Intel's Classmate PC isn't just for students anymore. HCL Infosystems plans to sell a version of the Classmate PC to consumers and businesses in India who want a rugged, low-cost laptop.
Priced at 13,990 rupees ($356), HCL's MiLeap X laptop uses the same beefy case as the Classmate PC. But HCL -- which signed an agreement with Intel last year to produce the Classmate PC -- insists there is very little in common between the two computers.
"It is a totally different product," said George Paul, executive vice president at HCL Infosystems.
The specifications of the MiLeap X suggest otherwise. Both computers have a 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen with 800-pixel by 480-pixel resolution, a 900MHz Celeron M processor, Wi-Fi, and 2GB of flash memory for storage instead of a hard drive. They also use the same chip set, Intel's 915GMS.
The main difference between the MiLeap X and the Classmate PC appears to be a minor aesthetic change: The MiLeap X's vinyl cover more closely resembles a business folio than the blue covers typically found on the Classmate PC. The MiLeap X also comes with HCL's logo emblazoned below the display.
Last year, Taiwan's Asustek was the first to crack open the door for wider Classmate PC sales with the introduction of its Eee PC, which uses many of the same components. Intel expected Asustek to announce a version of the Classmate PC for education customers, but the Taiwanese hardware maker instead declared the Eee PC, which uses the same processor and components as the Classmate PC, would be sold to consumers.
Intel has since embraced low-cost laptops as a product segment, despite continued resistance from some executives inside the company. The company's focus on that market will intensify later this year with the release of Silverthorne, a low-cost, energy efficient processor that will appear in a number of low-cost laptops currently under development.