The $100 Laptop (by Jodi-Ann Smith)

The $100 Linux-based, full colour, full screen laptop designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one like no other. It will use four USB ports, a dual mode display, and a hand crank to provide power in places where electricity is unreliable or unavailable. Its current specifications are include a 500 MHz AMD processor, and 1 gigabyte of memory. When used outdoors the display screen shifts from full color to glare-resistant black and white. To avoid being easily damaged the laptops come equipped with a rubber case that closes tightly.

It is said to have all the same features of a $1000 dollar laptop except for the fact that it stores less data. Therefore, how is it possible that it cost $900 less? Their first technique to lower costs is by using a novel dual mode LCD display commonly found in inexpensive DVD players. This lowers the price of the screen to about $35. A similar economical process will be applied to other laptop parts. It also helps when you sell in numbers – costs will be reduced by selling millions of laptops to ministries of education expected to distribute the computers in a one per child ratio. Discussions have already begun in countries such as China, Brazil, Thailand and Egypt, who see the laptop as a way to further the intellectual development of the children.

As wonderful as this project sounds, many are skeptical and are asking questions such as "Why is it so important for each child to have a computer?" and "What’s wrong with community- access centers?" The people at MIT have responded by comparing the laptop to a pencil – each child must have their own. They believe it is a powerful, inexpensive tool to assist with learning. Like a pencil, it is used for work, play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. It is seen as a means for children to learn in a way like never before, and to give opportunities that are not normally presented to them.

The idea was brought about by Professor Nicholas Negroponte, of the US, who donated a slue of notebook computers to a poor village in Cambodia. His idea of the $100 laptop later came about when he saw how beneficial it was for the children to have notebook computers to use at school and then take home. He sees the laptop as window into the world and a tool to think for these children. It is a way for them to learn through independent interaction and exploration, and to have the opportunity to use technology like children in developed countries do. An independent non-profit organization known as One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has been funding research at the MIT Media Lab to better develop the laptop. They have gathered information from developing countries like Cambodia.

Professor Negroponte and his team are also busy creating ideas to keep the laptop from being stolen or sold off in poor countries. He plans to make them so distinctive that if someone other than a teacher or student was seen with one they would be quickly noticed as thieves. He compared it to filching a mail truck or taking something from a church: everyone would know where it came from.

Although they are still in the design stage Negroponte hopes to have shipments ready by the end of 2006 or early 2007. However, he will not begin manufacturing them until 5 to 10 million laptops have been ordered and paid for in full. To give a glimpse of the finished product he will release a prototype on 15 November 2005.

The laptop can be looked at as an innovative idea to help developing nations, or as a way to fool the meager and make the rich more prosperous. Whether we choose to appreciate the positive aspects or make judgments as to how effective it will be, the fact is no one, not even Negroponte, can predict the results. The fate of the MIT $100 laptop is left in the hands of the children.

Sources

Riccuti, Mike. "The $100 Laptop moves closer to reality." C|Net News. 28 Sep. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://news.com.com/The+100+laptop+moves+closer+to+reality/2100-1044_3-5884683.html.

"Sub-$100 laptop design unveiled". BBC News. 29 Sep. 2005. 5 Nov. 2005. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4292854.stm>.

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