One Laptop Per Child is unveiling the development road map for its XO low-cost notebook through 2012, including one new XO powered by chips from Via due out in January 2010 and another with an ARM-designed processor aimed at 2011. OLPC also unveiled a one-panel laptop made of flexible plastic that is scheduled for launch in 2012.
One Laptop Per Child, the organization that is aiming to make
low-cost laptops available to children around the globe, is laying out
its product road map for the next three years, including a single-panel
design targeted to be released in 2012.
The group also announced Dec. 22 that it is cancelling its XO 2.0
system, which was announced in May 2008. Instead, OLPC will rolled out
XO 1.5 in January 2010 and XO 1.75 in early 2011, before launching the
XO 3.0, which the organization said will have a target price below $100.
The non-profit organization's goal in the next three iterations of
its XO laptop are designed to increase the system's performance while
developing a design that will make it easy to use by children in poor,
rural and remote areas.
It hasn't been easy. In early 2008, the OLPC
split with Intel,
which started developing its own low-cost Classmate PCs. In January,
OLPC, struggling financially, laid off half of its staff, partially due
to the failure of its G1G1 program, where when a person bought an XO,
another would be given to a child somewhere in the world for free.
However, the OLPC's debut XO-powered by an Advanced Micro Device
processor and running a slimmed-down version of Fedora Linux-has been
distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries,
according to Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC founder and chairman.
"To fulfill our mission of reaching 500 million children in all
remote corners of the planet, OLPC will continue to innovate in design
and performance," Negroponte said in a statement.
XO 1.5 will have the same basic design as the current laptop, but
the group will replace the AMD processor with one from VIA
Technologies. The new system will have twice the speed, four times the
DRAM memory and four times the Flash memory than the current laptop. It
will run both Linux and Microsoft's Windows and will cost about $200
per unit.
XO 1.75 also will have the same basic design, but will include
rubber bumpers on the outside and an 8.9-inch touch-sensitive display
on the inside. It also will be based on an ARM-designed chip from
Marvell that not only will give the system twice the speed, but will
consume a quarter of the power. The ARM-based XO 1.75 will be offered
alongside the x86-based XO 1.5, and will start at $150 or less.
It's with XO 3.0 that OLPC radically changes the design. It will be
built on a single sheet of flexible plastic, and will be designed to be
unbreakable. It also will have no holes in it, and a ring attached to
the upper right corner to make it easier to hold and carry.
The technology used on the inside of the system will come from the XO 1.75 design, according to OLPC.
Concept images of the XO 3.0 design can be found
here.
Email
Print
