You could not believe the price they have to pay for computer. It is easily 3x, 4x the price we pay for the same hardware. And I they do need computer.

But, it is possible that the logistic/shipping is more expensive than the production of new hardware.

Also, cheaper more energy efficient hardware could be more cost effective.

source: A friend of mine worked for ong in Burkina Faso

Maybe at such scale.

I don't think that's an horrible idea, because I routinely donate old computer tech to non-profits, which do make use of it. Usually to assemble computers for children. Granted, this has negligible cost to me, as we are in the same country.

When one has access to cheap tech from the BestBuy just around the corner, it is difficult to imagine how expensive it can be in third world countries. It may also be difficult to understand how incredibly old are some of the computers that do exist.

I can't believe that it would be so expensive to ask people and companies to donate their old "junk", fill up a container and ship it.

> This would also result in a big pile of waste in Africa, as their recycling infrastructure is limited.

That may be so. That much tech waste could also create the necessary conditions for a recycling industry to start. Assuming that it doesn't already.

> They need food, shelter, stable politics and functional education before they can make any use of computers.

Is that so? Can't computers help them achieve those goals?

> They have limited energy supply. Low powered tablets / laptops are much more useful.

Yes, many locations completely lack power and ordinary desktop computers wouldn't work. But I don't think that's true for all african countries.

Agreed. Better yet, keep them in a Google data center. Its far more efficient to make cloud storage available at a reasonable price. How about a diskless laptop that boots from cloud storage? That would be a sweet spot economically (depending on network costs I guess).