Personally I think PCs should be out of classrooms. Lab settings are different, but in usual classroom lecture they inhibit learning more than anything else in my experience.

Oh and MS Powerpoint will cause the downfall of society, I think. It cancels out almost all learning in general. I HATE Powerpoint. There's little that's less beneficial to mankind than a teacher who blasts through 70 powerpoint slides per hour. Use the damn chalk/dry erase board and actually teach, please.

Can't blame the companies for looking for new markets though, I guess.

I'd hit it.

All these computers to help kids "learn", man, it makes me wonder how anyone in the twentieth century got an education. Pfft.

I didn't think the 802.11 spec for mesh (802.11s?) was ratified yet? Is it using something else?

I really like the idea of large-covering mesh wireless so that part intrigues me.

I got my laptop for that much. It wouldn't stand up to a marauding 3rd grader though...

Size and weight are incredibly important, given the limited specs. What makes the Eee PC acceptable, is the form factor. I like the looks of this second-gen Classmate, but it needs to be under 3 lbs and no larger than an average-sized hard-cover novel, IMO.

Resolution still absolute crap? No thanks.

Looks to be slightly bulkier (and heavier) than the Eee PC, but at the 250-350$ pricerange it does seem an attractive proposition. The low resolution is a big disadvantage for me, as I see 1024x768 to almost be the lowest usable res for web-browsing. Asus's 2nd gen Eee is slated to have a ~1024 resolution, if I'm not mistaken, so the Classmate PC will have to sport something similar to compete.

In any case, it's good news for those of us who've been waiting for some competition in the subnotebook field..