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.

Intel had revealed plans to upgrade the laptop in an interview with the IDG News Service last month.

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.

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