11.1 inch Dell clone gives Chinese school kids some Latitude

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Comments Posted on Oct 15, 2009 Posted by Song Jiang

When I think of a traditional Chinese education I cannot get past image of frightened school kids drawing characters in sand while a wild eyed mustachioed teacher stalks a dusty Ming dynasty-era classroom. Maybe that's just me. Anyway it seems that I may be way off the pace, as the digital age will soon hit classrooms in China with the arrival of a cloned Dell Latitude 2100 - the most child-proof learning aid since books.

The Dell Latitude 2100 is perhaps the most child savvy of all current netbook designs. Dell's effort was not the first netbook to take aim at school kids. HP attempted to push their 2133 Mini into classrooms despite the fact that it doesn't offer anything remotely close to the Latitude 2100 in terms of child-proofing. With the Latitude 2100, you had a device that would possibly look out of place anywhere but a school bag. Reviews have generally been fairly positive, forgiving its hefty exterior and gaudy coloring, focusing instead on its robust chassis, ruggedized exterior, carrying handle and teacher friendly network LED - it let's the teacher know when students browse or chat, damn..can you get away with anything these days?

Ok, so we only have a promo image of the device and yes, it looks so like the original, it may in fact be a photoshoped image of the original. The point here is that the clone version has been produced by a so far unknown Shenzhen ODM, and will be hawked to school kids via local Education authorities. Regarding the device itself we know that it will retail for half the price of the original, i.e. 250USD. The specs are fairly impressive too. You get an ever-so-slightly faster N280 chip, 160GB drive and a larger 11.1 inch screen with a more generous 1366 x 768 resolution.

Western Opportunity Analysis:

This represents a new sales channel for the shanzhai, and one that may mean further refinment of their after sales support and quality control. Then again, it's also likely that we may see local education groups purchasing in bulk and controlling their own direct channel to students and parents.

Conclusions:

Either way, the education market in China is huge. The legacy of the one child per family program means that many of these youngsters are bred like champion racehorses, with the future of the whole clan often resting on their young shoulders. If a fancy netbook will help keep the young master at the top of his class, then a fancy netbook is what he shall have.

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