Intel’s Classmate 2 has been manhandled and it seems as sturdy and innocuous as a Fairfax, Virginia office park:

It’s a cut-price, cut-down laptop that runs XP moderately well, and connects to the net without a hitch. In fact, it accomplishes most tasks thrown at it without a hitch and its underpowered processor only really struggles when it is attempting to multi-task.

It has been designed with education and the developing world in mind, says Intel, and yes, there are a small number of unique features. It has mesh networking – so that laptops can piggyback their wireless and create ad hoc networks.