[geeks] One (Windows) Laptop Per Child

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Charles Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
>Date: 2006/09/29 Fri PM 12:52:47 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] One (Windows) Laptop Per Child

>Fri, 29 Sep 2006 @ 10:10 -0500, Lionel Peterson said:
>
>> The long & Short of it is that Intel put a 900 MHz Pentium M CPU in a
>> case with an 800x480 color display (TFT, by the looks of it), Windows
>> XP Embedded O/S with 1 Gig of internal storage (USB device inside
>> case) and WiFi (again, USB device inside case). It has a power brick,
>> Fast Ethernet, and no hand-crank or Play Skool colors.
>> 
>> Estimated prices fluctuate between $250-400, based on qty.
>
>I see much more fully featured laptops all the time for not much more
>than that.

Agreed - I believe I even said that in my original posting...

>> Seems like a decent idea - it allows schools to build on existing
>> WinXP software base, not rely on third-party software developers to
>> create software for it, and it has usefulness in so-called first-world
>> countries with wired and WiFi networking.
>> 
>> Thoughts?
>
>I think given the specs, the price is awfully high.

Why? The hardware design is built to be simple (something almost NO other laptop is, just ask anyone that has opened up a laptop in the last 10 years) - the networking and storage are on USB "dongles" *inside* the case, so a tech can easily replace/upgrade them, and the lack of a spinning HD with the OS installed is a feature that few other laptops have. This is a laptop with no moving parts, how many similarly priced units can make that claim?

>The other day I saw a 2GHz Intel laptop with 14" screen and a 20GB hard
>drive for $400.  Granted, it is low end, but I suspect that the system
>you listed above is pretty cheaply made, and the storage is awfully low.

I think a 900 MHz Pentium M can give a 2 GHz Celeron a very good run for it's money. Also, the O/S on the Intel laptop is stripped (Embedded WinXP) vs. regular WinXP, and having the O/S in firmware (like, say, a CF card inside the case) makes the system somewhat more secure (it is still WinXP ;^).

As for the build, with no moving parts, it has a very good chance of being more resilient to drops and other abuses, IMHO.

I think this is a more useful direction to head in for educational needs, much more so than a completely "open" set of unique software elements on a severly limited platform (CPU/RAM/storage).

Thanks,

Lionel