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.

....not as a way to undercut the existing technology

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!

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...

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.

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.

Get an Apple. Aren't they cheaper?

**sigh** If only.

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...

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

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...


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.

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/ap_on_hi_te/hundred_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/hundred_dollar_laptop.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:

folders are not the organizing metaphor on these machines, unlike most computers since Apple Computer Inc. launched the first Mac in 1984. The knock on folders is that they force users to remember where they stored their information rather than what they used it for.

Instead, the XO machines are organized around a "journal," an automatically generated log of everything the user has done on the laptop. Students can review their journals to see their work and retrieve files created or altered in those sessions.

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/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070130_606447_page_2.htm

I think when you've got shared use, where you've invested in the training and the network and all that, you should have a fully capable machine.

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/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070130_606447_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

One of the hardware designers, lamenting that the antennas of traditional laptops were buried in the display screen, asked if he could liberate them to increase range. But industrial designers worried that external antennas would be too fragile. At about the same time, Quanta suggested a locking mechanism for the laptop that designers thought was not child-friendly or durable enough. After several iterations, the antennas now stick up like rabbit ears, but they also serve as latches to hold the laptop closed. And they fold down to cover the USB ports and microphone jacks, acting as dust covers. As of the last test, the antennas could survive a 5-foot drop, open. Best, they pick up signals from a half-mile away and then act as routers to bounce signals along, even when the computer is off. The idea is that a single connection in a school could reach an entire community by bouncing from one laptop to the next.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm

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...