Laptop Thoughts: News & Reviews on Laptops, Netbooks, Slates, and More.

We've talked about the Kno here before, and it's now a shipping product - I was excited to see it in person. I was surprised at the size and weight, although when you consider the size of the screens, the weight is quite reasonable. And when you consider the weight of an average college/university book bag, it's practically lightweight. Check out the video for more details - I thought it was really interesting that the cost of the Kno is made up for within two years by cost savings on the digital copies of the books. I have a sister that's going to school for a second degree - I wonder how this would work for someone like her? More information is available at Kno.com.

"The company says its flagship tablet textbook is still on track for release by the end of this year -- with limited available, at least -- tagged at $899 for the original double-screen model and $599 for the single-screener."

As much as I love my Kindle, I really don't think it would work very well in the academic setting for a lot of subjects, so there is certainly room for a tablet/ebook reader specifically designed for the educational setting. In a perfect world, I'd like to see this combined with the work of one of the many open source textbook projects so the cost of the device could at least be offset by the use of free content.

"While no one was looking, someone revolutionized the textbook, higher education, and learning itself in one crazy, bold move."

From looking at the videos, this device looks pretty spectacular. Starting up, the 'semester view' is presented, with a collection of textbooks and tools. Imagine taking a typical college student backpack: dump it out; turn everything into an electronic equivalent; and put it all into a two-paned tablet. Texts can be annotated and highlighted, objects can be extracted and re-used, and it functions well as a note-taking device and a web browser.

Looking at the reaction videos on Vimeo, students queried liked the dual-pane approach better than current eBooks, with the ability to "write in the book" very popular amongst those currently saddled with gigantic, heavy $300 textbooks. The Kno is so cool that I'd even consider it, although my school days are long past.