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Interested in buying a new computer? This holiday season may be the best time if price is the determining factor for you. Because of Vista’s release being after the holidays, 70% of notebooks/laptops sold during this holiday season will be priced at less than $1,000 (compare that with 38% in 2004). This according to Current Analysis, a research firm in the business of tracking weekly PC sales. Research director Samir Bhavnani explains, "It’s going to be a blowout sale."

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Nicholas Negroponte of MIT discusses the latest news for the $130 to $140 laptop, which will start being sold to governments in April 2007. The $100 price point is still in the works, he mentioned, and should be reached sometime toward the end of 2008. The price will be somewhat variable depending on the amount of RAM installed. For Computers.net original coverage on the project, check out this article or this video.

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Link: Fuel Cell Technology & The 10 Hour Battery

Technology focusing around fuel cells is set to launch next year. Positive statements from laptop manufacturers like NEC, IBM, and Toshiba suggest that fuel cell technology will be available within 12 months, but such predictions have generally been optimistic. Airlines, noise, size, and weight have all been obstacles.

Andy Carvin was at the WSIS summit in Tunis and interviewed the chief technology officer for MIT’s $100 laptop project. The video is informative and provides a unique look at the latest prototype. As Andy’s site seems to be very busy, Computers.net has made the video available here as well. Check it out here (or just click on the picture). For additional info on the project, check out our previous article.

Earlier this week at a United Nations Internet summit, Nicholas Negroponte of MIT showed off the current design for the $100 laptop. According to one article, his goal is to distribute the laptops to 100-150 million students. Apparently five companies are bidding to make the laptop, though we don’t know which five. As Computers.net has scanned the Internet for information about the topic, it’s found both positive and negative comments:

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Intel has a new technology called "Robson," which it showed off in Taipei on Monday. The idea is for add-in flash memory cards to hold the information necessary to start up a computer. Current computers have to wait for hard drives, which use a motor to be powered. With this new technology, not only will your computer turn on much more quickly but your laptop may also have increased battery life (flash memory uses way less battery power than hard drives). For more information, check out this article.

A group called the Enhanced Wireless Consortium has recently proposed new wireless technology capable of transmission rates up to 600Mbps. This is over 10 times the speed of current wireless technology (54Mbps) and would make wireless connectivity a more feasible option for advanced multimedia (such as streaming video, high definition TV, etc.). Here is a list of the 27 companies involved, some of which have threatened to develop the technology even if a universal standard can not be met:

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has plans to release a laptop that will cost only $100. The idea is for governments to pay the cost and then distribute the laptops to students. Five companies are working with MIT to develop the initial 5 million to 15 million test units within the year: Google, Advanced Micro Devices, News Corp., Red Hat and BrightStar. Though this project is primarily designed to work with governments for educational purposes, a commercial version of the laptop is in the works.

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