New mini-laptop becomes the latest school craze

It’s smaller than an A5 pad and weighs less than 1kg

A new mini-laptop has found unexpected success in primary schools thanks to its cost and its diminutive size. It’s smaller than an A5 pad and weighs less than 1kg – and its portability is making it a first choice for many IT coordinators around the country.

The current version has a 7” screen and 4GB of memory, meaning that it is ideal for browsing the web and writing simple documents but there will be no room for the latest computer games. This means that, as a purpose-built education tool, it’s perfect for the classroom.

RM, the company supplying the miniBook to schools, sold its first order of 6,000 within a few weeks. It is now projecting school sales of over 30,000 by the end of the year. Its popularity has also been recognised by ministers, who are backing a pilot scheme in which the miniBooks are sold to year groups in eight schools. 1,600 children are taking part, with parents contributing to the cost of the laptops.

For the price of a computer suite, whole year groups can potentionally be outfitted with their own laptops. They can slip inside a school bag and are ideal for linking to homework tasks.

At BETT 2008, a new version of the miniBook has been announced, with a larger memory capacity and Windows XP pre-installed. With the addition of Windows, the miniBook essentially becomes a full-blown (albeit mini-size) student laptop.