California school district orders Eee PCs

Still not convinced that Asus' low-priced Eee PC is a direct competitor of the OLPC project's XO laptop? Check this out: Fresno California's Unified school district has ordered 1000 Eee PCs--that's $650,000 worth--which will be distributed to students in 60 different classrooms. No, it's not quite one laptop per child--these rugrats will have to share their laptops with other kids--but it's still something. The idea is that kids will be able to use the machines to maintain a sort of online portfolio of their various projects while also using them to supplement textbooks in the classroom. Apparently, the school district spent a year looking for a laptop that wouldn't take up too much room on a student's desk before stumbling upon the 7" Eee PC. Bullard High School student Chris Mitchell was quoted as saying "This is cool." We're inclined to agree. 

For more on the deployment:
- see this article from the Fresno Bee