Intel Corp. said Tuesday its diminutive low-cost laptop will be evaluated in Brazil next year alongside a cheaper alternative from a nonprofit group seeking to bring computers to poor children worldwide.

The company said it would donate 700 to 800 of the $400 "Classmate PCs" to the government for a large evaluation in schools. Intel has already tested the computers on a smaller scale with students and teachers in a poor neighborhood of Campinas, near Sao Paulo.

Elber Mazaro, marketing director for Intel in Brazil, said this marked the first time the company had reached an agreement with any government for this kind of testing.

Intel's laptop is about half the size of a traditional laptop, weighs 2.9 pounds, and has a seven-inch color screen. It has wireless Internet capability and employs flash memory instead of a hard drive, but does not include a CD or DVD player.

It is not yet clear whether the laptops to be tested in the school will use Windows, Linux or a mix of the two, Mazaro said. Brazil's government favors Linux and other free open-source software in its programs to provide computers to the needy, because using Windows can drive up costs.

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