14 DAY TRIAL // Just when I was starting to believe that INTEL has lost the ability to put really high prices on unneeded things, they've announced this week that they are co-operating with Brazil's government body to introduce a low cost laptop that will compete against OLPC's XO machine.
Currently, Intel is testing out its wannabe XO competitor in various areas of Brazil. The laptop is roughly the same size as the XO but costs about $400 (Woo-hoo!) while the XO is only about $140. INTEL however claims that the cost will go down when the laptop will enter mass production. And they've also said that that they will donate 800 units of the laptop to school students as a pilot run. I can think of a word that summarizes the last phrase, but I guess it will pop into your mind sooner or later.
INTEL has decided to launch the product in Brazil because the IT sector is weak in this country with tenths of millions of people not having access to computers. "The goal clearly is to make millions and millions of these," said John Davies, an Intel vice president. I'll let you multiply those millions with the $400 price tag.
INTEL will actually manufacture its laptop in Brazil, whereas XO is being produced in China. However both products will be used in schools around Brazil. No news regarding the SO that the INTEL machine will use is available but since the picture says a lot, it's quite safe to assume that the INTEL platform will use a form of Windows XP.
The laptop is about half the size of a traditional laptop that has a 15.4-inch LCD. The unit comes with a color 7-inch one and flash memory for storage same as XO. No hard drive and no optical drive is included (we're not sure about the number of USB ports but I guess that you could connect an optical unit through USB in case you need one). The laptop weights about 2.9 pounds.