Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at MIT, had a dream. In it every child on the planet had his own computer. Negroponte thought he had a chance of actually seeing it happen if he could help invent a really inexpensive laptop.
So, two years ago he founded a non-profit organization called “One Laptop Per Child.” He recruited a cadre of geeks and viola! The hundred dollar laptop, designed specifically for poor children, was born.
But lately One Laptop has had to contend with a new challenge: competition. This lab in Sao Paulo is testing two other laptops the Brazilian government is thinking of buying for school children, including one made in India from HCL Infosystems and Negroponte’s biggest competitor: the Classmate by Intel, the giant chip maker.
At a recent lecture at MIT he accused Intel of dumping, of going to the same governments he’s trying to sell to and offering the Classmate below cost.
“Intel should be ashamed of itself,” Negroponte says. “It’s just – it’s just shameless.”
“Negroponte believes that you’re trying to drive him out,” Stahl told Craig Barrett, Intel’s Chairman of the Board.
“We’re not trying to drive him out of business. We’re trying to bring capability to young people,” Barrett responds. “And it’s more than just Intel. It’s going to take the whole industry to do this.”
Laptop Magazine has a side by side comparison of the OLPC and ClassMate laptops. OLPC News has the latest news.
- Processor: 433 Mhz AMD Geode processor
- RAM: 256 MB dynamic RAM
- FLASH: 1024 MiB SLC NAND flash
- Batteries: nickel-metal hydride battery that allows anywhere between 6 and 20 hours depending on what features are in use. When power sockets aren’t available, users can recharge the battery with a built-in pull-string charger.
- Screen: 7-1/2 inch dual-mode LCD supports a resolution of 1200×900 in monochrome mode and 800×600 in color mode.
- Networking: wireless mesh network technology
- MultiMedia: built-in microphone and an integrated camera can capture video at 30 frames per second with a resolution of 640×480.
- I/O Options: a rubber-membrane keyboard and a touchpad that also supports stylus input.
- Operating System: Linux
- Price: The XO laptop was initially targeting $100 per unit, but the price reached $175 after the addition of several features, including the video camera.
Intel’s Classmate PC features:
- Processor: Intel ULV 900 MHz Mobile Processor, Zero L2 cache, 400 MHz FSB
- RAM: DDR-II 256M SO-DIMM
- FLASH: 1GB/2GB NAND Flash
- Screen: Seven inch LCD that supports a resolution of 800×480,
- Batteries: Six-cell battery that provides approximately four hours of uptime when fully charged
- Networking: built-in Ethernet and 802.11G wireless hardware.
- MultiMedia: Stereo 2 Channel Audio, Built-in Speakers and Microphone, Jack for External Output and Microphone Input
- I/O Options: Users can input notes with an optional wireless pen device
- Operating System: Windows XP Pro*/ Linux*
- Price: Classmate PC was initially targeting $200 per unit, the price has climbed and could be anywhere between $250 and $400 at launch.
Related DailyWireless stories include; Classroom Software Goes Mobile, One Laptop Per Child Morphs, Intel Ships ClassmatePC and One Laptop + 5.8 GHz WiMAX.
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