New Magalhães improves communication and screen capacity

(Updated) JP Sá Couto presented today in a press conference the new version of the Magalhães laptop, also intended for the same age group of children between 6 and 10 years old and sharing characteristics of usability and robustness with the version currently on the market. The new model will continue to be produced and manufactured simultaneously with the current Magalhães, not replacing it definitively.

The new laptop was designed in partnership with Intel and CEIA (Center for Excellence and Innovation in the Automotive Industry), following the North American manufacturer’s Classmate PC design, but does not yet drink from the developments of the new version that will be presented tomorrow at CES, the Classmate Convertible PC, in Tablet format.

Still unnamed, the new Magalhães is still a prototype, with the product not being physically shown to journalists, who saw only Powerpoint images. Questioned by TeK for the fact that there is still no name for the new Magalhães model, João Paulo Sá Couto explains that it is still early to decide the name of the model, which is a continuity product.

New Magalhães presented Caption: The only images of the new Magalhães were presented by João Paulo Sá Couto in a PowerPoint projection

Despite sharing some of the characteristics of robustness and design adapted to children, the new Magalhães has some distinctive factors, such as the integration in the package of a pen / mouse that will allow children to write manually, with the input being interpreted by the computer software.

The new model also has a larger screen, 10.1 inches and more disk capacity, between 80 and 160 GBytes. It also has a VGA output to connect the notebook to a TV monitor or external screen, as well as reading software to facilitate use in different lighting environments.

The native connection to 3G and WiMax networks is another feature to be highlighted, which will become more relevant in environments or countries where there is no high availability of wireless networks connection with Wi-Fi technology, which was already native in the current Magalhães model.

These changes will lead to an increase in the price of the equipment, which João Paulo Sá Couto says is still too early to define. However, it ended up setting the stage for a price increase of between 30 and 40 euros for the new Magalhães.

JP Sá couto will start producing the new Magalhães only in July / August, and the commercialization should start in September. However, João Paulo Sá Couto does not confirm the possibility of this new model being included in the e-School Program, stating that this is a decision that is up to the operators.

The same is true in international contracts. Questioned by TeK, João Paulo Sá Couto says that at the moment there is still no order for the new notebook, but the production expectation is 500 thousand units in the last quarter of 2009.

Fatima Hunter

Editor’s Note: [14:43] The news was updated with the possible image of the new Magalhães.