Intel's Classmate PC has undergone a makeover, featuring new hardware that makes the laptop more user-friendly than its predecessors.

The new Classmate 3 design will be more like a tablet PC, with a touch-screen interface and a display that can be swiveled, company officials said on Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

A stylus or finger can be used for data input on the screen, Intel said. Users can even rest their palms on the touch screen while using it. An accelerometer changes the orientation of the display to horizontal or vertical depending on the laptop's position, the company said.

A demonstration unit felt lighter than its predecessors and included an 8.9-inch screen and Intel's Atom N270 processor, running at 1.6GHz. It also included an integrated camera that can rotate 180 degrees.

The design of Classmate 3 has yet to be finalized, but Intel hopes to provide a longer battery life and more ruggedness with Classmate 3, Intel officials said.

The laptop will be in production by the end of the year, said Lila Ibrahim, general manager of the emerging markets platform group at Intel. The price will be higher than for its current generation of Classmates because of the touch-screen capabilities, but it may come down over time, Ibrahim said.

The Classmate PC was originally designed as an educational laptop for kids in developing countries. The current version, Classmate 2, was announced earlier this year, and Intel expanded its availability to the general market. The Classmate PC is designed as a no-frills laptop that can be used for basic applications such as surfing the Web and checking e-mail.

In India, the laptop is available under the MiLeap brand from HCL starting at Rs. 17,000 (US$390). Actronix is selling Classmate PCs in the U.K. under the JumPC brand, with prices starting at £239 (US$445).