HP is preparing for the US back to school season and has offered up a new netbook for students called the HP Mini 100e Education Edition. This is the first product aimed at students between kindergarten and 6th grade, with a low price of US$300.
The HP Mini is a Pine Trail machine, with 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB RAM, 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel display and 160GB HDD. There's also a VGA webcam, and the laptop comes with a choice of a 3 cell, 4.5 hour battery or a 6 cell, 8.5 hour battery which also sits flush with the base of the unit.
Its made with a strong plastic chassis held together with steel pins, metal-alloy hinges that should hold up well to repeated use, a 92% spill-resistant keyboard and a carry handle. The handle is non-user removable, because HP wanted as few removable parts as possible to keep children from messing with the netbook.
It includes an intergrated modem for use in developing or remote areas where broadband might not be available, and it has an LED on the back of the lid so that teachers can see when there's network activity.
The 100e comes with productivity, education, and security software preinstalled from Microsoft with Office 2010, Microsoft Math, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
The HP Mini 100e is not available at the retail level and is sold through B2B channels wordlwide at this time. It's expected to go on sale globally the first week in July.
