Palo Alto (CA) - HP announced today that it is entering the market of laptops for schoolkids with a new miniaturized notebook PC to be priced at under $500.

HP, which is the top seller of PCs worldwide, said it is trying to increase its effort to get greater presence in the American school market.  Its main competitor is Intel, which makes the low-cost "Classmate PC."

HP's "Mini-Note" computer reportedly weighs less than three pounds and has a display of just under nine inches.  Accoring to the AP, basic models will come with a Linux operating system and be priced at under $500, with additional features available including an upgrade to Windows Vista.  However, they do not come with a CD or DVD drive unless specifically requested.  HP said this was due to common requests from schools to prevent students from playing games during class.



One of the bigger surprises in HP's announcement is that it chose to use processors from Via instead of the more familiar AMD or Intel.  Via is a distant third in the microprocessor market.

A philanthropic organization called One Laptop Per Child kick-started the new wave of laptops designed for school-aged children.  Its XO laptop, which costs less than $200, gained international headlines.

The Classmate PC and Mini-Note computers are different in their approach, though.  Intel and HP are selling the machines directly to American consumers, while the XO laptop is targeted exclusively at third-world countries.

Intel said it has sold "tens of thousands" of its Classmate PCs since they went on sale a little over a year ago.  The OLPC group has sold hundreds of thousands of its lower-priced XO laptop.  HP hopes it can make a stronger mark in this emerging market.

That actually looks really nice

Apr 08, 2008 10:38     

assuming the picture up there is of the laptop I'll be interested in one if it is and 3lbs? it's perfect for carrying around
Adam report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Well then.

Apr 08, 2008 11:04     

Looks like an attempt at copying Asus' EeePC personally.
a guest report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Too heavy

Apr 08, 2008 13:52     

Unless they start distributing textbooks in electronic format (which they definitely should do), I'm afraid adding 3 lbs more to kids backpacks probably isn't a good idea. Teachers are also going to have get a lot more receptive to receiving homework in electronic format.
Noel report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Just like the EEE PC?

Apr 08, 2008 15:07     

http://eeepc.asus.com http://forum.eeeuser.com It seems very similar to the Asus EEE PC. It costs a little more than the EEE PC. The price is not too bad. If schools had eTextBooks instead of printed books, it would not only be good for the enviroment but also the backs of students (lees to haul around). It would also make it easier and less expensive to update the text books since it would be just a matter of deleting the old one and uploading the new one. Not having to print and re-print text books would save trees.

TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

How is this new?

Apr 08, 2008 21:10     

You can already get laptops for under $500 and that have windows on them and for a little more you can get a 15.4" screen. This would be good if it was more around the $300 price. The Intel Atom would probably be a better processor choice then the VIA.
ThomFrost report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

nice?

Apr 09, 2008 09:30     

come on HP... people can just buy a low end 500 dollar laptop and will be much better than this. I just got a dell laptop for 600$ and it got 15 inch screen 120G harddrive, due core cpu, 2G ram and with dvd writer and web cam and hdmi output and comes with even ear plugs.
ha report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

president, ONLINE Technology

Apr 09, 2008 10:36     

Yes really come on for Hp. Intel says classmate at $ 235 to 285, OLPC says 188 $, Asus says $ 340 in retail may be $ 230 at the factory. I expect from Hp a nice laptop, better than Intel, better than OLPC and Assus and costing exfactory at $ 200 . There are 55,000,000 K12 students in USA. If price is $ 200 plus in USA one can sell first year 20,000,000 laptops. HP can do it.
mgozaydin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Laptop for children?

Apr 10, 2008 05:22     

Humm, it better be drop-proof, shock-proof, spill-proof and missing-button-proof.
Doug_d report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: Laptop for children?

Apr 22, 2008 17:37     

You forgot one: It'd better be steal-proof. "Humm, it better be drop-proof, shock-proof, spill-proof and missing-button-proof."
Cypherdude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0