India's "$10 Laptop" To Cost $100 After All

narramissic writes "In case you missed it, India's Minister of State for Higher Education yesterday announced the development of a $10 laptop that will target higher education applications. There were no specifications given for the laptop and the rock-bottom price raised questions about government subsidies. Today, the figure was corrected: It's not a $10 laptop; it's a $100 laptop. Still no specs though."

Comments

Re:Give it a day...

[Bender_]

Indeed, wasn't there a similar indian initiative that never really caught on? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simputer

Re:at what cost though?

[quantumplacet]

Well, I'd almost guarantee that it will have better hardware than my first computer (Apple IIe) and that didn't leave me with less of a willingness to push forward on the internet. Ultimately, I'm just kind of being a dick here, but you do have to remember that what we might consider crappy and slow, they might still consider amazing. Yeah, it sucks when it takes 2 minutes to open a web browser, but if you've never seen the web before it's still great, and if it's your only access to the web it's still worth it.

Re:I still think $10 would be possible.

[kesuki]

"I'm neither a product engineer, but I highly doubt that there is any way to produce anything resembling a laptop below around $90."

yeah there is. first off, you're ignoring one important thing. a computer really only needs an 8-bit processor. 8-bit processors use very low amounts of ram, because of their word length. 64k is often the total ram of a powerful 8-bit microprocessor.

zilog processors can sell for as little as $1. you said there is no way no how a processor can cost $1, yet basic 8-bit zilog processors cost as little as $1 and for that you get a healthy 20 mhz, over 5 times faster than the colecovision adam home computer (z-80 at 3.8 mhz).

they even sell a 50-mhz 8 bit processor, but 20 mhz is plenty fast.

i don't know about intel or motorolla, but zilog still sells a wide line of 8-bit 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors, including a low power Zilog that can run on as little as 2 volts. if that's not enough for you they sell an 8-bit chip with tcp/ip that can generate http web pages, eg: for web control interfaces for a microcomputer..

"eZ80® is revolutionizing the high-performance microprocessor market for today's 8-bit embedded applications. The eZ80® can operate at speeds up to 50MHz and address 16MB without a Memory Management Unit. This family supports demanding TCP/IP networking applications, featuring an Embedded Internet protocol stack that enables the transmission of HTML form data and the dynamic generation of web pages, and supports additional higher-level networking functions such as email and SNMP."

i don't know what an ez80 chip costs, but your 'everything must cost $30' assumption assumes a lot of things. how would an 'electronic controlled' thermostat cost $30 if the microprocessor couldn't be reduced below $30? the simple fact is, yeah it can be, and you don't need to make a zilog on 45 nanometer dies to get great price/performance ratios..

also, the Z-80 product line is virtually unchanged since the 1970's

that makes implementing z-80 products extremely cheap, since you don't have to design new code if you already have access to old code that was designed for z-80s.

and before you say 'but you could never get windows on an 8-bit cpu' remember that the NES was a z-80 derived product. you can have a simple, streamlined 8-bit OS and gui, that works just fine without all the HZ, and does just what you need... you could get a $10 laptop, if you really were willing to restrict it to all 8-bit software and the inherent limitations.