DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Laptops for students, at Rs 400!

28 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/laptops-for-students-at-rs-400.94325/

din
din Original post #1
Jul 29, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Yes, Laptops for students, at Rs 400! Atleast that is what rediff says !!!

No idea how it is possible !! May be they meant the $100 laptop ?

Source

Students across the country will be able to buy specially designed laptops at affordable prices with the government planning to provide them the gadget at around Rs 400.

Research in this direction is being already carried out at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore and IIT-Madras to develop a special laptop at a cost of $10 for students to help them excel in studies.

"The government aims to provide $10 laptops to students and research in this direction is on," said D Purandeshwari, Minister of State for Human Resources Development, in New Delhi.
MetalheadGautham
Jul 29, 2008 at 5:06 PM
ooooooold news. I thought it just went into production :(
Guess I can keep dreaming...
freshseasons
Jul 29, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Not Possible no matter how much the Govt subsidies it.
No one produce it at that cost, forget the servicing it ,Feeding corrupted govt officials for it to reach students.
Not possible ever , never.
amitava82
Jul 29, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Condition apply*

*2 years contract, only 1000/pm
MetalheadGautham
Jul 30, 2008 at 5:55 AM
Not Possible no matter how much the Govt subsidies it.
No one produce it at that cost, forget the servicing it ,Feeding corrupted govt officials for it to reach students.
Not possible ever , never.
keep dreaming...
Condition apply*

*2 years contract, only 1000/pm
:lol:

Let me tell you some of the things (I think) they plan to do to cut costs:

1. no audio
2. greyscale video
3. 5" screen
4. 4mb flash memory
5. 32mb ram
6. 100mhz processor
7. advertisements on computer

anyway, seriously speaking, I have been following this story for the past one year and it looks like they already have a design to put it under 35$, and it can be made to come down to 10$ with the help of mass production. With abundant cheap labour available in India, you never know....
NucleusKore
Jul 30, 2008 at 6:50 AM
keep dreaming...

:lol:

Let me tell you some of the things (I think) they plan to do to cut costs:

1. no audio
2. greyscale video
3. 5" screen
4. 4mb flash memory
5. 32mb ram
6. 100mhz processor
7. advertisements on computer

NO WINDOWS
din
din #8
Jul 30, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Oh wait.

I think it was some mistake by Rediff (they didn't correct it though !)

I just saw the same news in todays newspaper. It says Rs.4000, I guess they meant $100 laptop or something in that range. Rediff might have omitted one zero lol.
ray|raven
Jul 30, 2008 at 10:23 AM
^Lolz.
amitava82
amitava82 #10
Jul 30, 2008 at 10:26 AM
AFAIR some govt. official promissed $10 laptop sometime back and we talked about that earlier..

*www.olpcnews.com/countries/india/india_olpc_laptop_10.html
*arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070506-india-announces-plans-for-10-laptop.html
skeletor
skeletor #11
Jul 30, 2008 at 12:49 PM
cool! isn't it?
Surely yes, *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/search.php?do=finduser&u=42012

Anyways, these kinda typos are really funny....:lol:
ray|raven
ray|raven #12
Jul 30, 2008 at 1:12 PM
^zomg. amazing find gagandeep.
Pat
Pat #14
Jul 30, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Last time he was miserabled for a few weeks. Time for a permanent ban. What say ? Cool ? Isnt it ?
MetalheadGautham
Jul 30, 2008 at 3:38 PM
he tried to be too much of a Mr. Cool :lol:
nitish_mythology
Jul 30, 2008 at 9:59 PM
The credit of *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1220463 goes to hullap... i think he found it out 1st in another thread...
iinfi
iinfi #17
Jul 30, 2008 at 10:44 PM
very cool....cold
trigger
trigger #18
Jul 31, 2008 at 12:46 PM
where is his cool post?
slugger
slugger #20
Aug 2, 2008 at 3:41 PM
probably offtopic

wasn't there this thing called simputer that was developed by a Govt institution? was to be dirt cheap

dammn govt marketing ruined a good design

found this site
*www.simputer.org/
bikdel
bikdel #21
Aug 2, 2008 at 11:16 PM
simputer?.. It was kinda Linux PDA Project and cost something like 10,000 INR.
goobimama
goobimama #22
Aug 2, 2008 at 11:20 PM
I wonder how long a notebook will last if built within 400 bucks. I mean, 25k notebooks usually konk off within a few months, I can only imagine this to be a monthly investment.
gary4gar
gary4gar #23
Aug 4, 2008 at 12:41 AM
better they have one powerfull server and couple of dumb clients
P
pimpom #24
Aug 4, 2008 at 1:05 AM
Maybe they meant that the student will have to pay Rs.400 a month for the rest of his life :lol:
MetalheadGautham
Aug 4, 2008 at 4:49 PM
I wonder how long a notebook will last if built within 400 bucks. I mean, 25k notebooks usually konk off within a few months, I can only imagine this to be a monthly investment.
There are hardly any hifi electronics manufactured in India. So this makes people think such things are impossible. But you will definitely be surprised once you see the performance of Rs. 400 notebooks, if manufactured on a very large scale with cheap labour and automated designing.
Pathik
Pathik #26
Aug 4, 2008 at 4:55 PM
It might be a decent lappy subsidized to 400 bucks for educational institutions etc.
You guys just start criticizing everything. :p
MetalheadGautham
Aug 4, 2008 at 5:18 PM
OR, it may be even a high end databank, like some of the more advanced scientific calculators.

Imagine being able to view and edit only text files and doing some calculating tasks. :D
Pathik
Pathik #28
Aug 4, 2008 at 5:31 PM
What? Do you expect a high end gaming rig in Rs. 400? Heck, you dont even get a good lunch in 400 bucks these days.