(this post is only written in english due to the exportation of these Magalhães (Magalhaes/Magellan) laptops to non-portuguese speaking countries like Venezuela, who there might find this post useful)

So it has arrived, finally, the Magalhães netbook that the portuguese government has been using to increase the usage of computers by children. Adopting the idea of the portuguese company JP Sá Couto, and being supported by Intel, as the computer is nothing else than a Classmate PC, the portuguese started a campaign that rivals the ones did by OLPC and at the same time appears to succeed over them all by the quick partnerships done with African and South American countries, which might turn this project in the de facto cheap laptop for every child in a considerable number of countries. Nothing more than a victory to Intel...

Anyway, here in Portugal, the laptop that was promised to be delivered to all the children still wasn't to most of them. But let's talk about the laptop itself, pros and cons.

 The system features two USB ports, audio-in, audio-out, ethernet port, wireless card and SD memory card slot. 

The first thing anyone will notice is the keyboard as it's very tiny (as you can see in the image above compared with a 13" MacBook White). Any adult will find difficult not mistyping any word, but since this laptop is not for them that can't really be counted as a con, although we may expect this to be the only computer of the teens of tomorrow, who will certainly feel the laptop too small for them over time. The same goes to the screen. But overall, externally the laptop seems very resistant in its strong plastic body and also very light and portable. Also, the system seems well synched in its components resulting in a very good experience both in Windows XP and in Caixa Mágica Linux (a portuguese GNU/Linux distribution).

 What's wrong then? The main problem that arises is in the disk formatting. When you hear a system with a hard drive of 30GB, you expect it to have at least 15GB of free disk space even if Windows XP is already installed. But in this case, since there is no CD/DVD drive and we're talking about a dual boot system (with two operating systems) the practical result is that users end up with something like 4/6GB of free disk space in the system. Thumbs down. This arises, as said, from the dual boot installation, with Windows XP on a 15GB NTFS partition taking already from the start something like 12GB of it, a 5/6GB Linux partition, a 4GB NTFS for data (the only really free space), and two other partitions of 2GB each for recovery of both operating systems, since there is no cd drive (careful, these recovery partitions will not replace most of the software pre installed, like the Office suite in Windows). In the images below you can see a list of the partitions made on the Magalhães' hard drive, and below that, the amount of free space a Windows user will get right from the start.

 

Fear not, in September this year is expected to be realized the Magalhães 2, which appears to include at least a 80GB hard drive, but be aware that JP Sá Couto stated that it is the country adopting the computers that will have to choose the version. In case it's the first one, be ready for the unhappiness of the children.

The Windows installation features a pre installed Office 2007, which I find abusive since version 2000/2003 would be enough for the kids and take less disk space. There is already Avast antivirus installed, and Parental Controls blocking by default any website not in the white list. An annoying bar will appear at the top too due to some e-learning program. At first run the user will have to configure the usual stuff as administrator passwords and user accounts, and in the end the usual Windows desktop will appear already featuring three columns of icons, which may not be the best start to a child (turning on MagicDesktop will not be either).

On Caixa Mágica the system presents a very nice and intuitive desktop widget that presents applications under groups like Working, Fun, Internet, which certainly will be far more intuitive to children. Internet Connection will be fairly simple to manage even if you're behind some WPA protected wireless network, something still a lot of linux distros can't handle without the user digging in man pages. Parental Controls will also be turned on by default but the program behind seemed to me less capable than the Windows one, since it only allows or blocks programs. That means, or all Internet, or no Internet. I don't believe in parental controls either way...

Although the disk space problems, it's a surprisingly good and well thought system, at least for the price it's being sold to the children. But if you're not under the "e-escolhinhas" program, paying 280-330€ may be a little too much compared to alternatives as the Asus Eee PC.