By comparison, a conventional laptop has a physical keyboard, and its conventional clamshell design is better suited to a desk-oriented classroom setting. True, the laptop may not be particularly sexy or in fashion this season, but it'll likely offer a better educational payoff.

A tablet may be a better form factor for electronic textbooks, but the XO-3's barebones design--again, tailored for the needs of developing nations--may make the device an underpowered, ergonomically poor choice for e-textbooks (provided they're available).

What do you think? Laptops or tablets for the classroom?

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