One laptop per Child (OLPC) has announced that it is moving closer to its goal of providing every child in the world with access to knowledge and modern forms of education. OLPC has revealed its roadmap for the creation of three new laptop models that will be released from 2010 through 2012. These computers are set not only to surpass the performance of the current XO but will have lower prices as well.

OLPC is a non-profit organization that aims to make modern forms of education accessible to all children in the world. As such, the XO laptops are designed powerful enough to meet these needs but are also built sturdy and resistant to the humidity and/or heat, which abounds in arid or tropical settlements. As such, the XO 1.5 and XO 1.75 will build upon the current design and will deliver better performance while becoming more accessible to the targeted consumer base. The more remote XO 3.0, however, will use an entirely new design.

The XO 1.5 will be based on the current XO industrial design and will become available by January 10. It will replace the currently used AMD processor with one from VIA and will also boast double the speed and four times more DRAM and FLASH memory. The system will be able to run both the Linux and the Windows operating systems and will cost about $200.

The second model OLPC is designing is the ARM processor-based XO 1.75. This will be more accessible to poor and rural communities, costing at most $175. The ARM chip from Marvell is set to double the processing speed while reducing power consumption to a quarter. The outside will be rubber-bumpered while the inside screen will be an 8.9-inch touch-sensitive display. The XO 1.75 is meant as a complement to the x86-based XO 1.5.

Lastly, OLPC is also working on an entirely new device which, the organization hopes, will cost much less than $100. The developers will focus on a design using a single sheet of flexible plastic. The goal is to create a device completely environment-proof, thanks to the total lack of holes, and will still deliver a performance at least as high as that of the X 1.75 model.

“The first version of OLPC’s child-centric laptop, the XO, is a revolution in low-cost, low-power computing. The XO has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries and in 25 languages,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “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. Because we are a non-profit, we hope that industry will copy us.”

End-users may become more acquainted with the organization, its plans and the XO laptop by following this link to the official website.