It seems like just yesterday that Intel announced a major update to its OLPC-not-quite-killer, the Classmate PC. Now the company is poised to shake things up for a second time this year. PC World is reporting that Intel will announce details of the Classmate 3 laptop next month.
While the Classmate 2 has a larger screen, more storage, and a higher price tag than the original Classmate, there's absolutely no word on what changes we'll see in the Classmate 3. I'm guessing it might be time for a processor upgrade. The current generation uses a 900MHz Intel Celeron chip. All we know at the moment is that the next generation of Classmate PC will include new hardware, software, and a new design.
As the name would suggest, the Classmate laptop line is aimed at educational, not consumer markets. But at least one company, CTL, has used the Classmate reference design to produce a consumer oriented laptop – the 2Go PC.