The rugged Classmate Netbook is a mini PC with students in mind, with its 8.9 inch touch screen, convertible design, an Intel Atom CPU, and a solid state 16 Gig drive all for just $500.
What You Need to Know
- Definitely not the coolest looking Netbook and it does feel plasticy
- Seems rugged enough and has a water resistant keyboard for late night coffee mishaps
- Overall, we like the design
- Keyboard is a bit cramped
- Track Pad is too small but mouse clicks feel natural
- Touch screen / tablet functions really well
- Handwriting recognition works like a dream
- Runs Windows XP which is good for freeing up resources
- 1 Gig of RAM may be limiting but uprading to 2 is available
- The version we reviewed has a 60 Gig hard drive and runs pretty well
- A 16 Gig solid state drive is available and we're guessing would be even faster
- The price is a good deal but other similar netbooks are coming in a little lower
Price
- $500
Overall Rating
- 4 out of 5 (how do we rate gadgets?)
