Comments on: The $100 Laptop

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:21:26 +0000

Not just economy of scale but licensing some of the technologies that are used should bring the price down, Steve, and the lack of a hard drive pretty much guarantees reliable booting. It isn’t a large screen, so it wouldn’t satisfy hardcore users, but $200 for a reliable power out backup is a good deal when you look at the available options.

Jack, the same kind of thing would work for small police and fire departments when compared to the cost of the current in-car systems. There are ways of getting a satellite link in and all you need is one router connected to the ‘Net and everyone is on-line if it works as advertised.

By: Jack K.

Jack K. — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:21:15 +0000

…I would actually love to have one of these for my on-line stuff, were it not for the cruel irony of not having home access to high-speed internet that I could set up with a WiFi router. From a professional standpoint and aside from disaster settings, I could easily envision a ready-made application in wildland fire camps (which are frequently in remote settings without phones or electricity), where the various sections (planning, operations, transportation, purchasing, etc.) could have a linked system without having to jump through the techological hoops they have to now…

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:19:58 +0000

I read that it still costs $176 to manufacture at this point, with expected economies of scale coming into play later. At the moment, I’d settle for having an $800 laptop that booted reliably. But yes, I can see many virtues in a $100 laptop. I expect that such a device will reach the U.S. market about the same time we get universal single-payer health care, and for much the same reason.

Regarding hand-rechargeable devices, one of my two inexpensive shaker flashlights (shaker, not Shaker) died not long after I bought it. Too bad: if you didn’t mind the blue LED light, you could read for well over a half hour after about a minute’s shake-charging. These days, reading is the primary activity available to me during an extended storm, though I suppose I get a charge out of shaking the flashlight.

Then again, one could argue that I’m the crank, looking for a radio to charge.