One Laptop Per Child vs Asus Eee Notebook PC
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SWAT sometimes hangs out on Ventrilo with us, and even occasionally streams for me when I’m gone. He was wondering if he should go with the One Laptop Per Child(OLPC) program and help another child as well, or spend the same money and get better components for his daughter by buying the Asus Eeee.
I just spoke with my friend David from EyeJot the other day about this same thing. In the terms of price and what you get, the Asus would be a better deal. But for the same price, you get a tad bit “lesser” laptop for your child… AND get one sent on your behalf to a needy child in a third world country. We talk all the time about how technology changes lives. We talk about the ways computers enhance our daily life, give us opportunities, and broaden our horizons. How could you not want to give those same opportunities to another child… and not have to pay anything extra?
One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.
The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.
The laptop through the OLPC program is a solid laptop. It’s good, and will work wonderfully for your child. Many years and an infinite amount of sweat equity went into the creation of the XO laptop. Designed collaboratively by experts from academia and industry, the XO is the product of the very best thinking about technology and learning. It was designed with the real world in mind, considering everything from extreme environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity, to technological issues such as local-language support. As a result, the XO laptop is extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, responsive, and fun.
If you’re planning to buy a laptop for your young child, or any young child… this is the one you should buy. It’s an excellent machine, and you’ll be giving the gift of opening the future to a child who otherwise may not ever have that chance.
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37 Comments
Useful Habits | Making I.T. Work for You
January 1st, 1970
at 12:00am
Andrew
November 21st, 2007
at 5:21am
I just bought an OLPC but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m actually going to play with the one I get (just for a bit). My office is next to the World Bank so I might show a few guys there how it works when it arrives, but then I’m going to send it on to some school overseas to give to one of their kids.
It is a neat design, but I’m not seeing desktops approaching $200 at Walmart so I’m not sure how long the OLPC price will stay as it is.
dabrace1984
November 21st, 2007
at 5:44am
I am a technology education in a master program so I live, breath, and die with technology in school settings. The XO laptop is awesome and if I had a $400+ to send on one I would love to. Chris, I saw the thank you note that your posted on your blog saying that you have purchased one. Are you going to be doing an unboxing and a demo of it? If so, please tell us when you plan on doing it so I can try and watch it live instead of through a recorded video.
Happy Turkey Day!!!!
ukinvestmentnews.com
November 21st, 2007
at 8:42am
Chris Pirillocreated an interesting post today on One Laptop Per Child vs Asus Eee Notebook PC Here’s a short outline Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed SWAT sometimes hangs out on Ventrilo with us, and even occasionally streams for me
Left Of Center
November 21st, 2007
at 9:05am
Chris Pirillo »One Laptop Per Child vs Asus Eee Notebook PCPosted 51 minutes ago
Kathy
November 21st, 2007
at 12:28pm
Hi, Chris … ditto … I wrote about this project and announced my participation on the 12th. :)
Windows Vista Torrent
November 21st, 2007
at 1:02pm
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Tyler S. Miller
November 22nd, 2007
at 4:05am
Free Digital Camera Software: Upgrade Your Canon - Nov 21, 2007 - chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo) LEGO Block Building Software - Nov 21, 2007 - chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo)One Laptop Per Child vs Asus Eee Notebook PC - Nov 21, 2007 - chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo) Internet Dating Tips for Geeks - Nov 21, 2007 - chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo) Mac vs Windows vs Linux: Every OS Sucks!
Brandon
November 23rd, 2007
at 10:38pm
thats a cool idea. i think next year i will do that program. it seems to be a pretty good deal! :)
Windows Fanatics
December 4th, 2007
at 12:38am
a great learning tool, and a way to pass the time. However, I strongly feel they should be supportive of the child’s computing experience, not the sum total of what they do. I want to share with you a couple of emails I received after I posted theOne Laptop per Child Video. Hey Chris, I’m Krrose27 on IRC. I’m 16 and got my first PC at age 5, which was given to me and my sister from our grandparents. For many years I did gaming. I then set up a Geocities Web site and started Web design about age 8 or 9. I now have
linea2000
December 22nd, 2007
at 3:12pm
EEE proves you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to do something quickly. Roll out of the OLPC is taking too long because they’ve spent time cosmetically “designing” it. To deter adults from taking it off kids is a lame reason. I’ve been to Africa, some poor people will take these laptops off their kids and sell them whatever the pc looks like. Asus eee is worth considering for the buy one give one scheme, maybe alonside the OLPC.
linea2000
December 22nd, 2007
at 3:14pm
OLPC is a fantastic little machine though :)
linea2000
December 22nd, 2007
at 3:22pm
and the project could change the third world, I’m not denying that, just trying to give a balanced opinion
superkorsar
December 24th, 2007
at 3:56pm
Seriously, if they are poor, i’m seeing them selling their OLPC, to get money to buy food, and maybe they can’t access to the internet, or a place to charge the battery…
If you want a cheap laptop, buy an Eee.
If you want to help african children buying them laptops, while they die because of hungry, buy the OLPC…
sorry if my english is bad :p
superkorsar
December 24th, 2007
at 4:13pm
olpc is a great program, is good for poor children, but why we would need it??
If i had a daugther, id go for an Eee for her, and donate a olpc if you want
LessthanJake14
December 25th, 2007
at 8:14am
Oh yeah, I’ve got an Eee at home with Geubuntu on it but I was saying about the high prices of Apple products.
leoq114
December 26th, 2007
at 3:51pm
NEEERD!!!!! You just got your asses whipped, by a bunch of god damned nerds! This guy was in the movie.
crackwhore2007
January 1st, 2008
at 2:25am
Nerd xD
samphilomath
January 3rd, 2008
at 10:53am
People don’t see the full potential of the OLPC because they are not think outside the box.
As soon as you get one, just add Puppy Linux or xfce on it. you’ll end up with a full fast enough regular portable internet tablet media device.
Just think about it, the Nokia n800 got less Mhz and it still working well.
Just slap a Puppy on it
Rick
January 4th, 2008
at 8:44am
After spending several hours with an OLPC sent to a coworker as a gift, I find it to be of extremely limited value for someone under the age of 8, and completely without merit for anyone over the age of 8. For developed-world users, it’s a waste of money. Without downloading and printing the manual from the OLPC site on a real PC, the device was unusable due to its non-intuitive design. The OLPC wireless implementation does not support WPA, although the OLPC site says that will be fixed in 2008, but how in the world a third-world user would accomlish this update is a mystery. Developed-world users are limited to using unsecured or WEP secured access points, both of which would not logically be set up by anyone wanting to protect their property. Save two unsuspecting innocent users, the anonymous third-world one and the one you give it to, the frustration and disposal headache for what amounts to a toy, IMHO.
dougdangger
January 6th, 2008
at 5:17am
how would a starving child benefit from a laptop when they need food and medicine?
Give them food, medicine and condoms, not a tool so they can post on myspace.
LeMeAtOm
January 21st, 2008
at 4:06am
If you nurture a wild animal with food it will become dependent on it and know not how to defend or look after itself. is one point of view.. another is that all the people in the world who are in need of help are not just all starving, under medicated, STD risks.
either way, im sure there are greater uses for these machines, including the one your sitting on, than accessing myspace, some just take that for granted.
azizi3929
January 28th, 2008
at 4:50pm
i agree to superkorsar’s statement.OLPC should be focused to poor country that needs (cheaper
resources or even better.. free) to education
& for the rest of us..eee pc
stardust1003
February 11th, 2008
at 6:39am
how would a starving child benefit from a laptop when they need food and medicine?
Give them food, medicine and condoms, not a tool so they can post on myspace.
szester
February 12th, 2008
at 10:28am
i agree with stardust. i dont understand how having a laptop will help them. can they order free shipments of food on them?
fraxus
February 14th, 2008
at 8:46am
Why should I care about this guys opinion on the moral value of the OLPC ? I’ll judge that for myself. What is the tech comparison ?
MotherOfAllBombs1
February 19th, 2008
at 5:12pm
U are a dumb ***, most third world countries dont want aid in food and medicine they want money for infrastructure. If they just get food and medicine they’ll stay in the same dilemma, if you give them education then maybe they can be self reliant and escape poverty
tylerhuskins
March 2nd, 2008
at 6:08am
well then you shouldnt click his vid
chaosmutt
March 15th, 2008
at 6:31pm
the thing is they may never escape poverty without the skills to use technology. institutes in Africa are in desperate of people to operate their technology. sure keep them alive with food and such, but help them escape poverty themselves. it stops the need to send food and such to them if they can afford it themselves using the skills they aquire for using these laptops.
whatsonthetv
March 24th, 2008
at 3:21pm
The OLPC vision is something that will change the way of sending aid to developing nations. The XO laptop is an investment for education in children, meaning the future.
zsoltwin
April 1st, 2008
at 8:03pm
Some dumb people agian…
OLPC are not eatalbe of course!
This “starving” argument is soooo arogant!!!
This is for education benefit at developing countries not specifically at regions where people are starving, and I now that some of you are very suprised by the fact that helping starving people and helping (not starving but) people still in need it is not necessary the same thing…
teksfmk
April 2nd, 2008
at 8:30am
wat the fu** why are you comparing those.
rspawn
April 12th, 2008
at 1:47am
Asus’ Eee Notebook seems to be inspired by the OLPC.
rspawn
April 12th, 2008
at 1:52am
Not all poverty is equal.
Really poor kids who are starving to death don’t care about laptops nor about “infrastructure”.
But poor kids who are not starving to death probably have a better chance getting out of poverty with an OLPC.
MRauron
May 4th, 2008
at 7:27pm
@ MotherOfAllBombs1 - education does not matter if you are dead…
wel2myworld
May 10th, 2008
at 3:32am
That is the coldest (One Laptop Per Child) thing to do, first and foremost 3rd world country don’t have wifi so those laptops are just useless brick and they don’t usually the child usually don’t have electricity.
Useful Habits
July 23rd, 2008
at 8:51pm
http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow“>Add to iTunes</a> Notebook Cooler What’s the Future of Portable Computing? How to Build your own Laptop How to Buy a Laptop (Notebook, Portable Computer)One Laptop Per Child vs Asus Eee Notebook PCTop Cool Laptop Accessories Do you Really Want to Win this PC? HP Dragon Notebook Giveaway Information HP Dragon Notebook Giveaway How Do You Travel with Electronics? Chris How do you Keep your Laptop Cool?