Intel to Make Cheap Flash Laptop 202
sien writes "In a similar vein to the One Laptop Per Child computer Intel have announced that they intend to produce a similar cheap laptop using flash storage.The entry of Intel and the declaration that Microsoft intend to get Windows running on the One Laptop Per Child machine suggests that there may be a general market for a cheap, robust laptop without hard drive or optical storage."
It's a simple business reaction (Score:4, Interesting)
1. can't afford to take chances when there's even slight chance a startup may become a viable competitor
2. can afford money-wise and resource-wise to react to even the silliest of those potential competitors
I'm not saying OLPC is silly, but I'm just saying: don't make a big deal of it. Intel/MS just want their options covered.
Let's not forget that cheap computers for poor countries were made long before OLPC (and all failed) and will continue to be made. The least thing: it'll be fun to watch the development in this "market".
A. Portable thin client for under $100 (Score:2, Interesting)
Q: What do I really need in a laptop?
I figure NX, vnc, GoToMyPC or one if its friends, or any other remote-screen system will let me get to my office or home PC from the road or around the campus and really, that's all I need in a laptop. Of course, it should have local audio/camera for videoconferencing and local printing for when I need it.
As far as truly local/disconnected operation goes, I need lightweight viewers for Microsoft Office so I can read and print files and do presentations, a notepad for taking notes, and maybe some games to keep my mind sharp when I'm in a motel room out in the boondocks. I'll need a small amount of local read-write storage for these files, which should auto-sync with the office machine upon connect.
Just make sure I can add on new wireless technologies as they become available.
Windows CE License: $4 or $15 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:$400 is not cheaper than $100... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not making the final judgement yet, I haven't even seen the complete tech specs for it, or results of the trials.
Flash cheap? No? Yes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes: look at PDA memorey requirements, or PCs just for Mail, Web and a bit of letter writing - there 1 GB is plenty. And in Flash still cheaper than the cheapest HD (80GB or where is the cheapest HD nowadays?)
Re:Cheapness aside.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I have not had a problem with hard drive noise. My notebooks hard drives are nearly silent if they make any noise audible to me at all. The CPU fans are a little louder, but still that's not very loud.
Mobile phones (Score:3, Interesting)
Heck, even as a software engineer the only reason I use a laptop is the lack of a proper Wifi, keyboard and screen for my phone.
CF-based systems and swapping (Score:3, Interesting)
I've often wondered how CF or other limited-write systems handle swapping and memory-management. It seems like it introduces a whole new set of trade-offs; in addition to the usual speed vs. cost and speed vs. space on disk trade-offs, you also have to deal with speed vs. system life.
not looking hard enough (Score:5, Interesting)
If I was joe farmer in the developing world, I would want at least one computer and net access, for the weather, looking up parts and suppliers, monitoring the markets, learning about new techniques and improving technology, etc, etc. All good stuff and useful. Heck, I use the net just to look up weeds to see what they are sometimes, or to look up more exotic seeds to try for instance, or to look at new breeds of animals, etc. I've ordered a lot of old weird parts for machinery online, because that is a lot more efficient than driving around dealer to dealer. I use the net all the time for stuff like that.
Re:Mobile phones (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:CF-based systems and swapping (Score:3, Interesting)
If anyone remembers the old Psion Series 3 handheld computer, it came with removable flash disks and features addressing the flash issue were integrated into the OS. Whenever you made a "change" to a file, the changes were merely appended to the end of the existing file (thus requiring, say, only a 1K write on a 100K file instead of the full 100K being rewritten). If I remember correctly, you could periodically run a shrink operation to commit the changes back into the main file and thus free up the space wasted by the change logs.
Man I miss my Psion...