Since the creation of the laptop in around 1981, not much has changed. Obviously with advances being made, condensing the size of different parts, the laptop became more compact and faster over the years. Compact for a laptop was still a pretty good size piece of equipment ranging in size from 13 to 17 inch screens weighing from 5 to 15 lbs, making them portable enough but still not that great an option for a user that is on the go all the time. This all changed in 2007 with OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) a company, whose goal is to bring technology to developing nations, making education more efficient and more effective.
When creating this computer, OLPC knew they had a tight budget and surprisingly came up with a really cheap product that is easy to maintain, fix, repair or replace without a high price tag or complicated equipment. When OLPC released their product, they sold around 300,000 in a short time, attracting the attention of larger computer manufacturers such as Acer, HP and others. This interest led to development which led to the manufacturing and ultimately the distribution of the consumer ready netbook in a very short time. After their release, it was reported by Amazon that in 2008, netbooks were all over the top ten buying list and caused laptop sales to double from 2007-08. Netbooks took the market by storm, that is a fact and an undisputed one but the question is why.
Let’s start with initial performance. They came with the necessary components including on average a 160 GB hard drive, 512 MB – 1 GB of RAM, an optical drive, decent quality screen etc. The specs really weren’t that impressive but when you consider the fact you now have a computer half the size of a laptop with a price tag half the size as well, a computer suddenly became something many more people could afford. Also the size and weight made it a popular option for checking email, surfing the web and doing some basic document processing for the constantly on the go user. It was the combination of these things that made it such a hot sale and with technology constantly being developed; it was only a matter of time before an already good product became great.
When creating this computer, OLPC knew they had a tight budget and surprisingly came up with a really cheap product that is easy to maintain, fix, repair or replace without a high price tag or complicated equipment. When OLPC released their product, they sold around 300,000 in a short time, attracting the attention of larger computer manufacturers such as Acer, HP and others. This interest led to development which led to the manufacturing and ultimately the distribution of the consumer ready netbook in a very short time. After their release, it was reported by Amazon that in 2008, netbooks were all over the top ten buying list and caused laptop sales to double from 2007-08. Netbooks took the market by storm, that is a fact and an undisputed one but the question is why.
Let’s start with initial performance. They came with the necessary components including on average a 160 GB hard drive, 512 MB – 1 GB of RAM, an optical drive, decent quality screen etc. The specs really weren’t that impressive but when you consider the fact you now have a computer half the size of a laptop with a price tag half the size as well, a computer suddenly became something many more people could afford. Also the size and weight made it a popular option for checking email, surfing the web and doing some basic document processing for the constantly on the go user. It was the combination of these things that made it such a hot sale and with technology constantly being developed; it was only a matter of time before an already good product became great.
