HP to Sell $300 Netbook for Primary School Students

Hewlett-Packard has put its own spin on Intel's Classmate PC concept, offering a US$300 netbook aimed at students in primary schools.

Designed to handle juice spills and other perils in the life of a young student, the Mini 100e bears a striking resemblance to Intel's Classmate PC reference design, a netbook intended for classroom use.

Both the Mini 100e and the Classmate PC are based on the standard netbook configuration, with an Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and the choice between a 160GB hard disk or a small SSD.

Like the Classmate PC, the Mini 100e comes in a beefy plastic case with a built-in handle and a 10.1-inch screen. Inside, the machine has a 1.66GHz single-core Atom N455 processor, 1GB of RAM and the choice of either a 160GB hard disk or 16GB solid-state drive (SSD). The laptop comes with a choice of three operating systems: Windows 7 Starter, Windows XP Home or SuSE Linux Enterprise 11.

The Mini 100e also comes with Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Math, an application that helps students work through math problems.

The 100e will go on sale next month around the world and will cost no more than US$300, HP said in a statement.