Quanta Computer is one of the world's largest makers of laptops.
Now Quanta wants every child in the world to have one of their laptops, for $100 a piece.
The laptop has a 7.5 in. diagonal screen, 1,200 x 1,900 pixel display, giving it higher resolution than 95% of all other laptops.
It can be read in the sunlight and room light in a black and white mode, and in color with the backlight turned on.
It has instant on, 500 MB of flash memory and four USB ports.
But it's the price tag and functionality that gives it the most appeal. Just $100 with Wi-Fi 3-4 times the range of a typical WiFi antenna.
It can survive dropping and is water and dust resistant when sealed. A wind up device will recharge the battery for up to five years.
Mary Lou Jepson is the visionary behind this laptop and OLPC. She has been traveling the world as a non-profit entity trying to get governments everywhere to sign on.
She is succeeding.
By the end of last year, more than half the countries of the world said they were very strongly interested in acquiring laptops for the children of their countries.
The presidents of Brazil, Thailand, Argentina and Nigeria ordered 1 million units each...because of the low price, making the units cheaper than TEXTBOOKS!
The Linux based Quanta Laptop and the hardwork of OLPC may pay great dividends in the education of children worldwide.
Next up, writing software for these PCs.
Kudos to Jepson and her organization for having a vision and a plan and for working the plan to give every child a laptop.
What do you think?
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Hi there. You may want to check a few of the facts in this article. A good place to do this is at OLPC News.
It looks like the laptops will cost $140 to start with, although they should stabilise around $100 come 2008 if projected targets are met.
Mary Lou Jepson is a driving force behind the project, but Nicolas Negroponte would probably be the one described as the visionary behind it.
The wind up crank is no longer part of the design. Other alternatives are being investigated. The OLPC wiki shows some of the current thinking.
The charge will probably last a little less than 5 years. Think more along the lines of "X hours charge", not months or years.
There are no confirmed orders as yet. The reports to this effect were a case of over zealous reporting to (or by) ZDNet earlier this month; OLPC have since backtracked over the matter.
$100 dollars buys a number of text books. Given that the minimum order requirement for governments ordering OLPC laptops is rumoured to be 1 million laptops, $140 million buys a even more.
Posted by: davehat | August 22, 2006 7:07 AM | Permalink to Comment