PeeWee Power Laptop is a netbook for kids at a grown-up price: $499.99
The netbook market has been saturated with a seemingly endless supply of product, but apparently there's one customer segment that's been unaccounted for: children. At least that's the thinking behind the PeeWee Power Laptop, a full-fledged netbook with a few tweaks thrown in to make it suitable for the juvenile set.
The PeeWee's spec list should be familiar to anyone who's shopped for a netbook: an Intel Atom N450 processor running Windows XP, 1GB of memory, 160GB, and a 10.1-inch screen. On the low end of things, but not dramatically underpowered compared to the cheapest competition. Then there are some exterior enhancements that take the target audience into consideration, like ruggedized construction to repel damage from drops (though I doubt it's anywhere near as rugged as a Panasonic Toughbook or the like) and a spill-resistant keyboard.
On the software side, the PeeWee comes with 15 education software apps, along with PeeWee Patrol and PeeWee Privacy software. The former blocks inappropriate Websites from young eyes, while the privacy app can keep Junior from accessing files and folder you select and can let you set limits of how much time he can spend on the computer.
But the PeeWee Power Laptop is a pretty pricey babysitter for its $499.99 suggested price. Will parents really pony up that amount just so their kids have a child-friendly netbook? Consider me skeptical.