I am surprised no one has mentioned that this plan fructifies, it will create a gray-market for cheap laptops. Many students will end up selling their "free" laptops at rock bottom prices (for whatever reason ... poverty, ignorance, beer money ... ). This will end up undercutting the very same laptops sold by the companies which supply the free laptops to the government, who will then complain to the government about stopping the students from selling laptops. But its a demand / supply equation - if you provide something (with good resale value ) for free, there will be abuse, and it will be nearly impossible to control it.