Intel's Eduwise low-cost PC revealed

The freaktastic, not-so-altruistic battle between Negroponte, AMD, VIA and Intel to bring low-cost PCs to developing nations just hotted-up with the formal unveiling of the Eduwise by Intel CEO Paul Otellini at the World Congress on Information Technology. The $400 device announced a few months ago in Brazil, sports "light-blue accents" and "snaps shut like a purse" -- perfect for students and teachers on a tight-budget with a sense of flair -- runs Windows or Linux, and ships pre-loaded with special software allowing students and teachers to interact through shared presentations and test administration over the Eduwise's built-in WiFi. The Eduwise will be available "next year" via the usual outlet of PC manufacturers who'll no doubt tweak this reference design a bit. Of course, Intel had to take the spotlight opp to blast a shot across the bow of the $100 OLPC with Otellini saying, "nobody wants to cross the digital divide using yesterday's technology." Yeah, nor should they have to harvest a kidney to avoid crossing the classroom for a little one-on-one, eh? Man, we haven't seen this much selfish generosity since Atlas shrugged.

[Via Sagags]

[Todd @ May 4th 2006 8:18AM]

That's ridiculous. An intel processor that sucks down the juice, destine for countries where only the wealthy have electricity for a few hours a day.

What happened to the hand cranked thin client?

T

[havaloc @ May 4th 2006 8:20AM]

Don't tell Intel, but Dell has been selling a $399 laptop for quite a while already.

[cookiemonster @ May 4th 2006 8:25AM]

dell had them down to around 200 after coupons and their deals...
intel is teh suck

[Razib Ahmed @ May 4th 2006 8:30AM]

$400 is a good price. Until now, use of laptop in third world countries is extremely limited. The race between Intel and AMD is good for the consumers in the end.
Intel is trying to attract the rural market of India with its ' Ruggedised Personal Computer'(http://www.southasiabiz.com/2006/03/intel_corp_intc_pcs_for_rural.html).The PC can tolerate extreme heat, dust and humidity of rural India.

[Mark @ May 4th 2006 8:36AM]

#4. How could you think 400 dollars USD is a good price for a poor student? I purchased a Clamshell iBook on ebay for way less than that price and it has built in wifi and a word processor too. Just to let you know it was $250 dollars. It may not have the same specs but are they really going to be using these computers for Doom 3 and 3D Studio Max?

[Tom @ May 4th 2006 8:43AM]

Anyone else think that screenshot looks a lot like Lonhgorn 3718?

[Yrian @ May 4th 2006 8:46AM]

I laugh at the ignorance of these people. I'll laugh even more when that ignorance translates to no sales.

[SHoe @ May 4th 2006 8:54AM]

With a couple of dozen countries averaging below $500 a year per person in income (a handful average about $100 usd per person per year!) - this is hardly affordable. I think Intel needs to pull its head out of it's ass and look around.

[Rob Fisher @ May 4th 2006 8:56AM]

"not-so-altruistic battle"; "Man, we haven't seen this much selfish generosity since Atlas shrugged." Why does it matter whether Intel are generous or not. They're simply making people an offer. "$400 in exchange for this." If you don't like it, don't buy it.

[PeteC @ May 4th 2006 9:22AM]

One has to wonder that if this is the kind of crap you get for $400 how they're ever planning to hit that $500 sweet spot for UMPC's any time soon! I certianly don't want a UMPC that looks anything like this!

[PeteC @ May 4th 2006 9:26AM]

Plus haven't they just been saying how we're all wrecking our eyesight straining to look at tiny screens on portable devices. This thing is built for kids with a microscopic screen but I guess will be used at much longer lengths of time than a cell phone or PDA. Are they planning on quickly ruining the eyesights of the next generation? Maybe they've made some deal with specsavers!

[sw @ May 4th 2006 9:28AM]

So what if it costs 4 times as much as the OLPC? Since when have poor people ever been price sensitive.

The real bonus is that by coming with an Intel chip and Windows XP, it will have lousy battery life and be way slower. What more could you want?

[JD @ May 4th 2006 9:38AM]

"The cheaper PCs are part of a $1 billion investment by Intel during the next five years to promote the use of computers in schools, cafes and other public spots in developing countries, Otellini said."

Scary.

Hey Mr Otellini, for a billion dollars how about setting up a recycling program ao instead of dumping yesterday's technology into developing country landfills, you could actually donate yesterday's technology for something useful??

"Special software allows students in a classroom to view presentations, take tests and interact individually with their teachers using a built-in wireless connection."

Am I missing something here? I guess you can't do that with today's computers cause that is like so "yesterday's technology".

[John Doe @ May 4th 2006 10:01AM]

I love Intel (Well the post P4 Intel I love.) but someone needs to beat their execs with a clue by four. Not only are they looking like the ultimate douche bad by talking crap about a computer who�s primary purpose, first and foremost is to give people access to computers. That is all. MIT didn�t design this thing to be some massive money maker. But along comes Intel, MS, etc turning this into some massive competition that they need to crush NOW. But on top of that they are talking smack about a system that is HUNDREDS cheaper that will be going to places on this planet who can't even afford that. Clue to Intel: These things are going to be subsidized and guess what? Time for math 101. $100 is cheaper then $400.
Again I love my $2500 Core Duo laptop. But someone needs to lock these idiots in a boardroom and give them PR 101 lessons because this shit is just embarrassing for me and, even though they don�t realize it, for Intel.

[minus_273 @ May 4th 2006 10:04AM]

"Man, we haven't seen this much selfish generosity since Atlas shrugged."

meh, who's John Galt?

[Jon Acheson @ May 4th 2006 10:15AM]

$400 dollars might not be an unheard-of price for a regular laptop, but it's a great price for a ruggedized laptop.

I don't know how ruggedized this might be, but I'm guessing it's at least somewhat toughened up.

Also, this is just a prototype to demonstrate feasibility. An actual product based on this spec might look much different/better.

[Tomas @ May 4th 2006 10:23AM]

Why does the third world need a $400 hammer? They did just fine with a Coke bottle.

[cameron @ May 4th 2006 10:30AM]

One group is trying to make a computer that fits the environment that it will be used in, the other is trying to make the environment that it will be used in bend to their computer's needs.

YAY IMPERIALISM!

[Yvan @ May 4th 2006 10:42AM]

They are eluding the facts again. A cheap computer is flash based, rugged plastic built (little tykes style ) solar or hand cranked powered, and easily repairable on site. The way this one's done they are only recycling their overstock of dated parts.
This is a familiar way of doing business here.

[Colin @ May 4th 2006 10:49AM]

#1....Negroponte already dropped the hand crank in favour of a push pedal.

[Mag @ May 4th 2006 10:56AM]

This PC may help solving the problem of digital illiteracy in many nations. I think it would be ideal too for those people with low budgets within any country. However, I believe that even more powerful PCs should lower their cost, to be available to much more groups. I wish more corporations to take such step that Intel's done.

[annoyed @ May 4th 2006 11:39AM]

I really hate these sites that allow user comments, and hate it even worse that I get annoyed enough to even give you morons the 3 minutes it will take to post this.

If all of you commenters are so effing smart, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT THEN.

"Oooh, this multi-billion dollar company is SOOOO stupid. Not like me, sitting here in my underwear in front of my cheap computer eating cheese snacks and commenting on engadget.com."

[abigsmurf @ May 4th 2006 11:55AM]

any chance of specs?

if this uses one of the new intel ULV cpus it could be worth checking out. If it uses a power hungry celeron on the other hand...

[Dietreck @ May 4th 2006 12:07PM]

that screen is hella small, it would cause major crossed eyed problems. and 400 is not cheap in the lives of poor people.

[Dietreck @ May 4th 2006 12:09PM]

crazy that screen is tiny, they want poor people to get crosseyed. 400 bucks is not cheap in poor countries.

[idude135 @ May 4th 2006 12:45PM]

Don't be suprised for these pieces of junk to be sold on Wal-Mart for all those poor people here in the US...

[Asher @ May 4th 2006 12:48PM]

"selfish generosity"

Every motivation and subsequent action arises from selfish interest. Including charity and public service.

[BSTalker @ May 4th 2006 1:01PM]

I'm sorry is it just me or does anyone else wonder if they have created an extorsionate price so they can get away with giving away less????

If there giving away I just hope that it's measured at cost and not at RRP. I seriously doubt that that has a $400 cost price attached to it (or even that it's worth that much - but then again maybe it will be to someone in the third world)

As people say though... how the heck do you power it??? - powered by advertisements or maybe hotair.

Why be so sarcastic? Big companies have had abilities to help for years only in the day and age when new markets need to be secured do they actually do so.

I can picture the ebay searches now... (full of these things)

[Matt @ May 4th 2006 1:58PM]

Funny how you are all talking about "3rd World" - article says its for education...

Anyway, interesting price...I paid �399 (electronics-pound-dolar currency conversaion rate means $399...) for this laptop from a high-street shop with no fancy discounts. Ok no specs on this eduwise thing but from what I can see, the screen on that thing is about half the size of this 15inch one. I also get wifi and firewire and a keyboard designed for non-midgets. Half the price and it might be something worth talking about.

Anyway - what is this obsession with "IT in Education"? I know in the UK its been found that IT adds basically nothing to education, and that traditional UK teaching techniques are much more effective. IT has its place in certain situations, but it is not some "magic" tool to make kids clever.

Incidentally whilst we are on the subject, although probably 75-95% of uni students here have a laptop, it is VERY VERY rare for students to actually ahve their laptop in lectures and classes. Its no big deal here.

[Dean Lowe @ May 4th 2006 5:02PM]

$400 laptop for kids that live in less than $1 per day???

Are you F'ing kidding me?!

How about selling them a $100 laptop and let them keep the $300 for FOOD!!!

[Aaron Smith @ May 4th 2006 6:03PM]

This is a step in the right direction, but it is still too expensive.

[Tim @ May 4th 2006 6:29PM]

Is it just me or does this laptop look like a Vtech Learning Laptop...

http://tinyurl.com/ge624

Talk about ugly. I'll just wait for a $500 deal on a Core Duo Inspiron :).

[threEchelon @ May 4th 2006 7:47PM]

Ewwww... what's coming out of his eye?

[OLPC Lover @ May 5th 2006 3:03AM]

Whatever, the OLPC has nothing to do with generosity. Negroponte has gotten all the adoration the blogosphere can heap on him, and he hasn't got anything to show for it, except poor countries committing money they don't have to a design that continues to change for the worse.

If that's altruism, go ahead and enjoy. And if you have a better system than capitalism and freedom of exchange, go enjoy that too.

For a blog that should celebrate innovation and evolution in technology, the commentary here is often pretty stale. Or maybe I just missed the announcement of all the new technology coming out of North Korea and Cuba.

[Ima Pseudonym @ May 5th 2006 9:09AM]

$400 for a laptop for the 3rd world's poor.
Sure.

What are they smokin' in those exec suites??

[Perrey Z. @ May 5th 2006 10:16AM]

#2: Yes... but this IS a cheap $400.00 notebook, so you won't expect more of it when it breaks within 4-months, Dell in the other hand keeps proclaiming themselves to offer top of the line quality at bargain prices., some idiots actually belive that crap and think they are getting a good deal on a Dell, when in fact they're purchasing garbage with no tech support or brand-name components.

#26: I'm sure this will be offered at this year's Black Friday., Oh boy i can't wait to see the Ghetto fights and sucker punches on CNN!

[Rev. Andy @ Apr 7th 2007 11:21AM]

$399 for one Intel's Eduwise low-cost PC?
and you sent how many to Mexico?
What town did they go to and are there power lines running to the homes of the children in that community?

It has become apparent as to what actually motived Intel to get involved in the OLPC project to start with.

Yes! giving away the first batch of your version of these lowcost computers was a wonderful jester. And you may even force the designers of the orginal version that you stole the idea from to get off there tail bones and make things happen and stop talking about it as a possiblity and make it reality.
However $399.00usd is anything but cheap. Sure for the averge computer user here in the USA thats a tax dodge. But if you live in the Phillipines, that 19,064.22 PHP.
I have a Fiancee that is a teach I told her about the orginal OLPC project last spring and she has pasted on the information to every teacher and form of media over there that she knows of that will listen. They are all waiting and watching. and praying that there children will be next on the list.
But if your vesrion is the one that is choosen to be used I'm araind that they will have to go with out.
The most impressive thing they found was the self generation modual with it hand crank.
We all know why the crank handle was dememd a bad idea. so want on keep the manual crank generator and redsign the crank with a few inovative ideas.
such as recesing the crank and adding a simple program like a car going around a track show the care as it makes its way around the track all the while with each turn of a recesed handle being turned and when the car make its first lap have it lock in to place and notify the user that the battery is charged.

[Charles Young @ Dec 3rd 2007 11:19AM]

the bottom of the list just keeeps getting longer
Lawyers
Congress
the president
the vice president
car dealers
Intel
Drug dealers