Flickr/Inju

The $10 (Rs500) laptop, a prototype of which is planned to be launched in Tirupati, a city in the southern part of India, is getting a lot of coverage in the world media. This laptop will be the centrepiece of the country's National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technologies, due to be unveiled on 3 February at Triupati, Andhra Pradesh.

According to a report, “It uses a cheap microprocessor (not Intel or AMD’s standard PC chips) and removes the hard disk, CD/ DVD drive and other costly and problem-prone components, leaving the keyboard, screen and USB port.”

This laptop -- which is said to have 2GB of RAM and wireless connectivity -- is getting lot of coverage in the world media. No one is able to trust that there can be a laptop for $10. Some reports say that there might have been some miscommunication and the laptop might be a $100 one. Even if it costs $100, this laptop will be a great achievement for the country. This will not only help India drastically improve its education sector, other developing countries will also benefit.

Compare it with the XO laptop by Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project costs $188, almost double its target of $100. It is depending on buyers to sponsor free laptops. If $10 laptop becomes reality it would be really easy to give every child a laptop, or even two.

But the $10 laptop has left columnists scratching their heads, trying to figure out how it could have been made possible, if it has been made possible. A Guardian blog wonders what powers the laptop that is said to consume only 2Watt of power. Intel's Atom processor consumes 2.5Watt. It is also clueless on what is the processor that allows the Indian government to announce launch of such low cost laptop. It says even a system-on-a-chip, which integrates as many functions as possible on one piece of silicon, does not make a $10 laptop possible. It is also stumped by the fact that a 2GB RAM would ordinarily cost around $20.

An Indian Express edit piece is equally baffled by the announcement. It wonders if it's going to be a "souped-up calculator". How can Indian government manufacture a laptop at $20 (the initial manufacturing cost) when even a rudimentary laptop costs at least ten times, it questions.
Indian Express edit piece
I myself am not very confident of having a functional laptop for $10. But I sincerely hope that when the prototype is displayed before the world, it qualifies as a real, functional laptop. And, if it costs just $20 to manufacture, I would also like the government to allow its open sale so that more and more people benefit from it.

And please offer to sell one laptop to me as well. My current one has only 1GB of RAM. Sad, isn't it.

Additional resources:
Guardian: How do you make a laptop for £7?
Obsessable: India expects to show off $10 laptop
BBC: India to unveil low cost laptop
Indian Express: Little laptop that couldn't