Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

OLPC Cost Rises To $188 Per Laptop

Posted by Zonk on from the still-not-a-ton-of-money dept.

Arathon writes "The amazing '$100 laptop' designed by the 'One Laptop Per Child' program isn't going to make it out the door for that price. CNN reports that the laptops are now expected to cost $188 apiece when they come out later this fall. This is expected to make the program's appeal potentially much smaller, since the developers were relying on the mind-bogglingly low-price to hook governments into the concept of buying laptops for their people. OLPC's spokesman guarantees that the price won't rise further, to 'above $190'. The price differential is being blamed on raw materials costs and currency fluctuation. Is this the end of the OLPC's newsworthiness, or should we continue to hope that it will make the difference that so many have said it will?"

2 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Re:To be fair by ricegf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sure, a Western adult would prefer an Eee - I can't wait to test drive one myself. But you omit a few other differences that demonstrate why OLPC is better for their target market - children in developing nations.

    Eee networking - conventional wifi-to-Internet
    OLPC networking - mesh ad hoc OR wifi-to-Internet

    Eee screen - conventional indoor only
    OLPC screen - unique dual-mode, clearly readable even in bright sunlight

    Eee hardware - conventional non-rugged Western office / home environment; requires stable AC power
    OLPC hardware - sealed against elements, child-tolerant; runs on AC power, hand or foot power, solar cell

    Eee software - conventional Linux
    OLPC software - highly customized for non-computer-literate children

    Eee development - requires conventional developer tools; system restore requires external media
    OLPC development - "show source" button allows children to explore and modify most aspects of the environment with nothing more than the built-in Python editor; and versioned filesystem ensures machine can be rolled all the way back to original state with no external media support

    The OLPC is very unconventional, and is much better suited to children in developing classrooms than any other machine on the market. *That* is what makes it special, not an arbitrarily low price point.

  2. Re:Currency "fluctuation" by Xolotl · · Score: 4, Informative
    Check again, 13 states now, for a total of 316 million people, also places like Monaco, the Vatican, Andorra etc which are not EU but use the Euro. Cyprus and Malta will join in January 2008. Also, a number of countries are in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which means that while they don't actually use the Euro, their exchange rates are linked to it within certain boundaries.

    Interestingly, several countries have started to use Euro for foreign trade because of the isntability of the dollar, oddly enough including North Korea.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurozone