MIT to launch a USD 100 laptop next month

MIT to launch a USD 100 laptop next month

The MIT Media Laboratory is expected to launch their prototype of the much hyped up US$100 laptop in November. The institute is working with a couple of industry partners to develop this notebook computer to extend the reach of IT in the field of education especially in the developing countries. The facility expects that the product should be out in bulk retail market sometime later next year.

Nicholas Negroponte, the lab’s chairperson was addressing the audience at the Emerging Technologies Conference when he said: “In emerging nations, the issue isn’t connectivity. That’s not solved, but lots of people are working on it in Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, etc. For education, the roadblock is laptops.”

MIT Media Laboratory people believe that if all the children of this world could be equipped with their own laptops, it has the capability to greatly enhance their potential to grab knowledge. They have current plans to showcase this machine at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November.

The machine would be powered by a 500 MHz processor and would run a “skinny version” of the open-source Linux operating system. They plan to initially target the developing countries like Brazil, China, Egypt, South Africa, and Thailand along with the state of Massachusetts, which has committed itself to equip every child in their state with a laptop.