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Portugal adopts Classmate PC |
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Written by Rob Squires
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Wednesday, 30 July 2008 |
THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT is pledging to provide elementary school students with 500,000 computers based on the Intel's Classmate PC design. This most recent announcement brings Intel's rivalry with the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) organization back into the spotlight once again. The single deal with Portugal nearly matches OLPC's total orders to date of 600,000 units as of May 2008.
Classmate PCs are based on Intel's design and include its processors, but they are built by other manufacturers and sold under a variety of brand names. The first generation went on sale in March 2007; a heftier version with a faster processor and a bigger screen hit the market in April 2008.
Intel's Classmate PC and OLPC's XO are just two of a growing field of small, low-cost computers aimed at the millions of students in developing countries who are just gaining access to technology and the Internet.
The relationship between Intel and OLPC, whose XO machine uses microprocessors made by AMD, has been notoriously rocky. The two declared a truce last summer, but earlier this year relations turned cold again when Intel abruptly pulled out from OLPC's board of directors. |
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