One Laptop Per Child pledge

[Ted Roche]

On May 27, 2006, at 10:27 PM, David Ecklein wrote:

> I don't understand this fixation on laptops.  These are commodities  
> for the
> affluent, costing twice as much when new as desktops.  They have  
> far less
> upgrade capability, the screens are delicate and hard to repair,  
> the mouse
> and keyboard are compromises.  The cases are fragile and often have
> proprietary form factors and parts, inhibiting inexpensive  
> repairs.  The
> sole asset of a laptop is portability, which many college students  
> have
> found turns into a liability: they are one of the most stolen items on
> campus.

The laptops of the MIT project don't have a lot of resemblance to the  
disposable, fragile, overpowered 1st-world toys you find for sale at  
the big box stores. Their design criteria lead them to choose the  
laptop form factor. I haven't followed the project in detail, but I'd  
suspect there were good reasons: portability for personal ownership,  
minimal power consumption, etc.

Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com