The Classmate PC is a reference design created by Intel that hardware manufacturers can use to build their own low-cost laptops.

At $499 for the 3G-enabled model, a conventional netbook or low-cost laptop ends up being a better value.

The C100, available now in retail stores and at www.lenovo.com, is a low-cost laptop with a built-in optical drive and a 15.4-inch screen.

Offering general-purpose technologies like low-cost laptops is a riskier strategy, but it just might have a big payoff.

What's the best low-cost laptop for a silver surfer?

The eMate 300 was a personal digital assistant designed, manufactured and sold by Apple to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the Newton operating system.

The OLPC project was originally founded to produce low-cost education-focused laptops for children.

Other companies have launched competing low-cost laptops, though none with the scale or publicity of the OLPC Foundation project.

Intel initially criticized the device, then started selling its own low-cost laptop, and finally decided to join the OLPC project.

Connected, low-cost, rugged laptops are one way to do it.