Finally, something solid on the recently-rumored
Netbook... or should we say, the 2go PC. The little laptop, manufactured by CTL, will clearly be aimed at the education market, though the specs imply that this will be destined for more than just the classroom. The 2go features an Intel Celeron M CPU on top of the 915GMS chipset, 512MB of RAM (upgradeable to 1GB), a 9-inch, 800 x 480 LCD display, 40GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, SD / MMC reader, and a full complement of standard ports and jacks. The systems natively run XP (though Linux appears to be an option), feature a VGA webcam, and are expected to go about three hours between full charges. Our contact says these will be on shelves in less than 60 days, and will retail for around $400. We're working on getting our grubby mitts all over one of these puppies, but in the meantime, check out some more pics after the break.
posted Mar 24th 2008 2:37PM
not bad , not great but good start for intel...asus is still nicer looking but this aint bad...just needs to be
it "just needs to be"
holistic laptop?
well since it is for little kids i guess i cant say to much
sure about that?
Stop being so childish.
My local Staples blows out "real" laptops for $250-350 all the time. Paying $400 for something like this feels like I'm getting ripped off. It reminds me of a 2003 HP ZE4400 . . . .
It doesn't............fit in a manila envelope. Further more, does it come with pepper spray?? With this device in the hands of children walking home after a hard day at school they will become easy targets of mugging.
maybe that's where the design comes into play
One word...backpacks
Plus you get enough of these the likelihood of being a target becomes less. think herd mentality around a lioness. :-)
this technology would be for in-house use not take home. When we buy laptops we can place them on mobile carts; making a mobile lab. More students have access this way.
Well at least the specs are good enough to play DOOM.
...sorry sorry sorry I just had to. :)
Correction, you'll find someone to OC it to play Doom 3 or even Crysis :P
stick to walking over cracks in the sidewalk
OMG, other people do that too. I thought I was the only one!
It's just so addicting, I can't stop walking over those things.
Is it just me, or is the little handle a stupid feature? I think the EeePC feels much less like a toy without one.
Yea, this looks like a laptop i get for my 4yr old nephew.
I got myself the EeePC 4th gen and i love it man, just upgrade the ram to 2 gigs, get a SDHC card, put xp and you got yourself a awesome on the go laptop that doesnt look like it was made from Fisher-Price toy company.
Its just you. This is for children. Children are clumsy and they drop crap...hence the handle.
I wonder how tough this thing is.
Based solely on the pictures, it looks like it could take a beating.
Dude, even my dick plays doom
Ok finally something I might be interested in. A screen large enough, xp or linux and a real hard drive. Hmmmmm. This is going to be an interesting couple of months deciding between the competitors.
Sure it's big, but at 800x480, I'll hold out for the next tiny lappy.
"Sure it's big"
That's what she said!
I don't get it..."they" want us to recycle our old ugly 1990's PC components.....and then they release something this ugly to show us what happens to it. Not the best environmental movitator ever, intel
Good god, as much as I hate to say it, this looks like a portable toilet.
Which is fine since the students will likely treat it like shit.
Yes. It is ugly, but lets hold our total judgement until we see how ruggest these little things are. If they can take a beating I can get over the way it looks and see some good uses for it.
IS IT MADE BY VTEC, OR FISHER PRICE
THAT'S CLEVER. YOU'RE CLEVER.
vtec
do you want cams on laptops for kids?
That is a really good point. That opens up a whole can of worms and world of potential trouble in regards to protecting children from internet predators and simple things like classroom management/harassment concerns. However, as these technologies becomes more pervasive (camera phones, and other connected devices) is it even possible to protect children by excluding a camera? I imagine as with most things, teaching children how to use these tools responsibly is the key. Plus a simple camera can be a great learning tool too; student can take pictures of projects, or just make silly faces, either way not harmful.
I think it's a good learning aid.
Kids need to be taught to just not be stupid. It's like telling a kid not to talk to stranges, and then letting them go out and play with friends.
We can't constantly shelter kids, and it's better to educate the child than to shelter them from it.
$400 is perfect for the kids.
This thing is already on sale in Thailand. For 9,900 baht (about US$300), you get 512MB RAM and 2GB Flash.
It's sold as SVOA, Thai local brand.
Hey, $300 aint bad if it is that price I'm considering buying it for my cousins age 11, and 12.
Coming to nurseries everywhere!
Eh, I'm not impressed. I'd still prefer an EeePC for the no moving parts, the fact that it's made for linux (the Intel machine "supports" linux but the Eee was made specifically to run linux), and let's face it, this thing is uglier than the XO. Besides, I'm not allowing another keyboard in my home with a "Windows" key on it. Call me silly but it's just a preference.
Seriously, you think the XO looks better than this?
*does not compute*
To each his own, I guess. The integration of Windows, to me, is the computer's saving grace. This is a greater starter laptop--it's cheap, looks durable, and has the essentials.
-------
As a sidebar, I remember looking at spy pics of this--please don't ask why, for argument's sake, they just materialized on my screen--and saw the handle and wondered what new species of ugly this thing came from but looking at it closed, it's actually not that bad.
Again, to each his own.
It's not so much that I think the XO looks "better". They are two different kinds of ugly to my eyes, this one just seems so...padded. I guess it would look/feel okay to someone used to carrying around a leather-bound attache case, I just have my own preference is all. I like clean lines and shiny plastic.
But honestly, this notebook wasn't made to look good.
It was made for some 8yr old kid to perhaps take to school, or for schools to distribute to little kids.
It can take a beating, and that I think means much more than a good looking notebook in the eyes of an 8yr old.
More or less, they'll probably cover it in stickers or something anyways =\
2go Please!
Yes I will take fries with that!
Yes I am pulling forward now!
I can see the Saturday morning commercials now:
"Hey! Lego my 2go!"
I dont get it, you can already get better lappys for less if you wait a week or two for the ads at bb, cc, or dell. to actually put these things in mass out into the wile they really need to drop the price by 200 IMHO, otherwise they appear to me to be worthless
That gets what? Maybe an hour or two of battery life at most. So I guess we are expected to have our kids cluster around an outlet between classes eh....look at the specs, ULV. Your typical Best Buy special is using some AMD crap chip that doesn't cost much but isn't very power efficient either. My money is on INtel making this thing highly miserly. Why do you think they are talking XP or Linux not Vista.
Get it through your heads guys. This isn't for you. This isn't even for someone in highschool, who BTW wouldn't be caught dead with this, its for grade schoolers and below. So instead of mom and dad dropping a grand on a laptop that may get broken in a week they drop $400 on a semirugged laptop that can take a beating. Dear god I'd hate to see what an Eee PC would look like after a week in the hands of an 8 year old.
That dosnt look so bad. I would like to see a size comparrison between this and the other tiny lousy laptops!
Ah, the hideousness, it burns... That thing is ugly srsly.
Foam-filled pleather handle ftw!
If you can choose between XP and linux (hopefully Ubuntu), then that's awesome. Choice is awesome.
Really? Choice is awesome? What if you had to choose between getting your head chopped off by a blunt axe or burning to death?
Choice isn't so awesome anymore, is it?
Dude, I don't think you get what I'm saying. This isn't another 'choose between Vista and XP' kind of choice, this is /real/ choice. Get your head cut off with a dull axe, or, like, _not_.
Thank goodness for www.dellideastorm.com
^_^
although.. you know what? We may have overlooked something....
supports ___ != available with ___ pre-installed
In fact, to say that hardware /supports/ an OS is simply backwards. I mean really, what are you trying to say? Maybe they're trying to make it seem more real to us with a simple mathematical proof or something.
'This hardware runs Linux ...therefore, it exists.'
Feel enlightened yet? Thank goodness for endian-neutral code and MMU's ^_^
Ethana, I know after you vomit your terrible opinion you inevitably leave and let someone else clean up the mess, but let me refer you to my post here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/23/sandisk-sansa-fuze-hands-on/
...the second I saw your name in the engadget service notification of reply in my inbox, I was apprehensive.
--I must admit that I didn't quite expect a death threat.
...I also must admit that until no one ever expects me for any reason to use any operating system other than the one I'm sure you already know I use, I'm not quite done spreading it.
(Adobe, I'm looking at you.) ...and if, by the way, that's a ferrous screwdriver you plan to stab me in the head with, I may just feel it approach. ..while and plastic may have a hard time get through my admittedly thick skull. In any case, try not to stab too many highly opinionated nerds, and a good day to you.
for the price, I expected more. But then I find eeepc (very) overpriced for what you get.
1) 4200rpm HD. Too slow.
2) 2 x USB. Fine for most tasks.
3) 512MB standard, 1GB optional. XP. A bit restrictive, but fine.
4) 800x480 LCD. Hmm.
5) 3 hour batt life.
6) wifi with mesh networking. Linux support.
There is nothing really here to differentiate it from the common laptop selling for a little more, I reckon. With lower specs, i expected far better battery life. But the innards are very much low-end PC without the better runtime.
The (possible) durability/ design of the unit may be the only real selling point to me, which is simply not enough versus a low-end laptop.
$400 USD.
Hmm. I'd go for it with 6+ hour battery. Otherwise, pass.
I have touched and played with this machine!!!
I am from Pakistan. And Intel had a display of this machine at Allama Iqbal Open University here is Islamabad. They are jointly offering this machine (9") for Rs. 20,000 ($322 approx.) for students of Open University.
I have taken some pictures of this. See here: http://www.selfexile.com/intel-aiou-joint-offer-classmate-pc-for-rs-17000/
and here: http://www.selfexile.com/open-university-giving-eee-pc-and-classmate-pc/
To offer some more information: Intel and AIOU (Allama Iqbal Open University) have already launched a program called "PC for All" and any student of AIOU (they have millions of students) can register and get this machine in easy installments without any markup.
The Intel-AIOU joint program has a website also: http://pcforall.net
Does this make Intel the Wal-Mart of . . . well, Wal-Marts?
Featuring an incredible 50:1 contrast ratio!
$400 for a PC? 800x 480 resolution??
Underperforming.
Talk about making the whole brand look bad.
If people buy this PC their next computer will be a Mac. For sure.
What, wont run Vista microsoft's own modern OS? Oh wait, XP is fine eh?
Ladies and gents, behold, the next mod special lappie. Modders are going to have a field day with this one. I can see it losing the handle, OC, maybe 2gigs RAM, 802.11n some day, definitely more HDD space, OSX86...
My lucky 5 year old son will score one of these after I wait 3 months for the reviews and real life experience start filtering out. I like the design. No big-ass bezel. An almost edge to edge screen, nice keyboard, real hdd that can be upgraded as there are plenty of 1.8" HDD out there (60gig, 80gig, 100gig, 160gig), plus the RAM is upgradable. Nice. I might even buy me one to keep next to my toilet :) And to think I was all exited when my dad had bought me an electric typewriter with memory and screen for my 10th birthday. Boy, how nice these kids have it now a days.
i laughed when i read "support linux". i thought to myself.... even a piece of metal supports linux.
But will it blend?
I'll take a EEE PC or 0X-1 before that thing!
Hmmm... pretty comparable in size to the Eee PC:
Eee PC - 8.86" x 6.30" x 0.79-1.26"
2Go PC - 8.7" x 7.3" x 1.5"
1/4" thicker, but you're getting quite a bit more for that 1/4".
My Eee has 2gb of ram N-wireless EV-DO wireless and bluetooth not to mention 32gb of storage space a 1.32ghz processor OC'd and runs XP Pro SP2 with 1024x768 resolution and still costs less and looks better all in a lighter package. Intel dont got sh** on me
And how much did it cost for all those mods?
I had all these sitting around my house the evdo comes from my q the n-card i had from my old laptop
so it was all free bluetooth dongle was "donated" from where I work
Maybe my question should have been "how much WOULD this all cost if you didn't have the parts lying around already?"
Also:
EeePC isn't 1024x768 unless you've swapped the screen for a better one.
And where do you get 32GB of storage? USB, SD, or SSC(?) - either way, not cheap.
Its a SDHC and there was a driver published recently to make the resolution work for the on board GC and you adjust the DPI and it works flawlessly and a minor BIOS flash solved processor problems and the screen brightness is up 30 nits
My 7 year old would love this... when he is done, he can close it up and eat his mac n cheese on it.
i really don't get laptops with handle. just like Cloudbook
Anyone know how heavy it will be?
Obviously the XO has it right and Intel got it wrong. Rather than having a magnanimous world view, Intel chose to produce a product that will never see the light of day where it is most needed. They make money, which is why they exist, but they will always make money. Too bad for them. Hope Intel chokes on their wealth.
Didn't Apple make something like this around 2000 called the iBook? Only, if memory serves, it had an optical drive and slightly more taste...I'm not an Apple fanboy, but credit should go where it's due.
Just a few points:
-The handle - Have you ever seen 25-30 third graders moving around a classroom? They drop thing. The handle is a much better, more secure, way of transporting the PC.
-Price - Yes, you can get a regular laptop for about the same price. How long will that laptop survive with a 9 year old? Much of the classmate PC/2goPC's bulk and weight comes from making it sturdier.
-Keyboard - With an 83% size keyboard, this PC is not and has never been targeted for any users other than children.