Thai children to get US$100 laptops

Darius Chang | Aug 21, 2006

Editors' note:

The specifications of the One Laptop Per Child PC, hereby christened 2B1, has been released. According to reports, it runs on a 400MHz AMD Geode processor, 128MB RAM and 512MB of flash storage. Complete with a Webcam, three USB 2.0 ports and an SD card reader, it uses a stripped-down version of Linux. Initial units will cost an estimated US$140 (S$221.26), though the price is expected to go down over time.

According to various news articles, come October and November, more than 500 Thai children will get to test the US$100 (S$157.40) laptops as part of the One Laptop Per Child program. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, said that if this project pans out, elementary students in the country may eventually be carrying portables instead of books.

The US$100 (S$157.40) laptop, which uses Linux OS, flash memory instead of a harddisk, and hand- or foot-driven dynamo for power, is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte. Field trials for its notebooks will start in several other developing countries like Brazil, Nigeria and Argentina. More images of the laptop prototype can be viewed at our photo gallery.

Filed under: Notebooks
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