Dell's Neck-and-Neck With Apple in Educational Computing

Right on the heels of Maine becoming Apple territory when it comes to putting laptops in the hands of middle and high school students, PC titan Dell has pushed out a new netbook just for the student body.

The Dell Latitude 2100 is aimed at giving young learners a netbook that helps students as well as teachers in the classroom. It's got a keyboard designed for smaller hands with easy-to-grip keys, even when those hands are slicked with juice or snack remains. The keyboard even features antimicrobial protection given the germ-infested classroom setting.

One real neat feature is the Network Activity Light which lets faculty members monitor network activity on the netbook, just in case a student's mind wanders off the assignment at hand.

Just one month after being launched, 500 school districts are lining up to pull the new netbooks into schools, and that number will grow if industry predictions bode true. Research firm IDC reports mini-computers such as netbooks have a five-year growth rate of 60.1 percent for the next four years.

According to a Dell press statement, that growth is due to a stronger-than-ever commitment by educators, parents and educational policy makers to bring better technology into classrooms.