The world is undergoing a rather drastic change, for better or worse, and often for worse. Beyond just the economy and society, education is being forced to examine its processes and systems, focusing on the essentials that could be done at home and with computers. That, in turn, has also forced many schools and families to invest in computers even for the wee ones, computers that often get thrown out for even the simplest hardware problem. Just in the nick of time, Kano and Microsoft have come out with the Kano PC, designed to be fun, educational, usable, and last the test of time and accidents at home or in school.
As with the Raspberry Pi Foundation itself and startups like pi-top, Kano’s goals has always been to make computing more approachable and interesting for kids by letting them assemble their own. But while the likes of pi-top have put the Raspberry Pi as the center and foundation of their efforts, Kano has opened its doors to Intel’s Celeron N4000 for the Kano PC, allowing it to support running full Windows 10.
The Kano PC, however, still stays true to the spirit of assembling your own computer, a computer that comes in the form of a 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrid. Despite that DIY nature, the device is designed to be modular, allowing owners like parents and schools to swap out broken parts. It’s also rugged and Kano claims that the 11.6-inch touch screen can withstand a steel ball dropping from a height of six feet.
More than just the hardware, however, the Kano PC delivers a software experience that should cover all that kids need in school, at home, and everywhere in between. In addition to educational games that they can play, it also boasts of a suite of tools that will let young users start their careers are game developers early. And since it’s practically a regular x86 computer running Windows 10, it can support almost any win32 software, including Minecraft and, of course, Microsoft Office. Your only bottleneck will really be that Intel Celeron CPU.
The Kano PC is now available for purchase for $299.99. While the company is primarily targeting educational institutions, the changes in school systems these days means that even parents and governments have started looking into buying one for their kids at home.
