News Digital guru floats sub-$100 PC

First there was the AMD PIC - a basic stripped down desktop for the developing world. Now, a basic laptop, aimed at the same 'market'. This from the beeb:

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of MIT's Media Labs, says he is developing a laptop PC that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53).

He told the BBC World Service programme Go Digital he hoped it would become an education tool in developing countries.

He said one laptop per child could be " very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family, village and neighbourhood".

He said the child could use the laptop like a text book.

He described the device as a stripped down laptop, which would run a Linux-based operating system,

"We have to get the display down to below $20, to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel.

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Rear projection laptop screen? Sounds intriguing...

 

Sound interesting i wish i had a laptop instead of books for school

 

I'm sure it won't be a powerhouse or anything, but most people don't need that anyways. It could be a huge stride forward in spreading technology. I guess it'll be a linux/openoffice type of setup as an OEM XP home licence costs about that and we know how much MS likes their money.

They were talking about minimizing the cost of the display.... aren't OLEDs supposed to be really cheap once they're ready?

 

everyone at my 6th form gets an RM laptop while they're there (brand new 6th form, we were the first year so loads of money around ) and whilst they're great in certain lessons like computing (duh ) and for taking notes they're of limited use in say sciences or maths as its too slow to make notes, a tablet pc would probably work much better there.
you also need the teachers to use them properly, some teachers (notably the younger ones ) tend to put sheets/exam papers etc etc up on the 'learning platform' (some crappy website thing that you log into and can share files) which is very useful, but some teachers just ignore them and dont change their teaching style at all
tbh last year i spent far more time playing Red Alert 2 on my laptop than doing work (i do have ninja fast alt+tab skills now though )

 

Does anyone remember the luggable? That was rear-projection

 

When he says projection, I think he really means projection, not some sort of CRT...

One of my daydreams is designing a super-cheap handheld computing platform. The limiting factor is always the screen - processors, support chips, RAM, ROMs, casing... you can assemble something workable (no, it's not gonna play Doom3, obviously) for a pretty low price. The thing is, you have to at least double that price to add just a very small 160x120 black-and-white passive LCD display with rubbish refresh, which no-one wants.

I've had a few ideas about doing projectorish-type things, but most of them aren't really workable in a handheld format. The idea would be that it's collapsed pretty much flat for storage, you see? But in a laptop-size format, I can see it working, sure. Pretty cheaply too -- in mass-production -- for a fair quality colour display, roughly equivalent to 480x320, 15-25 fps. Maybe better, if you get someone who knows more about the technology than me to have a go at it

Actually, come to think of it, in the numbers he's discussing, that reflective microchip thing might be an option, and a damn good one too. You know, the one where the surface is covered in tiny electromagnetically-adjusted mirrors in a grid, then you flash red, green and blue lights onto it in rapid succession, and the chip can reflect a colour image onto a screen. I saw it once on "Beyond 2000" before it was cancelled due to ironic title and probably poor ratings (I think "Tomorrow's World" is similar for the Brits here).

Nezuji

 

What?

 

As in a projector that projects the image onto the back of the screen - not the set of electron guns and the phosphur with all the funky magnets.

 

i wonder what the quality of the screen will be like. and what foot print it will be. if they can get to market with one that cheap. they will get my business.

 

Sarcasm...

Nezuji's original comment was a bit of teaching grandma to suck eggs - explaining to GOO what a rear projection screen was - and he mistyped so that it didn't even make sense anyway.

 

I apologise if you feel that my post was condescending to GOO or anyone else. I didn't intend it to be taken that way: I still sometimes get caught out by the fact that in a text medium, you lose vocal inflection, and re-reading it I can easily see how you might read that sentence and feel that it's condescending. Actually, I was addressing anyone and everyone, GOO's quote was just there to show my jumping-off point, so to speak. Additionally, I was suffering from a genuine misconception as to just how rear-projection TV works. After I read your post, Meanmotion, I went and looked it up; boy was I wrong! However, if I merely change that first line to...

... then I can still stand by it.

Sorry for the confusion/percieved insult!

Nezuji

 

Insulted? Moi? You'd know if I was insulted.

Oh - and I know what rear projection is.

Still an intriguing idea though.

 

these good laptops would be berfect for schools, plus some software for blocking games and stuff. the cheaper price would be good and they could put all the books on it. I currently use my ibm X40 in school mostly for stuff like this a homeworld2 but ociansily I take notes or somehting productive.
"We put in 25 laptops three years ago , only one has been broken, the kids cherish these things, it's also a TV a telephone and a games machine, not just a textbook." a qoute form the bbc website. this would not work for the states at least becuase nobody would do any work and they would be soon removed(the tv telephone and game part).
Currently in science class

 

The difference is, in the US and the UK most kids have access to at least a phone or a TV. I think these are aimed mainly at school in areas where the idea of owning you own TV is a daydream. These added features multiply the value of the laptop 100 fold. Just think how proud a kid would be, first being smart enough to get into a school that is participating in this and second for being able to bring all that into his home.

 

Wow, sounds like a seriously streamlined machine (as far as cost goes).

 

Didn't it say they were going to run a linux variant?

 

That's cool man, just thought it was funny.

 

clearly not RM laptops then, i dont think there was a single one that didnt die at least once last year
mine broke twice (hard drive failure both times)
my m8 broke his, got a spare, broke that, got another spare, broke that, got the first spare back, broke that and finally got his original one back (RM took 6 months to replace the ****ing hard drive)
mine almost died earlier today
loud clunking noise + reboot, nice "operating system not found" message on boot
slapped it and it worked again
needless to say i copied everything off it....