Nicholas Negroponte showed off the latest prototypes of the fabled $100 PC. It's not longer a $100 PC, however. The ruggedized, two pound Linux desktop (Fedora) system, with mesh networking will sell for about $130 to $140 ([before] shipping) to governments starting in April 2007. Negroponte expects to reach the $100 price point by the end of 2008.
The colorful system can turn into a tablet, and Negroponte said that it "will run like a bat out of hell." Pricing depends on how much RAM, but key is the display, he added. "It has to be sunlight readable. That won't be done until August/September."
Then there will be a beauty contest among three systems and go into manufacturing for shipping, he said. Current seven countries are evaluating the system. The most enthusiastic are Nigeria, Brazil, Thailand and Argentina. In addition, China, India and Egypt have shown interest, as well as Russia, Mexico and Indonesia. Negroponte said that manufacturing has to reach 5 to 6 million to get scale pricing.
Pictures: Click here
News source: ZDNet Blog
The colorful system can turn into a tablet, and Negroponte said that it "will run like a bat out of hell." Pricing depends on how much RAM, but key is the display, he added. "It has to be sunlight readable. That won't be done until August/September."
Then there will be a beauty contest among three systems and go into manufacturing for shipping, he said. Current seven countries are evaluating the system. The most enthusiastic are Nigeria, Brazil, Thailand and Argentina. In addition, China, India and Egypt have shown interest, as well as Russia, Mexico and Indonesia. Negroponte said that manufacturing has to reach 5 to 6 million to get scale pricing.
Pictures: Click here News source: ZDNet Blog
As an aside, do we get a choice of colour schemes? I'm not liking that orange too much...
Seems that I have read the per-unit price was estimated to be $80 a year or two further in the timeline.
EDIT: Projected to be "$50 by 2010". (source)
.....
That’s right and children NEED bright colours to overwhelm them and treat them like kids.
IMO I think this is a terrible idea. (both the bright colours and the laptop)
Guess they need to tap into new "Markets" some how and why not start with the kids, give them bright coloured toys.
In a world where people can't afford basic medicine of food, were trying to hook them onto technology......
"Then there will be a beauty contest among three systems and go into manufacturing for shipping, he said."
The laptop he is showing is just the prototype.
So many people miss the point of this device.
If these become handouts, who's to say that a poor family won't resell it for food or something?
You gotta be alive to use a laptop.
Except Vista Ultimate isn't meant for low end PCs. DUR da DUR!!!!!!!!
However, get it like the rest of us will. Viva la MSDN.
Hell, if it is decent, I'd buy one for my little brother, if I could.
Those who can save up will not consider buying this since its not something they need. LOL they will infact sell it to someone else for more money.
And by the way one can get a much much better computer starting from RS.10000 which includes WindowsXP Pro w/ SP2 for $2 bucks more!
Even if a school can't afford any, the government might just give them to schools.
The minimum order quantity is 1 million.
Remember what AOL did to the internet when it brought millions of stupid people on-line. Hopefully this will be even better, when hilarity ensues with wacky hijinks from the third world!
Yea, it was a flipping spelling mistake. My bad, didn't check over what I typed...I hate hip hop.
You think politicians <i>want</i> to save money?
your assuming that the kids have a school to go to and that the teacher can actually use a PC.
Well, we have to remember that this laptop isn't merely aimed at individual families. They are also aimed at community centers or perhaps groups of familes. Even if one family can't buy one, perhaps a school could afford to buy a few.
yeah, but in a world where
How about we worry about getting these nations clean food and water. I've been to the rougher parts of these nations.
I think clean food and water is more important!!!!!!
I'm glad I have finally read some comments that have said that "trying to tap into the thrid world market" is
a) not going to work
b) basic living standards are more important
if this did work, it will just prove how evil the market really is....
Hell, I have relatives in China that live in the city and have perfectly drinkable water, but they don't have a computer because all the computers on the market are too expensive.
Just because the world is seperated into First and Third world nations doesn't mean that all Third world nations are the same. Not everyone third world nation is a bottomless pit of dirty and poverty. There are areas of grey that you are not even considering.
j/k But it will never happen!!!
badazzEVO8, why is it ludacris?!
My laptop is plastic. Whats wrong with their laptop being plastic?
Would you rather it be made of metal so it can rust and weight three times more?
Is that a good thing?
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