The $100 Laptop
 

My uncle is one of the principles in an initiative to develop a $100 laptop, which is being designed not as a way to undercut the existing technology for but specifically to get computers in the hands of those who can't afford it, particularly in undeveloped countries. I had a conversation about it with him recently, and he told me that by relaxing the stringent guidelines the major manufacturers have in QC (for instance, active pixel count and screen brightness uniformity) by just 10%, the cost drops radically.

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

It's pretty fascinating stuff. Also check out the link for Electronic Ink in that article--that one is hard to wrap the mind around (for me at least!) but fascinating also, very science-fiction-y.

As a young child in the early 70's the MIT Artifical Intelligence Lab was my playground--I have memories of robotic hands here, computer-controlled "turtles" zipping around on plotter paper there, all sorts of nifty stuff for the day.

Can you edit native HD with it?

Somebody had to ask ;)

Hey Charles, my dad is about to work with another company who are putting together a third world computer using basic parts, all open source software. I'll pass this link onto him.

What's wrong with that? I'm all for competition especailly after dropping $3300.00 on my workstation; sides Microsoft has a Monopoly and it's time someone cut into it.

I showed that link to a friend, and his reaction was that Bill Gates would never sit still while hundreds of millions of cheap linux computers were distributed, and he would probably do something to undermine the effort...

now there is a great idea or a documentary if i ever saw one,

follow the life the 100 dollar laptop fron conception through production struggles all the way to some kids shack in cambodia, where it becomes the focal point of the family, and they decide to buy pink fuzzy slippers on ebay...

I was told that Dell has already got a task force working on a competing version, but they are getting stuck around the $300 mark.

Fuzzy pink slippers--hee hee!

L M A O!

Charles; is this a laptop for sale in America? And what kind of power and speedare we talking?

Charles,

Very interesting... thanks for the info. Wow, quite a playground you had.

It's funny, I think all the time that the laptop I had 8 years ago would still be fine for most applications - word processing, email, etc - anything text-based. The software just keeps getting more and more bulky, requiring more and more hardware. Cheap is really doable... I look forward to what they come up with.

And yes, that EInk thing is crazy... have you seen it in action?

John:

See the article--I think it will answer those questions.

Get an Apple. Aren't they cheaper?

**sigh** If only.

That's really funny--and clever, Robert! The "becomes the focal point" phrase reminded me of "The Gods Must Be Crazy," or old Star Trek episodes when the Enterprise crew violated the prime directive. :)

Very interesting! Chas, you and your family are quite cool people, for lack of better adjectives.

heath

And then watch in horror as Microsoft crushes their efforts, sending Cambodians fleeing back into their thatched huts to tend to their dusty looms and pottery wheels.

Microsoft would NEVER do that! After all, they don't sell dusty looms and pottery wheels.

Cheers,
-Matt

This was out in my late teens... we called it the Timex 1000. Some folks called it the T/S 1000 (Timex Sinclair)

The only reason I mention that is that it had a TV based output and not a moniotr or LCD screen output. Maybe it's time someone made a very small box that could hook up to your TV rather than a monitor? It should shave dome cost of the video output circuits as RF modulators are cheap.

It wouldn't be a laptop then but it would help with making hardware cheaper. Apparently resolution isn't really an issue if you are wiling to compromise on quality specs. Also, TVs are generally better now.

Just a thought.

Sean McHenry

Revealed:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050928/..._dollar_laptop

heath

When I read this article I remembered Charles' old thread and thought people might be interested in an update:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061231/hundr...ptop.html?.v=4

Looks like it will be a $150 laptop for now, but the specs and user interface are pretty interesting and not what I would have expected:

Well, well, wouldn't you know. The cheapest computer on the planet would be the one to re-invent the principle on which saved information is organized and presented to the user.

Well Bill Gates doesn't seem to be too impressed with the whole concept (which shouldn't come as much of a surprise).... see his remarks in the following interview:

http://yahoo.businessweek.com/techno...447_page_2.htm

"We're much more about enabling partner innovation. If you believe in partner innovation, you might say, hmm, that's why the Windows PC has 95% market share. "

And this is the reason I am still updating XP which will not work seemlessly with all of my 'partner software.'

Updating this old thread yet again with an interesting article from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0507/100_print.html

$100 Laptop Goes Into production!
 

It really is a stunning idea and story. I hope some one takes the initiative and makes the documentary...

To bad I'm an ocean away...