$100 Laptop? Don't Wait -- Get Yours Now

I was thinking about the $100 laptop project this morning, then amazingly there was news about it today, on how you can buy two with one to give away to those in need.

The laptop is still priced above $100, there there's no need to wait for that price to come down. Want to get a $100 laptop now? Here you go.

That's eBay, with plenty of old laptops for sale at that price or lower. Why aren't we just refurbishing these laptops for use?

I was pondering all this when I was flipping through a computer magazine this morning. That magazine always does a "flashback" showing what was covered 5, 10 and 15 years ago. Looking at all those machines they covered then, I thought how these are all perfectly fine for use -- it's just in our disposable society, we move on.

I've got at least five old laptops sitting in the cabinets behind me, ones that I've moved on from over the years. There's nothing wrong with them, other than I moved up to more powerful software.

Ah, but the $100 laptop project is supposed to be durable, no moving parts, powered by solar, be waterproof. OK, I get that. But seriously, there's no way for us to better figure out what to do with old, good computer and cycle them down as hand-me-downs that could help others, rather than them gathering dust or hitting dumpyards?

By Danny Sullivan on Sep. 24, 2007 | Permalink
See related posts in: Computers

Next Post: SES Chicago Agenda Is Up
Previous Post: Treehouse Project: Day 13 & 14, The Climbing Wall
All Posts: Daggle Archives
Posts By Category: Daggle Categories
Return To: Daggle Home Page

Comments

Ha, my phone costs more than that. ;-)

Comment by rustybrick Author Profile Page | September 24, 2007 5:56 PM

It's funny -- just last week I re-purposed my old laptop by putting a big, faster harddrive in it. It should work fine for years with xp/office '03 -- so long as I don't make the mistake of taking the software beyond what the hardware was built for.

Comment by JonKelly Author Profile Page | September 24, 2007 6:01 PM

I donate all computers, I no longer use, to various charities or kids, who I know would appreciate it. But, back when I just started my business, I used to line them up and build linux internet servers, all running off a DSL line. That was pretty fun - a mini intra net in my living room.

From what I understand, this is still standard to linux system administrator community - we keep the smallest computer we have and try to create the smallest OS possible to fit in one.

That doesn't quite help does it? (I'm way too geeky, I suppose.)

Comment by Asia Author Profile Page | September 25, 2007 4:50 AM

Want to comment? If you are signed into TypeKey, you'll see a form below. No form? Click on the sign-in link below, and you can sign-in or sign-up for a free account. Sorry you have to use TypeKey, but I use it to avoid comment spam. All comments currently appear automatically after posting.

Leave a comment

Subscribe!
Subscribe Via Web Feed
Subscribe with Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe with Bloglines
Add to netvibes
Subscribe with Live.com
Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Subscribe in Rojo

Add to My AOL

Get new entries via email. Enter your address below:


follow dannysullivan at http://twitter.com
Search