So I couldn't wait...
I was waiting on my $400/hundred dollar One Laptop per child laptop to arrive, and got a note letting me know that a reseller here in Ottawa had just received the first shipments of Asus' eeePC model laptop in. I did a quick read about them online, hopped in the car, and am typing this very note from the smallest (and most affordable) laptop I have ever seen.
For $399, it is a tiny (7 inch screen, cute little keyboard) linux based laptop (900mhz cpu, 512 meg of ram). It has no hard drive (uses 4 gig flash drive for a hard drive), but has an SD card slot to expand storage. It even has a web cam built in (its a much better image than I expected as well!). Apparently is can run WindowsXP as well (though I'm not sure I want it to...)
I've only had an hour to play, but this is a VERY interesting device. I'm already planning on buying a couple of dozen units to try out with schools (for the price, it is hard to go wrong). Anyone who doesn't own a laptop, and dreams of having one that can absolutely go anywhere with them, this is it!
(ECOO folks - I'll bring it with me to the Board meeting - you will love it!)
Comments
I have been looking into this area as well Tim. A couple of other options in the ultra portable market are the Classmate PC - http://www.classmatepc.com/ and the Nova 5000 - http://www.nova5000.com/. I think if OLPC did anything, it brought light to this area of the PC market. I think that they are both around $400, but don't quote me on that, I am still waiting on confirmation.
Interested in doing a UPC comparison on the Commun-it WIKI?
good idea. I hadn't seen the nova offering before. thanks for that.
Anyone know if the classmate is actually available for purchase?
I've added a few details about the eeePC from my tinkering this week:
It can be re-imaged from a USB memory key in less than 5 minutes - very cool. I've also tried XP on it and it runs surprisingly well.
I'm considering putting together a few "Internet in a bag" solutions (5 or 6 eee laptops, a portable wifi hub) for our schools to try. It would be the kind of thing they could keep in the library, then sign out and bring to a classroom for groupwork that needs a computer/internet. They are so light that it would be very do-able in a small duffle bag or rubbermaid bin...
Checkout the latest news re. other options - http://www.olpcnews.com/ - the big guys are getting into the game!
Lab In A Bag was used in the TDSB and was VERY popular -the maintenance of them proved to be a bit awkward but teachers seemed to like the concept. That was done centrally mind so doing it on a school basis sounds like a MUCH better way.