Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptop, announced to much fanfare last year, falls down as a sensible approach to increasing IT provision in developing countries because of its reliance on massive government purchasing and distribution of free computers. As this site has pointed out previously, governments and donor agencies have limited resources: it is unlikely that giving out a computer to every citizen in the developing world is high up on their lists. Intel’s plan, conversely, of helping local entrepreneurs start up internet cafes with ruggedised PCs makes rather more sense.
Now a Chinese company has stepped in with a compact PC for the Chinese market priced at $146. Called the Municator, it runs a Chinese version of Linux, which of course keeps the cost down, and uses a cheap Chinese processor, rather than a major brand. Apparently it has the very respectable speed of an Intel Pentium III. It can be plugged into an ordinary television (or a computer monitor). Of course, it’s not yet at the $100 price level, but the so-called $100 laptop promoted by Negroponte is only theoretically a $100 laptop – you can’t actually buy them, unless you want a million of them. The Municator is also more powerful than the Negroponte laptop. The Guardian’s Technology Blog ran the headline: “Will Municator make $100 laptop obsolete before it ships?” I suspect it will.
To view a video interview about the machine, click here.