Small computers - Emerging Players

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kevin H. on January 21, 2008 at 4:02am

HI Jane
I have only come to hear about these laptops via XO/OLPC news articles and I guess the XO has spurred companies into this new market, which is wonderful.
Kevin

Permalink Reply by Gavin on January 23, 2008 at 4:17am

We have an Asus EeePC here in the office - I am head-over-heels with it - it's a joy to use and the geek in me is revelling in the rising prominence of Linux as a default OS. We're piloting a "one device per child" program with two of our schools here (one secondary, one primary) and it looks like the Asus Eee will be the weapon of choice for most kids. I've been blogging some classroom applications here - the prospect of fully connected classrooms is very exciting!

I think it's hilarious that many of the huge PC manufacturers were shunning Asus at the CES, citing various spurious reasons. The fact a tiny, almost unknown, company has brought out a killer device and scared away the big boys fills me with a cuddly warm feeling. Finally, a postive story about a capitalism.

Also coming on the market is the Everex Cloudbook, which has a similar footprint to the Asus but with an added hard-drive.

There are murmurings that some of the big players in the laptop world are developing similar machines, but I doubt any could rival the Asus at the moment.

Permalink Reply by Jane Krauss on January 24, 2008 at 7:13pm

Can't wait to read your blog about classroom apps... Hope everyone shares their stories. Thanks for adding the cloudbook to the list, I just heard about it today! Interesting.

Permalink Reply by Kevin H. on January 25, 2008 at 3:59am

Thanks for sharing your blog. It looks like a good wealth of ideas and resources, and a way to learn a bit more about the Asus.
Kevin

Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on January 28, 2008 at 8:47pm

Hi Jane,

I am one of those who is still waiting for my XO. So for now I have to "read all about it" instead of experiencing it. The most appealing part of the XO for me is the fact that it is more sturdy and can take the abuse children dish out.

Last year I wrenched my back diving for a laptop as it slid off the table. My first grader stood up with headphones on and began walking. I saved the laptop-and spent the weekend in bed and several weeks very soar. It was year 6 of the laptops life and the batteries had long since stopped recharging- They all had to be plugged in all the time. With the cost of batteries at 98 per- the school simply wasn't going to replace them. The AC port in the back also pulled away from the mother board on about 1/2 of them-and they were mad eof plastic so there was no soddering them!. I ended up buyng one battery of my own pocket and rotating it around the computers. I was not sad to get reassigned to another school with hardwired workstations.

Here's hoping Mac and Dell and the rest make laptops for kids that are more sturdy for us over here. My dream machine would be a smaller laptop , tablet form, Mac OS , 5 Gig Hard Drive, 1 Gig RAM, 2 USB ports and able to print. For around 400 dollars. Maybe I am describing the next I-phone?