Intel has started shipping its low cost Classmate PC for school students in developing nations. The first volume shipments are heading for Mexico and Brazil. 

The computers are equipped with an Intel Celeron-M processor and a 1GB or 2GB Flash drive for the Linux and Windows versions respectively. Intel has said that the Classmate PC will cost around $350.

The laptop is seen as a competitor to the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project headed up by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte.

The OLPC project aims to ship several million of its PCs later this year at a cost of about $150 per unit.

Although the two projects sell notebook computers, they have different underlying philosophies.

The OLPC project sees itself as an educational initiative centred on openness that allows children to gain knowledge autonomously. The computers are designed from the ground up.

Intel, meanwhile, aims to deliver a fully functional laptop PC that mimics computers in the developed world.