HP has just announced that it will introduce a new Classmate PC Notebook, which is an “affordable” laptop for schools with a worldwide target audience in mind. Of course, this computer has low-end specifications to make it affordable enough, but one of the more important aspects of a Classmate PC is that it comes with specific software like the Intel Educational Software suite. Those programs have been designed especially to be deployed in schools, and used by kids and is rather unique in its genre. To date, Intel says that 6M Classmate PCs have been shipped around the world.
Like every Classmate PC, this HP laptop features some level of ruggedness and is designed with withstand school trips and other “outside the classroom” activities. It runs Windows 8.1, but does not have a touch display (again, to make it affordable, I presume).
HP says that this new model will be available in “late January” and if it sticks to Intel’s Classmate standard, it should have a 10-hour battery life (when running the MobileMark test). Inside, it is powered by a Celeron as usual, but was upgraded to the N2000-Series which has a thermal design of only 7.5W. Unfortunately, HP did not disclose the price of this new computer at the moment, so we’re not sure what “affordable” means in Dollar terms.