HP has been targeting its Mini 5101 and 5102 netbooks at education markets since the get go. But it looks like HP may have a new education oriented mini-laptop up its sleeve. Engadget’s Joanna Stern spotted an HP Classmate PC netbook running SUSE Linux 11 at Novell’s Computex booth this week.
The netbook features a 10 inch display and an Intel Atom processor. It’s a chunky looking netbook with a thick plastic case and a chiclet-style keyboard. There’s a handle built into the back, to make it easier to carry from class to class.
The computer has mic and headphone jacks, a flash card reader, Ethernet jack, VGA port, and 2 USB ports. There may also be an old fashioned modem, since it looks like the demo unit also has a telephone jack.
Overall, it looks like the HP Mini Classmate is loosely based on Intel’s Classmate PC reference designs, but it looks a little different from every other Clasmate PC I’ve seen to date. No word on pricing or if this little guy will ever actually come to market. It could just be a concept device.
