$100 laptop?

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

http://www.eweek.com/slideshow/0,1206,pg=0&s=26006&a=174980,00.asp

It's obvious that they haven't factored in the cost of support. One call could easily cost as much as the laptop.

Comments

[ozdeadmeat.livejournal.com]

hmmm, well here is hoping its got a long life battery. Powerpoints are pretty rare in 3rd world countries.

[jecook]

The power brick has a crank in it to generate it's own electricity.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Why call? All the US's tech support reps LIVE in third-world countries.

[teraflops.livejournal.com]

I don't think wages for support folks are going to be very high in 3rd world countries. Plus, a lot of these things are going places where there might be one or two phone per villiage, and calling out won't be much of an option. Anyway, who knows, it might force the kids using them to figure stuff out for themselves and breed a new generation of technically savvy, self-sufficent users :-)

[jecook]

I've been following this for a while, mostly because I like innovative product that are priced such that I could afford on on the pittance that I'm usually paid. :)

It's a really neat concept, but I don't think it'll really fly, simply because Apple tried it with the education market and failed miserably. Everyone remember the eMate? neat concept, but it just didn't work out.


Looking at the concept, I see:

On board power generation (in theory, 6 minutes cranking on the generator will give you an hour's worth of run time.) an offboard solution such as a foot pedal has also been suggested as well (which would probably be easier to manipulate- most people have more strentgh in their legs.) the ability to recharge from a car has also been suggested.
7" dual mode LCD (color mode for playing DVD and a B&W for other uses)
The machine is supposed to run a stripped down version of linux with "some form" of GUI on it. What GUI that is has not been decided. it'll all have to fit in 512 MB of flash memory, though.

I'm hoping the project is a sucess, and that they make a version of it availible for geeks who like toys for say $150 or so (with the excess money going to offset the countries that can't quite afford the $100)

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Heh we have an eMate in the collection.

For operating system something like puppy linux would do fine in that sort of hardware and having an optomised version just for that particular hardware config would make it even better. It's already doing that job fine on systems like our old ThinkPad T23 - 512 mb ram, 256mb flash key (though I've thought about taking a 2.5" ide to CF adaptor and putting it in the HD slot so there's nothing sticking out). Boots off a 3.5" cd and due to the fact that you only use the CD for booting you're getting more battery life by not using the hd. That's with a screen that's 4 times the size (14") of the 7".

How ever it's going to have to be reliable. Sure you can build a notebook that meets the specs that have laid out for cheap how ever I don't see the hardware being rugged/reliable for $100usd.

Also with out the other stuff (printer, network, internet, etc) the $100 computer may as well be a plastic paperweight.

Plus what is a person in the 3rd world going to do with it? Primarily it's best use would be a research/communications device but you are going to need some sort of network/internet connection for that. As a learning tool, well we managed for a long time now to teach people with out computers how to read and write, I don't believe the computer will help much judging on the quality of the average person graduating from the North American educational system these days. Looking at the tickets from our North American agents many of them can barely spell, and then there's grammar... I think they're trying to scratch an itch that isn't there yet. First we should be concentrating on getting their population under control, diseases in check, and being self sustaining food wise. A $100 laptop isn't going to do that.

This project would be better suited to underdeveloped areas where you can get a network connection. Certain parts of US cities have been described as third world conditions.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

The ability of the things to automatically connect together to create ad-hoc networks is pretty cool, especially in a classroom situation in less fortunate countries where networking and such isn't necessarily an option.

The purpose of them more seems to be to provide computing capabilities to poor countries, in order to further the educational opportunities in those countries...it's less about providing a new toy for geeks. :)

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

You can greatly reduce support costs by eliminating options, and making hardware more redundant and rugged. For instance, no choice of sound or video, you get what's on the mobo and like it. All I/O happens with a row of USB slots across the back. If if doesn't come with USB, you don't worry about it. Put that LCD behind a 1/4" plexiglass sandwich. cheap keyscaps on top of a memberane switches that can be operated by finger if the keys are destroyed. Animal icons on function keys and on menu selections.