DirAction NL3 Classmate PC

Consumer netbooks may be dying off, but in the classroom small and inexpensive PCs still play a role in helping educate students and familiarize them with technology. DirAction, a company specializing in education-centered technology, brings us the NL3 Classmate PC ($499 direct), designed to Intel's Classmate PC criteria and loaded up with software just right for developing minds. With a touch screen and convertible tablet design, the NL3 Classmate PC serves as netbook, tablet, and ereader, and is a good fit for any classroom.

Design and Features
The Classmate PC ?is clearly built from the ground up to be kid-proof and classroom friendly. The body is made from chunky plastic, with rounded edges and corners and a built-in carrying handle on the hinge. Stylus storage is built into the chassis, and the screen is resistant to both scratches and water?perfect for use in an environment where kids are still learning to be gentle with expensive electronics and spills are common.

The keyboard and touchpad are small enough that adult hands will find them pretty cramped, but for a child they're just the right size to begin learning to type and navigate. The resistive touch screen flips around and folds flat to become a touch-screen tablet, and works with both fingers and the included stylus.

The NL3 Classmate PC design pays extra attention to the 2-megapixel webcam, with both design features and specialized software for utilizing it as a learning tool. To facilitate this further the webcam is set just above the screen, but instead of being stationary in the bezel, the camera rotates, letting you easily reposition it whether you're using the PC in laptop or tablet mode.

Although it's designed for basic use by students, the NL3 Classmate PC still includes plenty of ports for connecting peripherals like monitors, flash drives, and so on. The convertible tablet is outfitted with two USB 2.0 ports, outputs for VGA (for monitors and projectors) and HDMI (for HDTVs and monitors), as well as two headphone jacks, a microphone input, and a card reader (SD/MMC). Inside the little laptop is a 250GB hard drive, 802.11n WLAN, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 10/100 Ethernet connection. The entire NL3 Classmate PC is covered by a one-year warranty, and a separate six-month warranty covers just the battery.

Software
Unlike a consumer netbook, which might come with software trials and samples, the NL3 Classmate PC has no commercial bloatware preinstalled. Instead it's decked out with a suite of educational apps for everything from language instruction to learning math. Among the most impressive of these apps is LabCam, which turns the laptop webcam into a scientific testing tool with time-lapse recording, kinematic tracking and analysis, a high-magnification "microscope" mode, and a universal logger that recognizes and digitally records from any digital, radial-dial, or fluid-based display. Microsoft Mathematics provides a full-featured graphing calculator for use in classes from basic arithmetic to pre-calculus. LanguageNut uses a mixture of songs, stories, and games to promote language learning and includes tools to help teachers measure and track student progress. Also included are ereader programs by Adobe, Oannis, and Foxit; MyScript note-taking tools; and art programs like Ani Paint 3 Pro and ArtRage 2 (previously seen on the Kupa X11 Pro Tablet ). Intel AppUp?Intel's app store for PCs?provides a source of future apps.

Performance
The NL3 Classmate PC is equipped with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N2600 processor, a dual-core processor from Intel's Cedar Trail line. Pairing the processor with 2GB of RAM, the NL3 Classmate PC clearly isn't meant to match the performance of your home or business system, but it is sufficient to run its own wide array of educational tools. The dual-core processor scored 0.51 in CineBench R11.5, ahead of other Atom-powered Windows tablets, like the Kupa X11 Pro Tablet and the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 (Intel Atom Z690) , and just ahead of comparable netbooks like the Dell Latitude 2120 ?and the Acer Aspire One D260-1270 .

Despite its leading CineBench score, the NL3 Classmate PC fell slightly behind when tested with SYSmark 2007, scoring 41 overall. By comparison, the Dell Latitude 2120 and the Acer Aspire One D260-1270 both scored slightly higher scores overall (44 and 43, respectively).

The graphics performance afforded by the Intel Atom's integrated graphics processing is sufficient for the learning activities offered in the included software, but little else. Though the Atom N2600 does support DirectX 9 (DX9), it was unable to run our DX9 gaming test, Lost Planet 2. In 3DMark06, the NL3 Classmate PC scored 438 with medium details and 1,024-by-768 resolution. It was unable to run the test at higher settings.

The NL3 Classmate PC will also last through a full school day and into an evening of homework with the included 56Wh battery lasting 8 hours 18 minutes in MobileMark 2007. While this doesn't quite match the 9:04 of the Acer Aspire One D260-1270 with its 49Wh battery, it's ahead of the other comparable Windows tablets and netbooks, which all fall in the 7-8 hour range.

The DirAction NL3 Classmate PC is a versatile tool for teachers and students, though it may not impress when compared to consumer products. Despite its middling performance, the NL3 Classmate PC has plenty of features to help students get the most from the convertible netbook, and the combination of educational apps and classroom management software make it a good fit in schools.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
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