Kno has started taking pre-orders for its tablet computers aimed at students. For $599 and up you can get a single screen 14 inch tablet for reading textbooks, taking notes, surfing the web, and performing other tasks. A dual screen model starts at $899 with 16GB of storage. The top of the line model will set you back $999 for two screens and 32GB of storage.
The company says the devices should start shipping by December 20th, and All Things D reports that Kno initially hopes to sell “thousands” of the tablets.
While the price might seem a bit high compared to consumer oriented tablets from other companies, the Kno is aimed specifically at students. Users will be able to purchase and download digital textbooks from the Kno Book Store, and Kno claims that the digital books tend to cost between 30 and 50% less than printed books — which means students may be able to save more money than the tablet costs in a few semesters.
Of course, that only works if there actually are digital copies of the textbooks you need, but Kno says it will have tens of thousands of books available.
What do you think? Would a digital textbook and tablet device like the Kno have helped you in college, or if you’re currently a student are you at all tempted by Kno’s pitch?
Fail
“tens and thousands of text books”. had a look at the store and the question remains …. only a small percentage are of the really needed, because emphasized by profs, the rest belongs to the sort that fill book stores in masses but are of no special interest for school or university.
Seems to point back to the promise of the Courier in form. Dual tablet does seem tempting but would you really want to lug that much weight around (that is 14″ screens in dual format)? More recently, Toshiba going down the dual path road seems to have pulled that reference from their website. Yeah I would have gone that route if it was efficient and practice. Make sure you have a transformer handy to keep a charge on the device.