The OLPC's XO Laptop Starts Mass Production

The One Laptop per Child project is quite a commendable initiative, but, unfortunately, it has not enjoyed exactly the level of success it probably deserved. However, after many years of waiting, price increases and rumors, it seems that the XO laptop dreamed by Nicholas Negroponte has finally entered the manufacturing stage.

Thus, according to a report by BBC, it seems that computer manufacturer Quanta, which is the organization "entrusted" with building the low-cost laptops, has begun the production phase at a factory in Changshu, China. And in good time, too, since OLPC has finally begun to receive official orders for the XO laptop (only last month it received an order for 100,000 machines from the government of Uruguay).

Although mass-production was set to begin as early as July, various development problems postponed this date. However, it seems that things are on the right track, at least for now, although there have been some changes along the way, the most important being related to the price of the device itself, which went up to almost 200 US dollars, from the initial 100 proposed by Negroponte.

As you might know already, the XO laptop is designed especially to fit the needs of users from developing countries, and, for this purpose, it has no moving parts and can be easily maintained. Furthermore, it has been equipped with a sunlight-readable display that allows children to use it outside and, importantly for areas with little access to electricity, it is ultra low power and can be charged by a variety of devices including solar panels and hand-cranks.

Although it has been designed as a tool for bringing children from developing countries into the 21st century (which means that it's targeting mostly governments for customers), the XO laptop can also be purchased (at least in North America, that is) via the OLPC's Give 1 Get 1 programme (G1G1), which will allow normal people to purchase such a machine for themselves as well as one for a child in a developing country.

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