The OLPC may have been the first low cost computer aimed at educating children in the emerging third world nations of world, but it soon had competition from Intel in the same market with the Classmate. Intel has been updating its Classmate notebook since its original introduction to further reduce costs and add new features and functionality to make it more appealing to buyers. One of the largest of those buyers to date has been Libya, which ordered 150,000 Classmate notebooks.

Laptop Magazine reports that a new Classmate will be introduced at CES 2009 that has a convertible tablet form factor that allows it to be controlled with a stylus. The new version will use the netbook-class staple Intel Atom N270, offer a 60 GB HDD, and run Windows XP.

The touch interface screen measures 8.9-inches. The downside according to Laptop is that XP doesn't support a touch screen. I would assume that Intel will bundle some applications with the notebook to allow the touch interface to actually function. Other mainstream netbook firms have plans to bring touch-enabled netbooks to market so this feature may soon be common.

Via Laptop Magazine