One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization with the mission to help eradicate world poverty by providing every child access to knowledge and modern forms of education, even if that child lives in the most rural and primitive environment, today announced it has authorized mass production of the XO laptop, based on the release of the final Beta-4 (B4) engineering model. This triggers the supply chains of 800 parts that come together and rollout off the assembly line in October.
OLPC’s XO B4 laptops are among the most durable and innovative laptop computers ever designed. The machines are engineered to withstand the diverse and often harsh environmental conditions found in developing countries -- from the dust and heat of the Libyan desert to the daily downpours of the Brazilian rainforests. Additionally, unlike any other laptop on the market today, the XO features a sunlight-readable display and the ability to operate in areas without access to electricity.
“There is a lot of debate in technology circles about the cost of bringing laptop computers into the developing world,” said Walter Bender, OLPC president of software and content. “But the real debate shouldn’t be centered on cost – it should be about design. A computer designed for Western office environments simply won’t be able to withstand the conditions found in much of Africa, Asia and South America. Further, children engaged in learning have a different set of needs from a laptop than an office worker.”
The B4 laptops feature three innovations that are unlike any laptop being manufactured in the world today:
- Technologically revolutionary display is fully readable in bright sunlight. The display is among the highest quality of any laptop currently being produced regardless of cost and is so clear that it comes close to a paper-like reading experience for users. The B4 has a new hinge to allow for an increased tilt of the screen for an improved viewing angle.
- Rugged durability to withstand the most severe weather and environmental conditions. The enhanced B4 machines are more rugged: they can be used outdoors—where children tend to spend most of their time—in the rain, sitting in a puddle of water after a downpour, or in a cloud of dust. The case also features a Wi-Fi antenna design that not only gives the laptop superior Wi-Fi range, but also protects it from falls as high as five feet.
- Engineered to operate “off the grid.” The B4 computers can be powered by numerous alternative power sources, including a pull cord, a solar panel, or a solar-powered multi-battery charger at the school. The B4 machines use less than one watt of power when being used as an e-book and can operate for more than 12 hours on its battery.
The B4 machines are the result of a collaborative effort between OLPC, AMD, Brightstar, BT, Citigroup, Chi Mei Corporation, eBay, Google, Intel, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Quanta Computer, Red Hat, SES Astra, Underwriters Laboratories, and the global Open Source community. The B4 machines feature the AMD Geode LX processor, improved keyboard and touch pad, many electrical and mechanical enhancements, and an individualized brightly colored XO logo on the back. Children will be able to select from a wide range of colors for the logo so they can readily identify their laptop in a crowded classroom.
“Since the inception of the XO laptop more than two years ago, AMD has been committed to helping the One Laptop per Child program succeed,” said Gustavo Arenas, Corporate Vice President, High-Growth Markets and Innovations, AMD. “We are proud to serve as a technology partner to such a noble and life-affecting project. The B4 machine paves the way for a final XO laptop that will change the lives of millions of children—a mission that compliments AMD’s own 50x15 Initiative, whose goal is to enable 50 percent of the world’s population with affordable, accessible Internet connectivity and computing capabilities by the year 2015.”
The B4 laptops will go through a final round of testing by developers, hardware experts, OLPC technical volunteers, and some of the pilot schools around the world already using the B2 machines.
Other technical enhancements to the B4 include a faster, lower-power AMD processor: the Geode LX-700, more memory: 256 MB replace the previous 128 mb of SDRAM and more Flash: 1 GB replacing 0.5GB.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization created to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone will generate sufficient power for operation. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection.
OLPC is based on constructionist theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and later Alan Kay, as well as the principles expressed in Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital. The corporate members are AMD, Brightstar, Chi Mei Corporation, eBay, Google, Intel, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Quanta Computer, Red Hat and SES Astra.
