Entries Tagged '$100 Laptop' ↓

As you all probably saw a bit ago, the One Laptop Per Child project officially announced consumer sales of their laptops starting November 12. The way it works is that if you donate $200 to buy a laptop for a child in a developing country, you can buy one for yourself for $200. In other words, for $400 you can buy the $100 laptop.

See that last sentence up there. That’s me being cynical. I see where they’re coming from here and hope they sell many of these. I really do believe that getting technology into the hands of those who otherwise wouldn’t is a great thing. I’m just not sure it’s for me.
As I’ve said in a previous post, these are actually pretty cool devices technology wise. They’re durable, have crazy battery life, and some interesting charging ideas. They are small enough they might even make a decent e-book reader. I’m just not sure it’s worth $400 to me. I’m all for donating to charity, but I’ll probably pass on this deal.

I’m curious to what others think about this. Is anyone out there going to buy one (or should I say two) of these devices?

By now you have probably heard about the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s goal of mass producing a affordable laptop (their initial goal was $100, but it will probably be $150) especially for children of the developing world.

The more I hear about these laptops, the more I want one. It’s designed to be durable, very efficient (supposedly it will have a 12 hour battery life), and will come with at least two of three options: a crank, a pedal, or a pull-cord. In other words it’s just a cool piece of technology. It turns out I may be able to get one of these after all. According to this article I saw yesterday on Boing Boing, the XO laptop may launch at $350 by Christmas. The article also states that the laptop may sell for as much as $550.

If this does indeed go on sale for $350, I would buy one immediately. I’m not so sure about the $550. There is something about buying a device that costs $150 to produce for $550 that just doesn’t sit right with me. On the plus side, any profits from the sales would be put towards the goal of providing these machines to people in developing countries.

Here are the specs for the XO.

So, what is you opinion. Would you be interested in buying one of these laptops?