The $10 laptop Story

[LinuxMint-4]

The $10 laptop Story

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/20 ... -possible/

The $10 laptop first announced last year has once again reared its improbable head. Can the Indian government really deliver an ultra-cheap laptop? And if so, how?

In July of last year, an interesting story flashed up all across the Web - India develops $10 laptop. Unfortunately, as suspected, it turned out to be too good to be true, and the Indian government rectified the mistake and stated the true price was going to be $100. The Indian Minister of State for Higher Education had missed off a 0. Which is worrying given his job title.

Something bizarre has now happened though, with the story once again cropping up. This time, however, there is no mistake; the $10 price point has been confirmed.

According to Slashgear, the $10 laptop is due to be unveiled on February 3, 2009. The specs still haven’t been publicly announced but are thought to include 2GB of RAM, and Ethernet and WiFi connectivity. The ultra-cheap laptops are also rumored to only need 2W of power to operate.

The price has been confirmed as $10 but that will only be achievable after mass production has brought the cost of the components down. Currently, each machine is costing double (around $20) the selling price to produce. While that may be slightly off the proposed price, $20 for a working laptop computer is still mightily impressive.

And maybe it’s a little too impressive. I still cannot for the life of me work out how this price point can be achieved. As Obsessable points out, 2GB of RAM costs $20 on its own, so how a computer with that amount of memory and a lot more besides can be built for $20 is a complete mystery.

When you consider that the One Laptop per Child initiative could only manage to produce a laptop for $200, ten times less than that for a similar scheme seems highly improbable.

There is one possibility - government subsidies. Not only would the $10 laptop be a PR dream for the Indian government, getting a laptop in the hands of a few million more of the 1.13 billion population of the country would surely be a good thing. Couple that with the Broadband proposals the Indian government has also made and you get quite a positive step towards embracing technology.

[LinuxMint-4]

There are $10 laptops on E-Bay....hard drive, memory, and screen not included...lol


Seriously, If there are subsidies tied to it, then it is possible. Kind of like having to commit to a ISP for like two years. This is the only way IMO that it could happen.

[eddie]

Of course in the us it would get marked up at least $100-$200.