Sub-$100 laptop design unveiled

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4292854.stm

The laptop will be tough and foldable in different ways, with a hand crank for when there is no power supply.

Professor Negroponte came up with the idea for a cheap computer for all after visiting a Cambodian village.

His non-profit One Laptop Per Child group plans to have up to 15 million machines in production within a year.

A prototype of the machine should be ready in November at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia.

Children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, and South Africa will be among the first to get the under-$100 (£57) computer, said Professor Negroponte at the Emerging Technologies conference at MIT.

I do hope some of those laptops get to Nigeria someway at about the same price. It may be the way out for a lot of Nigerian students.

Its going to come down to Nigeria. Its a great development to Human being (especially third world nation).

And a way out for windows OS.

its £57..oh i gatta get that one instead of buying the £400 one

Amazing!

A hundred dollar!!!! I am so getting it. Where is it at?? This is amazing!

I dont think it can do much... seems like it's for high school kids only.

Yeah...me think so too

Yeah, but sadly, it's never going to be retailed. Never going to go out on sale for the public.

But why?

That's a welcome development but who says it won't get to the market? If here in Nija, it will. In fact you'll be very surprised to see it in abundance. It's just a matter of time.

But anyways, it's a welcome development.

am waiting for it to land in nigeria.

It's truly not going to go into the market for you to buy, Cushman and Otokx. "Please note: these laptops are not in production. They are not—and will not—be available for purchase by individuals." A comment on the official site of MIT Media Lab.

Read it for yourself though; http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

Mr Farriel, i didn't disagree with you. What i'm trying to say is that those lap tops will surely find their way into the market. especially in a country like Nigeria - things can easily be diverted into the wrong hands.

instead of diverting these laptops into the wrong hands. . .why doesn't someone figure out a way to make a similar one. Then, all you need to do is raise the start up capital to create a prototype and start production on it.

sub $100 laptops exist - the trick is that most people are not interested in them and most laptop's require supply to power eventually to charge the batteries.

The reason these laptops are so "great" is because they can be powered manually and the screen comsumes very little power.

There are color laptops with 640x480 resolution color screens, 300MHz or faster processors, 1-10GB hard drives, 96-256MB ram for under $300, but most people wouldn't buy them.

Let's all pray that if it eventually gets to Naija, it'ld be for the same price.

Nice price, compared with the price some of us paid to get one

you also have to remember that it isn't the same as a regular laptop, you're getting a pc that can't do as much as a more expensive one...

Also I would be dissapointed if the manufacturing was devirted to make cheap laptops available in the US etc.

I doubt if established laptop makers will ever make this project to see the light of the day.

It's cute tho!

Wow this is amazing. The laptop is cool; I am getting it for my lilttle sister.

iro lon kpa,its too cheap..

of course it wont do much but who knows again. hopefully it lands naija, and you know they may spike it sef.

[b][color=#006600]hey! if that is true, then it must come to nigeria, wait! IT WILL COME TO NIGERIA!!! becos as students we need it, something less expensive to be able to work with, abi no b so[/b][/color]

Some people in here are so carried away with the promise of a $100 laptop. Have any of you think about how "big" $100 is. Many can't even afford their daily bread talkless of getting $100. Untill people are empowered stuffs like this will continue to be rich mans toys.

I think there is a $300 dollar product by AMD and Radioshack according to this news.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005104_6877_tc024.htm

I am already discussing with AMD on bringing this Nigeria.

Dont call it a laptop. Just say it's a calculator. since it can't do what most laptops today would do.

Anyways it's a good innovation.

A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis. He plans to have millions of machines in production within a year.

The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning. "Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction - they will be able to open up new fronts for their education, particularly peer-to-peer learning," said Mr Annan.

Read the rest here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4445060.stm

But how cheap is $100 in Nigeria expecially for primary schools pupils.

Agree completely with fregene and joftech, this sounds like a movie i watched some days ago "the first 20 million dollars is always the hardest " these tech guys decided to invent a laptop that costs just 99 dollars, they did eventually in spite of oppositions from many angles ( u know movies now- the good guys win out in the end). However a laptop that's as cheap as that! come on! there's no free lunch anywhere! it's 2 good 2 b true.

Anyone heard of the UN's $100 laptop project ?

Also referred to as the "one laptop per child project",
this initiative is the brain-child of MIT media lab brain-box, Prof Nickolas
(or is it John..?) Negroponte. The laptops apparently is ruggedized,
works with minimal power requirement, and can be powered by simply
cranking attached hand lever for 5 to 10 minutes at a time!

Anyways, what is more significant is, I hear, Nigeria has been short-listed
as one of the recipients in the first production batch of about 15 million units.

Interesting how excited everybody is about this.

Why not just purchase a real refubished laptop for the same price?

http://www.pcsurplusonline.com/ has laptops for as little as $59. But then again, shipping to Nigeria may not be so easy.