. It's not as if they're checking e-mail on their way to the airport, he noted. Plus, keeping the PCs in the classroom allows for more structure in how they're used and cuts down on misuse of the government-funded devices, like illegal activity, pornography, or the devices being sold off piecemeal, or in whole, on the black or gray market.
They also like the surface idea because the bigger displays encourage more comfortable posture, and better legibility of the screens. But the digital desk shouldn't be considered a competitor to OLPC. Mammana is under no illusion that this scenario could work in just any city.
"There has to be the right conditions," Mammana said. "This wouldn't work in Sao Paolo." In other words, it's a more manageable issue to tackle in a city of 45,000 versus a metropolis of 17 million.
"I don't believe it's going to be viable for all cities. Brazil has 10,000 cities," he added. "If 50 can reproduce this social franchise, that's already a great achievement."
The Intel Classmate and Asus Eee
We were recently lamenting the vaporware status of many of the small, low-cost laptops tech types have been buzzing about this year. Apparently, this whole blogging this really works, 'cause less than a month later, two of our MIA systems are sitting right here in the CNET Lab.
First up is the Asus Eee PC. The company's 2-pound, 7-inch, Linux-based laptop built up a lot of buzz for promising a reasonably functional machine for about $200. In reality, it ended up costing $399 (for the middle-of-three model we got), but it's still a creative take on the ultraportable laptop.
With 512MB of RAM and a 4GB solid state hard drive, the Eee uses a custom Linux install instead of the Windows operating system. In our initial hands-on tests, the setup actually worked quite well, with plenty of preinstalled software--Firefox for Web surfing, Open Office for productivity, plus Skype and a generic media player. Much anything beyond that is probably outside the scope of the system's limited hardware.
Note the Classmate's built-in handle
One plus is the SD card slot--pop in a 4GB SD card, and you've doubled the hard drive space. Just don't expect to keep your entire MP3 collection on there.
Right after the Eee showed up, we got another inexpensive pint-sized laptop dropped off at our doorstep. This time, it was the Intel Classmate PC. Designed by Intel as a low-cost laptop for schools in developing countries, we've been itching to get one since we got a detailed hands-on preview over the summer.
The Classmate starts at $225, and for around $350, you can get it preloaded with Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 (although its not currently available to individual consumers), and it comes in various configurations--ours had a 900Mhz Intel Celeron CPU, only 256MB of RAM, a 2GB flash hard drive, and a specially stripped down version of Windows XP, designed to fit on the tiny hard drive. The Classmate is larger than the Eee, with a thick plastic shell designed to withstand the rigors of the developing world and a leather cover with a built-in handle.
Check out these pics for a side-by-side comparison, and stay tuned for full reviews and videos of these two low-priced laptops next week.
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