Experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are designing a durable laptop computer that will cost about $100.
MIT Media Lab leader Nicholas Negroponte hopes to give the machines, which would be durable, flexible and self-reliant, to needy children around the world.
The machine’s A-C adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there’s no electricity. They’d be foldable into more positions than traditional notebook PCs, and carried like slim lunchboxes.
For outdoor reading, their display would be able to shift from full color to glare-resistant black and white.
And surrounding it all, the laptops would have a rubber casing that closes tightly, because “they have to be absolutely indestructible,” said Negroponte
While the initial target for these is students in the developing world, schools in the US are natural end-users, as well.
Negroponte hatched the $100 laptop idea after seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school that they could also take home to use on their own.
Those computers had been donated by a foundation run by Negroponte and his wife. He decided that for kids everywhere to benefit from the educational and communications powers of the Internet, someone would have to make laptops inexpensive enough for officials in developing countries to bulk purchase.
To save on software costs, the laptops would run the freely available Linux operating system instead of Windows.
The computers would be able to connect to Wi-Fi wireless networks and be part of “mesh” networks in which each laptop would relay data to and from other devices, reducing the need for expensive base stations. Plans call for the machines to have four USB ports for multimedia and data storage.
Perhaps the defining difference is the hand crank, though first-generation users would get no more than 10 minutes of juice from one minute of winding.
It’s also designed to look and be utilitarian — instead of a fashion statement — which may hinder acceptance here in the States.
100 dollars, wow! So, Dell, HP, etc do have a big profit margin….
This is getting so much damn press. When MIT actually sells a $100 system I can ACTUALLY buy, it’ll be a story. Until then it’s just BS.
I think its a great idea!!! It will do more to change this world for the better than lots of other things for the same money.
As far as acceptance in the states, I see no problem. Most people I know (of ALL ages) could give a rat’s butt about how their computer looks, as long as it works.
I have a 10 year old god daughter who’s a tiny little thing, who carries around tens of pounds in her backpack everyday. I’ve been advocating for years that the entire nation should standardize on e-books with a relatively inexpensive e book reader with basic computing capabilities.
He’s at least half smart.
Wind up ipods next? I know a woman with a wind up radio. It even has a flashlight built in and gets the weather band, all for under 25 bucks. It won’t fit in your pocket though.
I think this is wonderful. I just hope that it really happens. This could help out in so much more ways than just for third world countries. Just think of how it would help OUR children in THIS country. Lets focus on that. This country’s children should be the number one priority, not another nations. All those urban children who don’t have a computer in their home, let alone a laptop, would profit from this. I think its a great idea and I hope that its not smoke just being blown up our you know whats…
Sure, you can find laptops for $100 or less. It may be using 80286 technology, but old tech is cheap. For what most schoolkids need to do, non-GUI operating systems will do the job at very low cost.
For the rest of us, most people don’t care that much how pretty their laptop is – but they don’t want to be running Olde Technology if they can help it. Today’s applications are happiest with major computing muscle – and that’s going to be unavailable with a $100 price tag.
I wonder if they are easier to dispose of? With that price they’ll be throw aways for those rich enough to buy the next series.
Aren’t the screens more than $100 by themself? The only big ticket I’ve seen them take away is MS, and instead they seem to be adding features for which Apple charges $1000.
The only way to get a price near this is to produce millions of the things. The amount of flash memory alone to hold the OS, applications and data would be costly. I don’t think American schools are going to be that interested in these. The countries that would be interested, still couldn’t afford them in large volume. It’s a noble effort, but I’m not sure if these computers in a Rwandan village school would be more helpful than teacher training and basic supplies. The greatest minds I can think of lived and died before the transistor. American schools have proved that the presence of computers in the school is no guarantee of success.
I just can’t wait for this laptop project to be crippled by an army of corporate lawyers bitching about patent issues.
No, the screens themselves aren’t really that expensive to produce.
As far as flash memory goes, how much do you think is needed? Many LiveCD’s are under 700MB and come with more than enough programs than students need. They don’t want to allow a lot of room or kids will have all kinds of crap on them.
I’ve seen and used computers in remote village huts to horrid urban slums and they are always cobbled-together generic Win-boxes. I can’t remember seeing ANY laptops and for good reason.
WinBoxes can be serviced in dumpy back-alley computer shops by swapping-out the faulty component. And they often need fixing! The humidity and dust are just killers on computers.
So what would _I_ design for the developing world?
I’d go for the “Ford Falcon” of computers… something bare bones, biggish and clunky, but easily fixed at home, by amatures, with components that easily pop in-and-out with no tools.
But the weakness of WinBoxes is the power… in many developing countries the electricity drops to 75 volts then spikes to 275 volts and then goes out all together… often in a matter of seconds!
The battery doesn’t need to be high-tech. It could just be a motorcycle battery. Come to think of it… better yet, would a 12 volt computer and each user decides how to power it, depending on the local situation. (Because of cars, everybody seems to know 12 volts.)
(And, of course, the OS has to be price-competitive with a pirated copy of Windows which is about $2 in most countries!)
Count me among those that could not give a “rat’s ass” about the looks. If it works and has the hardware I need then I want one. And designer rubber black is fine by me.
A few points:
– for this to be actually as useful as their creators wish it to be, people in those poor countries have to learn to speak english, if only to be able to benefit from what’s on the Internet. The Internet is mostly in English, and most useful stuff is in English. Software first editions are also usually in english. I was fortunate to live in a country where I could learn english as a second language from age 10, but in many countries this may not be the rule.
– flash memory is far from indestructible. It has a limit on read/write cycles (I think it’s 1 million?) which may look high, but when you consider that these computers may be used for a long, long time (is 10 years would be expected?) it may not be enough.
– old tech is cheap, but it can also be quite effective. I own a very old Mac LC 475, running System 7.5, and it has my favorite UI of all PCs I’ve ever used. Not perfect, of course, but I challenge anyone to come up with anything – except games – that can’t be done on that little Mac. Not my current PC, of course, it’s CMOS battery died a long time ago and I can’t find a spare…
– and finally, being so utilitarian may not be ‘in’ in the US, but it can end up having the charm of the old VW Beetles, and therefore becoming extremely popular, even if only for a very short period – a passing fad.
>> – for this to be actually as useful as their creators wish it to be, people in those poor countries have to learn to speak English, if only to be able to benefit from what’s on the Internet.
This is only partly true. In India most of the computer users I know do speak English enough to manage the OS, but they have a “Romanized” version of their own mother tongue, whatever that might be.
A huge problem is that there are often no standards in Romanized transliteration. Even though I can limp along in Hindi, I often can’t make ANY SENSE of Romanization Hindi. It’s like 500 years ago in English when spelling was pretty free form.
So, it would be very helpful if scholars would develop standardized ways to type local languages on a standard QWERTY keyboard. But most scholars are old-farts and find Romanization offensive and would actively oppose teaching it in school.
But, in my observation, ASCII (or ANSI.. whatever) has more than enough characters to faithfully reproduce any spoken language. And most of the younger generation are not at all offended by it. They just want to SMS and IM each other so they are making it up as they go.
Why does cheap computing always tout benefitting underpriveleged children? If it’s so hard to get these kids into schools to start with, how does a computer help? Are we going to send kids in Ruwanda to University of Phoenix Online? A good education is based upon human interaction between instructor and student. A computer is basically an instructional aid at best., and as evidenced in US school districts that try to secure OS changes on their machines (unsuccessfully), computers become distractions. If we’re really interested in properly educating the third world, let’s send them hundreds or thousands of volunteer teachers!
My point is that there is another agenda behind building a $100 machine (or at least the intended target audience is way off target). It may have more to do with changing the economic fundamentals of computing, with a tertiary affect of dislodging Microsoft in this niche market. (They should “do an Apple” and add a sub-circuit that would prevent the installation of Windows on the computer!) Anyway, the low price tag would seem to remove any possibility of adding in much of a profit margin in the production of these things, so forget it being designed or built in the United States or Europe. That being so, why is MIT all over it?
Whatever the point to it is, it has little to do with helping the third world.
I’m came from a third world country, I just hope this will push through, I’m pretty sure this can help most of the people in our country. At least four students are sharing a book in public schools there. I also hope that there are foundations who can help us. Most of the students there can not afford this for $100.
wow………………………………….i wish this would come out in stores