$300 Netbook

The English WikiPedia currently defines a “netbook” as:

…a class of laptop computers that are small, light, and inexpensive, with reduced specifications and processing power relative to larger laptops. Like their desktop counterparts, nettops, netbooks are well-suited for accessing web-based applications, cloud computing, and rich Internet applications, and are less appropriate for running complex or resource-intensive applications directly from the netbook itself.

The February 2, 2009, NPR report “India To Unveil Inexpensive Laptop Prototype” generated quite a bit of discussion about the viability of a sub-$100 netbook. In reference to the claim that an actual laptop can and will be produced in the near term for less than $100, or specifically $20 as the news report alleges, Scott Mcleod pointed out:

Contrary to these assertions, however, India is claiming that the actual cost of the laptop currently is $20 (or $47 if you factor in labor costs?). The hope is that mass production will bring down the price to the desired $10.

While a $20 price point for this laptop in the near term is certainly debatable, the idea of a sub-$100 laptop should not seem far-fetched. I remember seeing Ian Jukes‘ charts of processing power and price calculated according to Moore’s Law back in the late 1990s, and it was mindblowing to imagine the computing power we’d be able to purchase in the future for just a few pennies. These lower-cost laptops are the continuing manifestation of these well-recognized computer hardware trends.

Pointed questions should be asked about the actual capabilities of this $20 Indian computer, however, and observers should be wary to conclude it will offer comparable features to today’s $300 netbooks. Kit Eaton on Fast Company argues that the Indian “computer” in question does not really qualify as a laptop in the usual sense of the word, its functionality is more like that of a cheap Kindle. Kit wrote:

In fact the “laptop” appears to be nothing much more sophisticated than a specialized digital storage hub/net access point for educational media. A deal has apparently been struck between the project’s leaders and educational publishers Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing which will see student-directed materials stored on the device that can then be downloaded and printed out on a standard laptop. And while that’s all very praise-worthy, the machine itself is simply a 2GB drive with wireless (and wired, or so it appears in the only image available) networking capabilities.

Like others, I am also enthused by the prospect of less expensive netbooks, but I maintain we must not settle for devices in our schools which will serve only as electronic textbooks for content consumption. It is essential that digital technologies purchased for our classrooms empower learners to create, communicate, and collaborate. This is the “CCC” of the 21st century.

Oprah and many others are excited about the Kindle, and I do agree many of its features are praiseworthy. We should not, however, entertain visions of devices with limited, Kindle-only functionalities filling our classrooms, schools and homes in the years to come. Such a device is SO limited in terms of the power it affords individuals to engage in CCC literacies. If India does offer a $20 Kindle-like device for sale in the next few years, I definitely won’t petition my local school board or state legislature to purchase one for every student. A sub-$100 netbook, or even a $250 netbook on the other hand, is a completely different story.

We need to embrace digital curriculum in our schools and colleges NOW, and digital curriculum mandates student access to digital devices. The 1:1 learning revolution is drawing nearer, and announcements like this one about a $20 laptop from India is a signal that day is even closer.