First million OLPC laptops ordered, 2500 test units readied

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 18 February 2007 11:49

Your IT - Entertainment

Five million to come by the end of the year, and 2500 to be sent out by the end of the month, the OLPC ‘XO’ laptop still costs US $50 more to manufacture than the stated US $100 goal, but draws ever nearer to the success of a multi-million global mass rollout.

With five million XO’s to be built in July for shipping to eight nations by the end of the year, including Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay, 2500 test laptops will be sent out to participating countries by the end of the month for the second round of actual in-field use with children.

Thailand was reported to have pulled out of the project following the coup, but after OLPC representatives visited Thailand, the new government has decided to re-join the project.

While the laptops cost US $150 to manufacture, US $50 more than the goal of the US $100 laptop, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) representatives say they’ll keep the specifications of the OLPC laptop stable to drive costs down, rather than add new features, to reach the US $100 goal.

This is expected to be achieved by 2010, when 150 million XO laptops are expected to be shipped across the globe – something that’s been said to be worrying Microsoft a little due to the fact so many laptops out there won’t be running Microsoft Windows, although how seriously Microsoft takes this is unknown – it was reported several months ago that Nicholas Negroponte had invited Microsoft to develop a version of Windows suitable for the device and that Microsoft was looking into it.

The XO is also reported to have been called a 'gadget' instead of a real computer, but as time has gone by, the XO's capabilities have become clearer with more knowledge about the Linux based operating system, showing that the XO will have true computing power.

The Taiwanese notebook giant Quanta with factories in Taiwan and China is building the unique laptops which offer a range of features that seem to make it ideal for any child to use, not just those in third world countries without ready access to electricity or other services we take for granted in the West.

Quanta is using its expertise in building notebooks for companies including Apple, Dell and HP to keep the price down as low as possible while still making a small profit. PC Advisor magazine quotes an OLPC representative as saying that "OLPC is a non-profit organisation, but Quanta is a contract manufacturer, a for-profit business. We can't not charge a fee for making the laptops.”
 
PC Advisor also quoted the president of Quanta, Michael Wang, who said at an internal Chinese New Year celebration last week that "This is our chairman's pet project, it's his life”, enforcing the belief and enthusiasm Quanta have in the One Laptop Per Child project.

The XO features a 7.5-inch colour screen, making it smaller than most notebooks out there, with very usable rubberized keys, a thicker case than most notebooks to handle rougher treatment, inbuilt wireless that meshes with other OLPC laptops, letting children talk to each other through videoconferencing, share files and other materials, and give all children connected to the network access to the Internet through a web browser – just as long as one of the laptops connected in the mesh network is connected to the Internet at large through, in most cases, the local school – connecting children not only to their own class materials but the world at large.

The screen can also be set to black and white at the touch of a button, for easier readability in direct sunlight. Also impressive is the screen’s ability to twist 180 degrees like a Tablet PC and fold face-up over the keyboard, transforming the XO into an e-book.

What else is in the XP laptop, and what's the new way they want to power it? Read onto page 2 for the conclusion...