Mobility

Cracking Open the Classmate 2GoPC from CTL Corp

By // October 3, 2008, 6:39 AM PST // markwkaelin

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  • It's not about fashion

    The Classmate 2GoPC from CTL Corporation is an ultra-portable laptop computer designed to be used by students in elementary and secondary school. It is a rugged PC running Windows XP on a platform with 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, and an Intel Celeron M processor. We put the 2GoPC's ruggedness to the test in this TechRepublic Cracking Open Photo Gallery.

  • Backside

    The first step for cracking open any laptop is to remove the battery. The 2GoPC just has a couple of sliders to click open.

  • Battery

    The battery is pretty standard. The 2GoPC gets around three hours of life on a single charge in our experience.

  • Turn of the screw

    The sturdy design of the 2GoPC that I noticed in the Geek Gift Guide review meant one thing to me when it came to cracking it open -- lots of screws. Here are four screws hidden in the battery bay.

  • Leather skin

    The leather-like covering on the outside helps with the 2GoPCs rugged feel. The skin is held in place by the wonder of Velcro.

  • Upgradeable

    Getting to the upgradeable parts of the 2GoPC is accomplished by removing these two screws (arrows) and pulling out the access panel.

  • Internal parts

    We have easy access to the most upgradeable and serviceable parts of the 2GoPC laptop: 60GB hard drive, 512MB RAM stick, and WiFi network card.

  • Oh great, ribbon cables

    Of course there would be ribbon cables. My job cannot be an easy one.

  • Toshiba

    The hard drive is manufactured by Toshiba.

  • More RAM

    The standard configuration for this version of the 2GoPC is 512MB of RAM. Personally, I'd prefer and upgrade to 1GB.

  • Room for more

    It appears there is enough room for another stick of RAM, that is, if you move the battery backup somewhere else in the case.

  • WiFi card

    The next thing to remove is the WiFi card which is secured by a single screw.

  • Ralink

    The WiFi chip is from Ralink.

  • 802.11g

    The Ralink WiFi card appears to be a standard 802.11g wireless NIC.

  • Now the fun begins

    With the easy stuff out of the way, it is time to really get to the cracking open. Besides the numerous obvious screws that keep the 2GoPC case together, there are several hidden screws. For example, the screws located under these plastic hole covers.

  • I see you

    The plastic hole covers pop off easy if you use a small flat head screw driver.

  • More hidden screws

    After finding the screws under the plastic hole covers and under the rubber feet, I still could not get the case to come a part. It was obvious that there were still some hidden screws to find. The next step was to look under the keyboard -- bingo!

  • Even more hidden screws

    Even after finding the screws hidden under the keyboard, I was unable to open the case. There had to be more screws. I removed the four screws (red arrows) from on top of the lid of the laptop, where the LCD is housed but that did nothing. I didn't think it would but I was getting desperate. The next step was to remove the plastic part that housed the indicator lights. The hinge mechanism was hidden under there and was likely the last connection system I had to deal with to get into the case.

  • LEDs

    This little plastic piece came off with a slight bit of applied leverage with a flat head screwdriver.

  • Jackpot

    Ah, there they are. See, I told you the 2GoPC was built to last. Removing these five screws gave me access to the inside of the case.

  • Ribbon cables again

    Hmm, this is a perplexing problem. There are two ribbon cables (red arrows) connecting the touch pad and the left and right buttons. I can see the gates that will release them, but I don't see how I can get them back in the gates once I do. Oh, well, time is wasting - I'm in and hoping for the best.

  • LCD

    This is the lid of the 2GoPC. The LCD screen has a strange 800 X 400 resolution, which in my opinion is the Achilles heel of this product.

  • Redemption

    An epiphany! The red arrow marks a piece of tape and when the 2GoPC is put together the two gates to the touch pad and buttons will be revealed. Now I am certain I can get it all back together.

  • First look at the motherboard

    The main circuit board is now revealed. We can see several large chips on the board. These will be highlighted.

  • Intel plus

    Besides the obvious Intel CPU there are also two smaller chips that we might want to take a look at.

  • Intel Celeron M Processor Ultra Low Voltage CPU

    The CPU is the Intel Celeron M Processor with Ultra Low Voltage. The CPU operates a fairly pedestrian 900MHz. The chip from Integrated Technology Express Inc. (ITE) is an embedded controller handling the keyboard and touch pad functions. The Integrated Circuit Systems (ICS) handles the clock functions for the system.

  • Ribbon gates

    Besides another look at the ICS chip, you can get a good look at the two gate connectors for the touch pad and mouse buttons.

  • Heat dissipation

    Oddly enough, the Celeron CPU has no direct heat dissipation. But something does judging by that fan.

  • Quality control

    We had quite a few folks sign off on our 2GoPC.

  • Speakers

    While the speakers (red arrows) in the 2GoPC are great, they are adequate.

  • The other side

    Taking the motherboard out of the case completely reveals the other side. We have seen part of this before through the back panel, but now we can see the whole thing.

  • Card reader

    The red arrow points to the 2-in-1 SD/MMC memory card reader.

  • Heat sink

    Under this large heat sink sits our graphics chips, which make up the Intel 915GMS Chipset. We'll have to remove the heat sink to get a look at the underlying chips.

  • Graphics One

    The Intel 915GMS Chipset is made up of two chips. The first one is this big chip here.

  • Graphics Two

    The second part of the Intel 915GMS Chipset is this small chip. We have seen these chips in our other ultra portable laptops. They must run relatively hot because they are always underneath a considerable heat sink.

  • Cracked Open

    Here are the pieces of the 2GoPC laid out on the table. I was surprised by the number of screws used to keep this laptop together. It was definitely built to take some punishment and keep going. However, I was able to get it back together and I am pleased to report that it works just fine. It is just a shame that the 2GoPC cut corners when it came to the LCD screen resolution. It makes the laptop very difficult to recommend.

Backside

The first step for cracking open any laptop is to remove the battery. The 2GoPC just has a couple of sliders to click open.

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By Mark Kaelin

Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic.