Thanks to Liliputing, we now have the FCC application for Intel's Classmate 3 design, and I have to say that I'm not so impressed by its direction. Honestly, it looks like an early XO-1 prototype design.
The only external difference between the Classmate 2 and Classmate 3 is a swivel hinge which makes the form factor look exactly like an XO-1, which is now two years old. They do manage to add a 5-wire 8.9'' ITO resistive touch screen, but OLPC took the touchscreen thunder with the swank XO-2 design.
I would've hoped for more innovation from Intel. I am still hoping OLPC to actually deliver on XO-2.
Yes, but the XO-2 is a ways out and the Classmate 3 will be available early next year. The Classmate will have printing capability, out of the box SD card saving ability, and more speed than the current XO (which I have).
@dickey45
seeing as how its almost 2009 and the XO-2 is supposed to come out in 2010, that means the XO-2 (providing that they stick to around the original generally expected date) is only a year plus-ish away.
of course that brings up the question of how far along the XO-2 is. and since we haven't heard a single word about its progress...i'm guessing its going to come out alot later on (unless of course they pull some last minute thing out of their behinds)
but i digress...
despite my moderate defense of the XO-2, i'm actually with dickey45. we need to think of the classmate as something along the lines of the american's XO laptop.
now thats not meant to be a compliment, nor is it meant to be an insult. the Xo laptop has the power that it has to allow the machine moderate capabilities while keeping the price as low as possible. the classmate isn't about that. its about delivering speed, power, performance, and space (hard drive) at a reasonable price.
While i do love my XO laptop, i certainly wouldnt mind buying one of these. what do they go for? 100 dollars or so more than an XO? since its intels parts, i would be able to install any linux easy peasy japanese-y . and with the low price that net notebooks come with, theres not much of a fear should the worst happen. and if intel can manage to keep the touch screen from passing the $350 mark, then they could have something of a winner here in the states.
to to say that each dont have their respective place in opposite places (eg people in the usa who like netbooks and/or e readers can get alot of use out of the xo and people in 3rd world countries who like/need big hard drives and a lot more power under the hood would like the classmate)
i must admit thoughmy hear lies with the xo... and with a butterfly styled keyboard for the larger hands...the touch screen that mary lou is working on, a video card which would have a physical button that would allow you to turn it on or off to save electrcity, and a bit more processing speed and ram to allow for java and youtube...the XO would be the perfect laptop for just about anyone and everyone imho.
I am not particularly sold on the design of the XO-2.
The touch screen will be even worse to type on, than the rubberized keyboard was. At least I have never seen a screen typing solution which worked as well as a real keyboard.
Also, if they want to have 2 screens, one of them should be real e-paper.