Lenovo Debuts Classmate+ Education PC Based On Intel Learning Series Reference Design

Lenovo and Intel on Thursday unveiled their planned collaboration in the global education PC market with the rollout of Lenovo's Classmate+ notebook PC based on Intel's Learning Series reference design, promising to bring affordable PC technology to students in grades K-8.

The 10.1-inch Lenovo Classmate+ PC runs on a low-power Intel Atom N45 processor and features the pre-loaded Intel Learning Series software suite and other specialized educational software running on the Windows 7 platform. The device includes Ethernet and Wi-Fi capability, a 1.3 megapixel camera, multiple USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, and up to 250 GB of hard drive storage capacity.

The Lenovo Classmate+ PC is immediately available for distribution to North American channel partners, according to Michael Schmedlen, Lenovo's Director of Worldwide Education, in an interview with CRN on Friday. "In the K-12 markets, the channel is an essential partner, as it offers localized support, given the dearth of IT resources in K- 12 organizations," he said. "K-12 is a very channel-friendly environment and they can get this technology right away. The manufacturing capability is already online and we're ready to roll on this."

Schmedlen said it was important to the channel that Lenovo make the announcement and deploy the Classmate+ now as opposed to later, as the buying cycle for education PCs in North America requires that the partners have access to the hardware in the Spring. However, he pointed out that the Classmate is available in every country where Lenovo sells its equipment.

"Lenovo has signed on as the first multinational corporation to offer the Classmate+ on a global scale leveraging Intel's Learning Series design, and will now distribute and deploy it on the Lenovo brand on a global basis," Schmedlen said. "It's the logical extension of Lenovo's recent education efforts."

Schmedlen said Lenovo's Learning Environment facility-- which is located in the company’s Customer Innovation Center at its U.S. headquarters in Morrisville, N.C. -- provides a place for Lenovo to evaluate educational technology, get feedback from students testing Lenovo PCs, and offer resources to teachers and education professionals. "We've established an educational testing facility in order to study the outcomes and educational efficiency of our technology," he said. "We’ve created a learning environment bringing in teachers and administrators to participate and help forge our strategy."

Lenovo says its Classmate+ laptop design is based is on years of Intel’s ethnographic research in education, as well as Lenovo's previous designs for education-oriented systems. The device's design goals include functionality and performance as well as ruggedness, according to Lenovo, which added drop-resistant exteriors and spill-resistant keyboards to the Classmate PC.

Next: Addressing The Specific Market

Furthermore, Schmedlen said the device addresses the specific needs of primary grades, which had not been addressed to this point. "There are a number of things that are different about primary grades. The first is that the physical presence of students is smaller, and therefore requires PCs that are durable and lightweight enough to carry around. The Classmate is optimized around that."

In addition, Schmedlen said the targeted age range of the students determined the software itself. "It's much easier to interact with the device, the icons are bigger, and the curricular software loaded on there is really focused on K-8," he said. "It reflects the variations of the curriculum both in established and emerging markets, and comes in a range of different languages."

Schmedlen said Intel's Learning Series offers a software stack optimized for smaller screen size and lower power requirements. He also said the device is highly configurable, offering battery, memory and hard drive configurations, as well as some cosmetic configurations.

Lenovo says the Organization of Ibero-American States will deploy the first wave of 158,000 Lenovo Classmate+ devices as part of its Conectar Igualdad 1:1 computing program to primary school students in Argentina. Schmedlen said the first deployment will be backed by local resources, support and management.

Lenovo says its Classmate+ PCs are available to qualified education and government customers through Lenovo sales representatives and channel partners worldwide, for a price that will vary based on regional taxes, tariffs and configuration options.