Intel goes back to school with StudyBook tablet
Chipzilla getting down with the kids
Intel is set to follow-up on its Classmate PC for school kids with a tablet for the education market, currently dubbed the StudyBook.
The Register has learnt that the device will be launched next week.
The 10-in tablet will feature dual operating systems and run Intel’s Medfield chips, according to a Digitimes report referencing “sources from PC players”.
It’s set for launch in emerging markets including China and Brazil in the second half of the year targeting the education market as well as regular retail channels, and should come in at a bargain $299 (£188) or less.
Taiwanese notebook OEM Elitegroup Computer Systems, which already makes Chipzilla’s Classmate PC devices, and Chinese manufacturer Malata are set to be the first to start producing the tablet, according to the report.
With Medfield-powered smartphones already heading to the UK, China and other markets, it makes sense that Intel is now turning its attention to the tablet space.
Although there are few details on specs, Windows and Android are the most likely operating systems to run on the dual-OS device.
As for the education sector, Intel has already had some success with its long-running Classmate PC project, especially in emerging markets.
Most recently, Lenovo launched a version of the 10-inch netbook for school kids, featuring 1GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive and a a 1.8GHz Atom N455 processor.
Intel told The Reg it doesn’t comment on rumour or speculation. ®
COMMENTS
Playbook or ereader would be just as useful
The replacing heavy books arguement is better served by e-reader. When you think about the educational benefits that could be relased by a kindle with whispernet i.e. email little Johny's homework direct to his kindle if he's off ill (if Amazon allowed it of course).
If you really insist on the multimedia angle a playbook offers a cheaper alternative that's secure by design.
3rd world always gets screwed
Well I am sure the kids are grateful for any tech but does figure they get stuck with Intel's crap Atom chips requiring a massive battery that only last a few hours and handsets/tablets that are hot to the touch (lol think Intel finally got rid of fans, congrats). Intel is smart to give it away in the 3rd world because based on how ultrabook sales have gone so far nobody in the developed world wants their stuff in the small form factor side.
Re: Probably going to sound like a new age person here
True, computers make us dependant, which is why I said that the basics should remain in place.
But is the dependancy really any greater when it's to a computer than to a book?
I use google, wikipedia and the like extensively in my everyday life. I regard the knowledge of how to intelligently and accurately use these tools as a skill in and of itself. Yes, I grew up having to look in books to find out what I needed to know, did it make it stay in my head better? I honestly couldn't say.
What I can say is that I have a much broader knowledge of things I learnt since I left formal study and started just looking into things that interested me on the web. True, it mightn't be as detailed but largely I would say that's my fault rather than the medium from which I learn.
We have so much knowledge now, so much data in existence, that aside from your specialist area(s) a broad and shallow knowing is about all you can expect. With that I have to say that the internet has massively increased the scope and depth available to anyone connected to it (who reads the appropriate language)
By all means keep teaching arithmetic, literacy and the basic sciences as we've done for years, these methods work. But when it comes to humanities and to a lesser extent higher sciences (though I can see a tablet being extremely useful when learning physics, part of the reason I hated using a laptop in lectures was because I couldn't lob a quick diagram in), take advantage of the fact that we have much better technology and better resources available to us now.
I have a rose-tinted dream of history projects about the second world war being created with interviews from survivors, video of the events and the like interspersed between the text. Of lots of young children thinking of tablets and PCs the way I think about pens and paper. Your school work would be stored on the school servers, so the actual machine you used to access it would be nearly irrelevant. Though the kids could be encouraged to personalise their machines so they have a proper link to their achievements, a better link than covering a book in leftover wallpaper like I used to! Almost makes me wish I was back at school again now.
Re: Probably going to sound like a new age person here
I completely understand your point of view but there are a few points that I would like to make.
Computers and most other modern gadgets were built by generations that did not have access to these items within the classroom. It did not stop that generation from becoming very effecient with these tools at a later stage.
By introducing computers into the classroom I feel that we are creating a dependance which is very difficult to remove. The elementary skills of Reading, Writing, aRithmetic can be applied in all and almost every occasion within life. Computers are only useful within very limited conditions.
Please don't get me wrong, I have been in IT for more than 20 years and I completely understand the role that computers and IT have to play but I also understand that the only reason I became any good at computing was because I was taught the elementary skills correctly. If I had been subjected to a computer at a very young age my computing skills may have developed but I would probably lacked in others.
In my point of view , I feel that computers make us dependant wheres the basic skills help us to remain independant.
Re: Probably going to sound like a new age person here
Actually now I think about it, I was writing and playing Space Invaders on my ti-83 at 14, so technology misuse was already in force!
Didn't do me any harm etc.
