Quanta to manufacture Negroponte's OLPC
posted Dec 14th 2005 11:05AM
We were wondering when they'd sign off a manufacturing deal: today
Quanta announced what could be one of their
biggest, most difficult, lowest-margin laptop manufacturing contracts they've ever landed — no, we're not talking about
Dell (though Quanta's done their machines for a while, as well as Apple, Compaq, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, IBM, Sony,
Sharp, and Siemens laptops). We're talking about
Negroponte's and the MIT Media Labs'
OLPC $100 laptop for developing nations. Quanta, who
inked another deal with MIT earlier this year, says
they're aiming for a 5 - 15 million unit launch by Q4 2006 (aggressive, aren't we?), with a million or more units
destined for Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Thailand. No word on whether this is an exclusive
manufacturing contract, but they are officially looking into a commercially developed version of the machine to
subsidize costs. (Remember, OLPC is a
non-profit.)
[Via TG Daily]
Is that knob thing for charging it? Anyone think the keys are too small if those are a kid's hands?
Awesome, now they can watch people eat to right?
Those arms and hands don't look like they belong to the target user groups for the OLPC. And that thing is darn tiny.
Wow...I wish I could buy something like that...the modding oppurtunities must be great (Put in a microdrive? play movies etc). In short, If they ever make them available to the general public I'd buy one (Some people can't afford a $1000 laptop)
Leo
Some people can't afford a $1000 laptop, but perhaps they can afford a $300 refurbished laptop that's a generation or two older than the current K-Rad gamerz-oriented model.
And that $300 refurb will still be 1-2 generations more powerful than what this thing will be able to accomplish. Do you really think a $100 laptop will be able to play movies in color? Or play 30fps movies, period?
i'm HYPED that they are going to be selling a consumer model of this ... because it is a PERFECT eBook/manga reader! i read much more than i watch movies.
i love the small, rugged, self-powered design. inovative, beautiful.
technology isn't going to become more integrated in our lives just by getting faster and smaller, someone has to plan out how it's going to fit.
props to quanta on stepping up to the plate on this project, i hope their agressive goals are met =)
For the commerciallly available version, it would be great if a one-for-the-price-of-two purchasing scheme could be worked out...i.e., I buy two, keep one and the other goes to a needy child or family...this would help all and make me feel better about my purchase...the gift recipient could get my e-mail address as part of the deal so we could make contact to arrange shipment for some food, clothes, etc...instead of giving it to some charitable org who does who knows what with my money...we could call it the e-embilical cord progrom or something...
They were pretty stupid to reject Steve's offer to put OS X on it.
Paul: They couldn't give away something with an OS that horrible! These people have it bad enough! Linux is definatly a better idea.
Pretty stupid to not put os-crap on it? How do you think you sound now? heh...
Imagine the speed of os-x on that. It would be UNRIVALED
Assuming Q4 2006 means 'this time next year', Quanta is going to need to manufacture one laptop every 6.3 - 2.1 seconds for the next 365 days to pull off a 5 - 15 million unit launch. Aggressive, indeed.
What in the blue hell makes you think OSX could run anywhere close to smoothly on a laptop that costs $100?
Even if it could run smoothly on this computer, this is a demonstration of the power of Free Software. This will be a huge step in getting Free Software into more underprivileged communities.
Where does one buy a quality refurb laptop for $300?
that yellow crank on the right is obviously there to charge the generator which powers the whole damn thing!
Does it come with free broadband?
What about the software bundle?
#4: coz
Well...why, then, can my 700mhz 64mb RAM Xbox play full screen video, or why could my 350mhz 128mb ram K6-2 play divx's, and why can my DS (with a GBAMP) play video? Of course this laptop will be able to play video. Not only is the price an attraction, but the wind up power, the size (find me a $300 laptop that is this small...) and the ruggedness of it. Would I buy it? of course.
Leo
hitchcock: I've had great results with ubid. Can't go wrong with a Thinkpad T series for under $350.
Leo: I guess if you're used to watching videos on the little LCD in the backseat of your mom's minivan, this will be up your alley then. Go nuts.
You don't need a $1000 laptop to play movies and hack on it. Here's one with a DVD reader and a 14" display for $400.
http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=1168478
Yes, $400 it's not $100, but if you live in the part of the world where electricity ISN'T a problem, there's no reason to pick the OLPC over something that this.
Nigeria, great now we'll get scams emailed to us from children.
With the great wonder that is the United States Education system i'm surpised they dont make these mandatory in the USA as well. This way you could have a universal education system to teach everyone. The only thing a teacher would really need to do is be able to translate it to kids who can't follow because they might learn differently. Unlike the way it is now where the teachers dont give two shakes of rattle about the kids learning.
Every mockup of the OLPC has the same image on the screen of some 3rd world kids. I wonder why they aren't showing the OS? Which linux distro is it going to run and will it be user friendly enough to really be usable. Is this going to create a generation of tweakers who never get any real work done?
If Steve Jobs was really serous about helping out he would have offered the Newton OS to them for free. This reminds me of the Newton eMate. Its a shame it was killed before its time. I still haven't found a decent replacement for it the I'm happy with.
yes there is. You may be a working adult with a job, but I'm not. For me (15), the difference between $400 and $100 is quite large, and even if these things sell for $200, thats still half the price. I also don't really want a full sized laptop. My DS screen is admittedly a bit small, but the screen size of this is probably 5-7 inches, which may not satisfy you but is perfectly good for me.
I know that the HP laptops are very good, my dad has a slightly earlier model, but to be honest, I don't need to play DVD's, divx's are good enough for me. I also think that with a usb CF reader and a microdrive/2.5" HD caddy/ipod this would allow you to have a very good portable entertainment system. You could back up photos to it, and view videos or photos back. It would make a very good ebook reader and the wind up function may seem gimmicky to you, but I find myself frequently in situations where I will be without power for more than a few hours.
Please do not dismiss the cheap or the colourful simply because its not the best thing in the world. It may be cheap, it may be small and it may be designed for the developing world, but this gadget/laptop/educational tool has places in many homes of children from poorer backgrounds.
Leo
Paul,
OSX barely runs on my Mac Mini, forget about it on this thing....
Leo: But what we're saying is you probably can't do any of those things on the OLPC. So, you're comparing a $400 computer which meeds to your needs to a $100 which doesn't.
Anyway, try this:
http://www.craigslist.org/eby/sys/117511222.html
$150 for a Dell P3 with DVD, 128 megs ram, 30 gig drive.
My point is unless electricity availability and sandstorms are a problem, the OLPC is not for you.
Well said Leo, you sound alot more mature, not to mention more intelligent than that guy.
I think he just got.....
PWNED
but why can't I. Have you looked at the specs of this thing vs what other computers can do - video - 500mhz can easily handle it - plugging in a USB HD - why not? its running Linux. If it works with Linux normally, why shouldn't it work now. I would be very much surprised if this is based on anything other than x86 (probably a P3 or some sort of VIA Pentium compatible). If that is the case, then the laptop would most likely be able to have any x86 OS installed - and even if it isn't an x86, the processor will be a common processor, most likely ARM, PPC or x86. The arguement that a 500mhz laptop can't do what I want it to do is rubbish - it has USB, what else does it need?
The laptop you linked for is second hand, damaged and needs to have at least $50 spent on it (have you looked at the price of laptop batteries recently?), while the $100 laptop uses standard batteries or wind up, and is very compact. I understand that you feel this is a piece of crap (etc)...but I payed more than this for an Mp3 player, and the screen size and memory capacity may be small, but I can deal with a small screen, and the memory can be updated by USB or perhaps internally (I wonder if we'll see 1gb CF cards in there :D). The size is a huge pluspoint - From the pictures it seems to be much smaller than a normal laptop, and while most of the sub $200 laptops you can link to are outdated, old and clunky, this thing is new, state of the art and designed to put up with harsh terrain - it seems to me to be perfect for my needs.
Anyway... :D
Leo
Of course, dif
The power supply should be separate.
I remember when someone told me that printers would be available for under $1000.00 and I didn't believe him. This thing will replace the backpack full of books your kid carries.
Leo,
you've got it. Good job and keep it up. I like your site.
I saw Alan Kay give a talk on this laptop a week ago and I was very impressed. If you ever get a chance to talk to him, do it.
A lot of people, and unfortunately a lot of people on this site, don't know what the meaning of the word "computer" is.
Boris
Has anyone actually thought to themselves do these people actually need this?
If they are that poor that is has a wind up cog because they dont have a power source/cant afford it what use is it to have a laptop.
Im sure they will trade it in for food as that is what they probably are lacking.
Maybe building a better infastructure for the country, help the economy and deal with the root cause as to why these people cant afford laptops might be a better soloution
24 - you are an idiot
Matthew,
yes, a number of people have put a lot of thought into this program (have you?). I'm not sure the people who have no access to food are really the target audience for this program.
Another purpose of the crank: increased mobility, which is important to children.
I have a suggestion: you "build a better infrastructure for the country, help the economy and deal with the root cause as to why these people can't afford laptops", and in the meantime, let the engineers behind this and the Media Lab work on this program and try to help people in the way they best know how.
Sorry if I sound a little jaded and if I'm directing at you, but I'm really sort of saddened by the lack of imagination displayed on the Engadget discussion boards on this topic (there was another post on the OLPC program a few days ago).
I think it's really telling that the 15 year old Leo is more visionary and open-minded than the others here. Children are the target demographic for this thing for exactly that reason: they haven't been poisoned by prejudice yet.
Boris
Boris i understand your comments however it is not predjudice it is commmon sence.
I did not have the support of a laptop when i was at school (not that long ago) and now i work in I.T for a global company.
i did not have the luxury of having a computer at an early age either and yet this has not held me back.
A laptop and a computer are luxurys and aids and not essential items.
Why provide a laptop if all these people are likely to do is write on a word processor? Small screen, poor keyboard and it costs 100.
You may then point out that a computer has far more features and yes it does. But this does not have any that will help the people using it further their learning or career as no other company i know of uses these computers.
I see from the product photo's it has book mode and photo mode.
Do i even have to mention what costs 90 less and does not need to be wound up to be used let alone have complex repair issues and viewing angle/viewing in daylight issues.
One laptop per child - not one school in the UK or any other nation for that matter has one laptop per child and yet not suprisingly there are now outcrys for it. It is not needed.
Better teaching is however and this is probably the issue.
The idea sounds great on paper but it is not needed or can really be justified.
Who is going to handle tech support? Hardware failure? People will have to be trained to use it.
The costs surrounding this product are massive.
Hell, laptops are fragile enough as it is. Do you really think every child is going to carry it in a well designed laptop bag?
Can they even afford one?
The crank is useful
where there is no power, but just as useful seperately. Requiring a reset at school makes it useless for trade.
Every three seconds an African child starves to death, and every three seconds an African politician puts $14,000 in a foreign bank account. Education is the ONLY thing we give to the children the rulers don't stick in the bank.
I live in a third-world country. Internet access is starting to get to more people. They even have promotions like 256kbps unlimited DSL access for the equivalent of USD$18 per month. These laptops aren't just for people who don't have good access to electricity. I've been sort of an internet "evangelist" in my old school since I was one of the first to get broadband.
Enough about my life :) anyway, in my experience, a PC with internet access will greatly increase any person's view of the world and will give him instant access to unlimited knowledge. This is nice! People will move from just thinking about how to catch (hunt, fish, buy, whatever) tomorrow's meal and start thinking about greater things.
Hi Matthew,
you're starting to ask the right questions, keep going. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you're the first one to think of these things, though.
I won't point out the prejudice in your comments. It's left as an exercise to the reader.
Please don't take it personally, it's not just you.
Boris
All I have to say is thank God there are people like Leo and Boris here and understand the usefullness of something like this.
You would think people living in the information age with access to computers would understand the importance and potential of a device that makes that information more readily available. I'm guessing the people that don't like this plan also haven't heard about how some communities in Africa are doing better than before because they were simply given access to current Cell Phone technology because land-lines obviously aren't going to span Africa.
Of course, I'd at least think people like Matthew would appreciate it for no other fact that when these people grow up they won't have as many IT problems for you to worry about as all those other people who had no computers to access.
It seems like allot of people on here are simply spoiled by the availability of high-end electronics. I myself have a brand new high-end pc at home, but I'd love one of these laptops. They're highly portable, sturdy, and can do just about anything a normal laptop can do except play brand new video games. Although since it's running linux, we'll see how long that lasts.
Hi Kat,
I intially paid little attention to the OLPC program when I first heard about it. And I had somewhat more skeptical reactions to it along the lines of those that are posted here ("they need food, not technology / computers are luxury / what about all the stuff we don't use anymore?").
Then I saw a presentation by Alan Kay on the subject and it made all the difference in the world. This man clearly has a vision of where things need to go and what's wrong with the status quo. And he was incredibly positive, although one could imagine that one would be jaded after seeing all the things that have NOT been done with technology. He's really an original. See him if you can. I just saw that there are some videos of him on Google video, maybe there's some good stuff in there.
I guess my point is: a lot of the reactions to this program have to do with the lack of marketing for the OLPC program. They're really just stating what it is that they're trying to do and leaving it up to the imagination of the reader/listener to interpret what it means.
If you've got a fairly narrow view of technology and you're happy with the status quo, you'll probably have a negative reaction to the program. If you've got imagination, initiative, you're not afraid to think for yourself and you want to actually make things better as a producer of technology rather than just a consumer, you'll understand what this is about.
Alan's message was that we (as engineers) build up on too much that we think that we know (or assume to know) rather than try to find out for ourselves. Leo's finding out for himself and he's clearly good at it.
Boris
Oh and koz:
your remark to Leo is incredibly weak. Shame on you for trying to tell someone who clearly has a better outlook on things that he's ignorant.
He's understood something that you haven't. (How old are you, by the way? Are you scared that you don't know what a 15-year-old is talking about? You should be.)
Leo, have none of it. Keep it up.
Boris
By dell x50v can play movies well
so can this laptop arss.
From what I read so far, the parts having difficulty are
1. LCD Screen - how to find a low cost yet usable LCD for this lowest margin labtop.
2. Battery - again, a battery which provide usable hour of usage. Hoever, a very nice idea I would say, the knot thing which generate power for the notebook.
Really hope this labtop can lessen the digital gap of third world country.
Bah, I'll throw in my two cents...
While I agree with certain of you that there MAY be "better" ways to help people in developing nations than giving the kids laptops, I do think it's nice that someone is doing SOMETHING. You can nitpick over someone elses actions to the end of time, finding ways that YOU THINK they could have done things better. Well at least they're doing something.
And at that, if the kids somehow exchange the laptop for some much needed food..well, at least they got a well needed meal...
As for "building a better infastructure for the country, help the economy and deal with the root cause as to why these people cant afford laptops might be a better soloution", the idea certainly has merit. I think the hope is that starting with an upcomming generation, these laptops will increase the quality of education in these contries, which will help these kids fix and maintain the infrastructures once they're big bad adults. Is this putting the cart before the horse ? I guess only time will tell. Still, I could give a kid a hammer, but it won't make him/her a carpenter if he/she isn't trained to use it...same logic probably applies to this laptop as well...to significantly improve an educational system more will be required than good tools...
"not one school in the UK or any other nation for that matter has one laptop per child"
This statement is largely but not entirely true. There are a few schools in the US doing pilot projects that have entire grade levels (though afaik in no case is it the entire student body) required to purchase an approved laptop. A few others are having PDA's of a certain variety be mandatory...again, only in the trial stages. Personally, since THESE programs employ regular off the shelf $1000+ laptops and $300+ PDA's, I really think this should be more of a college thing. Many college students, either through a monied background or through sheer grit and determination can contrive to afford such tools else they wouldn't be able to go to school...but there's no specific reason to expect that of EVERY public school kid out there...
Well, maybe highschool kids too. As some have pointed out, there's not much in K-12 (or any of the worlds various equivalents) that can't be done with wood, pulp, rubber, and graphite. But up around 9th or 10th grade many students (in America anyway) start hitting math levels that benefit greatly from the use of a graphing calculator. They range in price from about $85 to $150.
From what I've heard, these trials have not really shown to greatly enhance these childerens learning experience. But if I were given the choice between a $150 TI-89 an a $100 Negroponte special back in my high school days...I think you would have heard the annoying high pitched whine of a cheap dynamo emenating from my room periodically...
Well, before this becomes a true classic OddManOut post and gets to be twice the length it is now I think I'll stop.
But I would like to add as a minor point that it's rather commendable IMHO that the under 18 contingent of the posters here managed to keep all comments civil and relvant and didn't even have to resort to name calling. To bad that can't be said for everyone...
Well personally I think this is a great idea. Is this product needed? Sure it is, but not only in 3rd world countries, in all countries.
To the guy who said we need to build infrastructure, the point in any development project is to not do it for a 3rd world country but to each it to them to do it and then manage it themselves. You cannot do that without an educated population. When classrooms are perhaps miles away and books are designed out of paper materials that easily degrade a resource like this would be a god send in places like rural china and africa, not to mention the ease of decreasing book loads for american and european students.
You should know that nothing comes without an educated population first and foremost. Education should always be the focus point of a country for investment.
You said the classroom you learned in now didn't have laptops and was fine, but look at the arguements at how far behind american schools are from the rest of the world. Think about it, we are still teaching the way people did 700 or more years ago. Desk, Chalk board, paper penicl. I think it is time for a education revolution to catch up with the information revolution. Computer skills are all but required now for just about any job, espcially if it is to compete in the global market place.
BTW whoever mentioned the idea of buy a laptop give one free is brilliant. I would gladly drop $250 of my own money to get me one of these little babies and also pay to donate one somewhere. I highly suggest you email the companies PR if you can. I think a lot of people out there would really jump onto that idea.
"not one school in the UK or any other nation for that matter has one laptop per child"
Ok well that statement is not true , im in the 8th grade and go to a school called "Attucks middle School"And there are over 900 students there ages 9-15 and each one gets a ibook g4 including me =)
I think the idea of this is great , bessides 1 thing, as someone sead , People are going to steal thease and sell them for money.