M&A Technology offering Intel's Classmate convertible online for $499

Intel's latest and greatest Classmate convertible PC swung by the FCC in late November, and now it's time for the general populace to get their paws on one. M&A Technology has just announced that it is currently hosting the so-called Companion Touch up for sale to anyone who's interested, and packed within will be a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 60GB hard drive, an 8.9-inch touchscreen, Windows XP Home, 1.3 megapixel camera, Ethernet, WiFi and a 4-cell battery that'll last for around 3.3 hours. Optionally, you can downgrade to a 30GB hard drive, add in a 6-cell Li-ion (good for 5 hours of life) and opt for Linux over WinXP. It's yours for the taking at $499.

[kyle @ Jan 14th 2009 2:30PM]

i would like to see this implemented in schools, and that's not a bad price i guess. same price as most netbooks. i'm sure buisneses, schools and hospitals will get a discounted price for them in bulk. my opinion is i think its great.

[Shinigami @ Jan 14th 2009 2:36PM]

$99 is a lot per student, who will pay $499? Government? Where will they get money from? They spend most of the money on Army and Army will be AGAINST giving 3% of their budget for Education. Because they want ALL the money in Military.

This is how Ukrainian sees US government. Our government is corrupted for 98% so I have no or little faith in other governments.

[oh.ppie @ Jan 14th 2009 3:08PM]

@ Shinigami,

So since your government is heavily corrupted, this automatically means every other government in the world is as corrupted as yours?

[Oli D @ Jan 14th 2009 3:10PM]

my file system is corrupted

[Oli D @ Jan 14th 2009 3:10PM]

(only joking guys dont worry)

[Verythrax @ Jan 14th 2009 2:31PM]

5 hours?

So the Giz report on "one-day of battery life" was really BS, just like I suspected.

[David @ Jan 14th 2009 3:09PM]

For a elementary/high school student, they probably only need 5 hours to get through a day at school.

D.

[htd @ Jan 14th 2009 2:33PM]

accelerometer? I am afraid people use laptop on flat service instead of vertically. also I have no idea how long hard drive can last under those shaking since I don't see SSD as an option.

[Firebird @ Jan 14th 2009 3:10PM]

Protecting the HDD is probably the point of the accelerometer, using it to detect shakes and falls and locking the drive's arm so as not to damage the platters. It's a nice feature in a lot of laptops today, MBP's have it, the ThinkPad T61p I'm typing this on has it, and apparently the Classmate has it.

[Shinigami @ Jan 14th 2009 2:35PM]

$499?
$99 please!

[Chuckles McGee @ Jan 14th 2009 2:55PM]

*Severed arm not included

[macserv @ Jan 15th 2009 3:54PM]

Shake well before use.

[Oli D @ Jan 14th 2009 3:09PM]

is it me or is that pretty much the same price as a netbook, but touchscreen?

Re-do the disgn and they may be onto something

[Oli D @ Jan 14th 2009 3:14PM]

scrap that, stlll havent got used to the exchange rate... sobs

[Dave @ Jan 14th 2009 3:17PM]

Why not get kids a much more powerful laptop for $100 less ?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/dellA860

[kyle @ Jan 14th 2009 3:36PM]

people dont click^^ these morons just discovered this prank today and seem to be on giz too.

[kyle @ Jan 14th 2009 3:40PM]

oops didnt mean to post that, sorry i saw the "tinyurl" and thought it was the neverending rickroll. ^^^^^

[rickhamilton620 @ Jan 14th 2009 3:41PM]

@Kyle. I clicked it. It's no trick, the Vostro A860 is a legitimate laptop. The reason why he used tinyurl was because the link to the configuration page was very long :)

Now whether it would make more sense to give kids a A860 over this is a whole different story...

[fastm3driver @ Jan 14th 2009 4:06PM]

Battery life and size.
5 hour or 2.5 hour
2.6lb or 5.7lb
One is "fits in a purse(or man bag)" or needs a backpack with padded straps.

[Chris @ Jan 14th 2009 3:17PM]

How much is it with the downgrade?

[Flaystus @ Jan 14th 2009 3:23PM]

Reasons I am tempted:

1. Sucker for touch screens!
2. TOUCHSCREEN!

[adam @ Jan 15th 2009 12:25AM]

would this work as a good substitute for a legit tablet for class - notes diagrams and such?

i mean is the touchscreen is as high of quality as say dell/lenovo tablets. and whether xp home could give you even close to the experience that say vista, with more tablet features, could give. (it comes with stylus, right?)

[BigD145 @ Jan 14th 2009 4:01PM]

If you lay it down on a table and turn it to show the screen to someone else, will it always turn back to face you?

[ED @ Jan 14th 2009 5:11PM]

In the portrait orientation, I briefly thought it could double as a giant beer mug.

[Nope @ Jan 14th 2009 5:43PM]

With an Atom 330 yes, with an Atom 270 no.

[MRLN @ Jan 14th 2009 7:19PM]

Wow, it's the future. These things will cost $50, and they'll be mandatory equipment for most jobs and classes as notebooks are now.