$100 laptop

[peat moss]

Are they serious ?

The MIT Media Laboratory expects to launch a prototype of its US$100 laptop in November, according to Nicholas Negroponte, the lab's chairman and co-founder. The facility has been working with industry partners to develop a notebook computer for use by children in primary and secondary education around the world, particularly in developing countries. The laptops should start appearing in volume in late 2006.



http://www.itworld.com/Comp/1290/050928mitlaptop/

[Virtualbody1234]

That's just amazing! Every student to own a laptop. :01:

[S!X]

Id buy 1 :D

[Skiz]

The laptop can be powered either with an AC adapter or via a wind-up crank, which is stored in the housing of the laptop where the hinge is located. The laptops will have a 10 to 1 crank rate, so that a child will crank the handle for one minute to get 10 minutes of power and use.


The laptops will be ruggedized and probably made of rubber, he said.


No wonder it's gonna be $100. :unsure:

[zapjb]

I'd buy one. I read the article. They sound fantastic!

[e2000]

i think the wind-up is such a big plus for this laptop. even researchers can use this laptop in remote areas where electricity is not available. i wonder though if its gona be available for commercial use.

[zapjb]

Welcome to FST e2000. I bet you're right. Probably only for 3rd world children. I mean they need them. But damn I'd like one. That crank is so cool. The whole fn idea rocks.

[RealitY]

Nice as I could use one also...

[SingaBoiy]

The lab will initially target Brazil, China, Egypt, South Africa and Thailand, according to Negroponte, as well as the U.S. state of Massachusetts

Sweet :)

[peat moss]

I was trying to find some pictures, a link here :



http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1935


http://news.zdnet.com/2300-9588_22-5884532-10.html

[Virtualbody1234]

I was trying to find some pictures, a link here :



http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1935


http://news.zdnet.com/2300-9588_22-5884532-10.html
Nice!

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/z/200509/mit/EmergeTech10.jpg

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/z/200509/mit/EmergeTech11.jpg

[zapjb]

Damn I want one. I'm too old & not quite poor enough. At least I'm thankful for half that statement.

[peat moss]

Thank you VB , sure looks small and lite enough for a child .

[Spicker]

will be getting one....

but 500mhz? kinda...low...
im sure there will be hacks for it :lol:

but 1gb of rAM!

more than my computer heh

[twisterX]

looks cool.

[lynx]

will be getting one....

but 500mhz? kinda...low...
im sure there will be hacks for it :lol:

but 1gb of rAM!

more than my computer hehMaybe you can overclockwind it.

Clocker would probably know. ;)

[RealitY]

It’s premature to gauge how successful One Laptop per Child will be in its quest to build a laptop that will sell in bulk quantities for $100 (or eventually less). The consortium plans to sell large quantities of the inexpensive devices to governments, which will in turn distribute them to children in less affluent countries. Overall, it’s a much better solution than a rumored counterproposal from Dell, which would have required the children to come to U.S. Post Offices to pick up the computers or be charged an extra fee.

Much of the coverage of the $100 laptop has focused on its breakthrough price. However, the initiative, should it prove successful, would not only create a revolutionary learning tool for children in developing countries, but turn notebook design on its head. Backed by disruptors such as Google and AMD and a team that includes Ted Selker, who invented the TrackPoint while at IBM, it represents a portable appliance that is in some ways more versatile – at least for schoolchildren — than notebook PCs that cost ten times as much.

The prototype shown on the project’s home page looks diminutive and light, and perhaps optimized for smaller hands. The color screen will be quite small at seven inches and the keyboard looks suspect (sealed perhaps for extended use outdoors), but the computer boasts two pen input areas – a touch screen and a handwriting input area under the keyboard that may double as a trackpad. The flexibility of the cylindrical hinge provides a number of alternative viewing modes. In addition to working as a standard clamshell usage model, tablet and e-book reader, the keyboard can be folded back behind the screens for “theater-style” presentations.


The hinge also reflects a versatile power design. It should be able to accept battery power modules as well as a hand-crank. Solar power is also being discussed as a power source. And, if that weren’t clever enough, the power cord is embedded in a cover that can double as a carrying strap.

The Linux-powered laptop would support Wi-Fi and be capable of mesh networking. Its single gigabyte of flash storage with no hard drive or optical disc helps account for its thinness. Still, while backers admit that the laptop would not be able to store a lot of data relative to today’s mainstream laptops, the prototype includes four USB ports and it would in theory be relatively easy to add storage to the system via flash drives.

Educational laptop alternatives are not a new idea, but no previous offering has come close to matching this initiative’s functionality at its price point. Perhaps the most famous was Apple’s promising but expensive $800 translucent green eMate 300 based on the Newton operating system. Brainium Technologies, nee NTS Computer Systems, sold several devices focused on helping students to learn keyboarding. Its eMatesque DreamWriter IT was based on Windows CE.

Still standing is AlphaSmart Technologies, which offers three main devices ranging from the lean, mean and (again) translucent green writing machine of the AlphaSmart 3000 to the Wi-Fi-enabled PalmOS-powered Dana. In addition to students, many writers enjoy using the products for their long battery life and ruggedness. One of my favorite AlphaSmart 3000 features is the ability to connect it to a PC or Mac via USB and simply paste the contents of the file into an open word processing document. Nonetheless, even this blissfully simple word processing tool, with its four-line LCD, lists for over $200.

The One Laptop Per Child initiative has no plans to sell its brainchild to individuals; indeed, its minimum order is a million units. But why not? Even at $200 or $300 per laptop, it would likely meet a large enough market of curiosity-seekers, second or third PC tire-kickers, hackers and disadvantaged youth in richer nations to raise funds to help subsidize distribution around the globe. And if, as co-founder Nicholas Negroponte claims, one of the organization’s largest challenges will be scaling up to hundreds of millions of units, would it not make sense to start with a smaller and familiar test market?

At least in the U.S., some schoolchildren may get their hands-on time. Helping the home team, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has sought to purchase the laptops for all schoolchildren in MIT’s home state. Features such as the hand-cranked power and handwriting input would offer strong differentiation. For a device that dramatically undercuts the price of today’s mainstream notebook computers, One Laptop per Child’s proposed $100 laptop is more noteworthy for its capabilities and innovations than its limitations.
http://img.engadget.com/common/images/3060000000048044.JPG?0.20479039243773844
http://www.engadget.com/common/media/engadgetlogo.gif

[Virtualbody1234]

We already have a post about this: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/t103212.html

[RealitY]

We already have a post about this: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/t103212.html
Merged...

[Virtualbody1234]

Merged...
Thanks RealitY.

[twisterX]

i dont like that cicle part that connects the screen to the pad. It would be better liek a normal laptop

[rnichilo]

id buy one for sure

[suprafreak6]

seems odd but good for people who need a basic laptop for portability, i think i may get one

[silent h3ro]

seems odd but good for people who need a basic laptop for portability, i think i may get one
The One Laptop Per Child initiative has no plans to sell its brainchild to individuals; indeed, its minimum order is a million units. But why not? Even at $200 or $300 per laptop, it would likely meet a large enough market of curiosity-seekers, second or third PC tire-kickers, hackers and disadvantaged youth in richer nations to raise funds to help subsidize distribution around the globe.