By Ryan Paul
August 26, 2008 - 09:20PM CT

Intel unveiled a new Classmate PC reference design at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco last week. The new model has a swiveling tablet display with full touchscreen support. It offers finger interaction and also comes with a stylus that can be used to write and draw directly on the screen.

The Classmate PC is a low-cost laptop designed primarily for education in emerging markets. It has emerged as the primary competitor to the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop and has made major inroads with government buyers. Intel recently secured an agreement with Portugal to sell half a million units. As the OLPC project crumbles from internal disputes and serious technical and logistical failures, Intel's Classmate is evolving to serve more diverse usage scenarios.

Intel didn't break much ground with the original Classmate hardware, instead focusing on bringing conventional computing technology to a lower price-point. This approach differed greatly from the strategy adopted by the OLPC project, which created a radically innovative device with unique and extremely unusual hardware components. Intel is now inching beyond its original vision by bringing touchscreen technology to the Classmate.

Intel says that the features in the new design are based on observations and research collected about the way that Classmate PCs are used in real-world classroom settings. In a video published by Intel on its YouTube channel, one of the company's ethnographers describes some of the background research behind the new design. Intel looked closely at how students collaborate and move around in classroom environments.