# MIT is making a $100 laptop... take a look **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323 "2005-11-16T16:14:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/1 "2005-11-16T16:14:30Z")
Pictures here: [http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptop-images.html](http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptop-images.html) Here’s an old but very informative article on it: [http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/29/mit/index.php](http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/29/mit/index.php) It runs on electricity but it also has a crank for those times when electricity is running low. It looks very much like a toy. [I’m sorry if this has been posted before. I did a (very) quick search and didn’t come up with anything…] ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/2 "2005-11-16T16:36:31Z")
Sheeeee-it. And my first computer cost how much? With what fraction of the power and storage of this thing? I’m getting old. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/3 "2005-11-16T16:42:00Z")
What I found interesting, in the FAQ, was one of the ways they explain how they make it so cheap: > [@](#): > > Second, we will get the fat out of the systems. Today’s laptops have become obese. Two-thirds of their software is used to manage the other third, which mostly does the same functions nine different ways. First, this is amusingly written. Second, is this true of my IBM ThinkPad T40? Why isn’t this idea being implemented in all laptops? I want a streamlined laptop dammit! ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/4 "2005-11-16T16:44:17Z")
I love that the author of the article felt obliged to explain who Gutenberg is…o, tempora! O, mores! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/5 "2005-11-16T16:58:36Z")
I want one. Seriously! It sounds more than adequate to run a word processor and store any realistic amount of text a person can generate. I wonder if they’ll be willing to sell to the general public? Maybe on a special sponsorship deal: you pay $200 and you get one and one goes to their project. It’d be well worth it, I think. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/6 "2005-11-16T17:11:33Z")
I totally want one. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/7 "2005-11-16T17:37:21Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > I wonder if they’ll be willing to sell to the general public? Maybe on a special sponsorship deal: you pay $200 and you get one and one goes to their project. It’d be well worth it, I think. I was thinking precisely the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/8 "2005-11-16T17:51:34Z")
Very cool, but does it have to be so…green? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/9 "2005-11-16T18:24:06Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Very cool, but does it have to be so…green? Green is the new beige. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/10 "2005-11-16T18:29:12Z")
Maybe a partnership with Playskool? It’s the crank that makes it great, to my mind. I look at the photos and start humming “Pop Goes the Weasel”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/11 "2005-11-16T18:34:51Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > I wonder if they’ll be willing to sell to the general public? You bet! > [@](#): > > Third, we will market the laptops in very large numbers (millions), directly to ministries of education, which can distribute them like textbooks. How many million would you like? With ten million, you get a free carrying case. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/12 "2005-11-16T18:35:38Z")
Did anybody else see this on the MIT site? “In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home.” Just struck me as funny: “Turn the crank so I can see to make dinner!” Anyway, I found myself wondering if part of the strategy to get the cost down is to make it in some Third World country paying slave wages. That would be a little disappointing, given the altruistic feel of the project. Oh, and given that I live in Massachusetts, I see a better-than-even chance that my kids will be among the first to get one. Yippee! ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/13 "2005-11-16T18:36:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Green is the new beige. Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/14 "2005-11-16T18:48:36Z")
I saw a report about this on the news. People used to make jokes about “steam-powered computers”. Hook the crank up to a steam engine and you’d have one. In fact, as it is, it’s an animal-powered computer! We could have _real_ hamsters at the SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/15 "2005-11-16T18:50:34Z")
These units are basically net terminals. If you don’t have a powerful wireless broadband infrastructure and access to a server or the internet they will be mostly useless. Beyond this notebooks require careful handling and these will be no exception. Putting these relatively fragile items in the hands of children using them everyday will be an interesting exercise. As final point the price, even @ $ 100 is far too high for 3rd world kids. It’s an interesting concept but it woold work better starting with kids in industialized nations to work out the bugs. ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/16 "2005-11-16T18:55:53Z")
I question the wisdom of a village full of laptops and no electricity. (I know you can crank the thing, I’m just talking priorities) ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/17 "2005-11-16T18:58:16Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > I want one. Seriously! It sounds more than adequate to run a word processor and store any realistic amount of text a person can generate. > > I wonder if they’ll be willing to sell to the general public? Maybe on a special sponsorship deal: you pay $200 and you get one and one goes to their project. It’d be well worth it, I think. Well, there’s a similar option available now, but it costs a bit more. [Alphasmart](http://www1.alphasmart.com/professional/index.html) has a few different models of basic word-processors. The “Dana” model runs on the Palm OS, so it can handle more than just word-processing. Granted, it doesn’t have a hand-crank to generate power though. That’s just cool. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/18 "2005-11-16T19:03:52Z")
> [@astro](#): > > These units are basically net terminals. If you don’t have a powerful wireless broadband infrastructure and access to a server or the internet they will be mostly useless. You can write text or code on them. I’d be willing to bet that someone will write a C compiler for it. Sure, it’ll be limited, but you might be surprised what you can do with a simple machine. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/19 "2005-11-16T19:41:51Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#): > > I question the wisdom of a village full of laptops and no electricity. (I know you can crank the thing, I’m just talking priorities) Good point. But perhaps their lives will be improved more with the laptops than by running power to each household. I’m not arguing that’s the case, I sure don’t know, but perhaps power in their homes wouldn’t give them any benefit comparable to access to the internet and the info and communication capabilites it provides. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323/20 "2005-11-16T19:44:20Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > You can write text or code on them. I’d be willing to bet that someone will write a C compiler for it. Sure, it’ll be limited, but you might be surprised what you can do with a simple machine. It’s a lead-pipe cinch the computer uses a chip and fundamental architecture already well-supported by gcc, and if it can run a graphical word processor it can host an acceptable development environment of some form. It would probably be fairly easy to port Linux to the machine, as a matter of fact. People don’t develop entirely new ISAs much at all anymore; the most adventurous we seem to get anymore is to implement some well-supported ISA (like PIC, ARM, x86, etc.) with a new internal microcode architecture and a new fabbing process. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-is-making-a-100-laptop-take-a-look/331323.md?page=2)