Mar 10, 2011 06:19 GMT  ·  By

Intel's Classmate initiative is not exactly a big novelty, but it seems that they're quite keen on keeping this tradition alive, since they've just announced the release of a brand-new product from this category, the Classmate+ PC, developed together with Lenovo.

Similar to the other products from the same series released before, the new portable computing system targets specifically the educational segment, and especially the students in grades K-8.

Given its specific target segment, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the new Classmate PC+ sports quite a rugged, drop-resistant exterior, meant to easily support the shocks it's bound to suffer within a classroom, as well as a spill-resistant keyboard.

Since the portable computing system is a result of the direct collaboration between Intel and Lenovo, it's no surprise that at the core of the Classmate PC+ there's an Atom N455 CPU, accompanied by the Intel NM10 Express Chipset and either 1 or 2GB of RAM memory.

Lenovo's also offering quite a few choices as far as the storage segment is concerned, since the Classmate PC+ can be equipped either with an SSD unit with a storage capacity of up to 16GB or with an HDD unit packing up to 250GB.

The 10.1-inch netbook also sports a LED backlit TFT LCD display, built-in speakers and webcam module, as well as a wealth of connectivity options.

Last, but certainly not least, we'll also have to mention that multiple battery options are available, future customers being able to opt either for 3-cell or 6-cell power packs.

Pricing for the new Classmate PC+ netbooks developed by Intel and Lenovo has not been disclosed, but given their specific target, as well as the fact that they're meant to be deployed mostly in countries where students have little access to computing solutions (due to their unfavorable economic situation), we'd dare to say that they should be fairly affordable, compared to the other netbooks on the market.