Laptops UK
 
 
One Laptop Per Child Unveil New Prototype
Thu, 22 May 2008
The One Laptop Per Child foundation have unveiled a prototype of their new XO 2.0 laptop . The new model was unveiled by the organisation’s chairman Nicholas Negroponte at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. It is the charity’s second generation laptop and continues to be aimed at poor students in developing countries. Following the controversy surrounding the escalating price tag of the initial XO laptop – its initial advertised cost of $100 rocketed to $188 – the foundation are hoping to avoid a similar controversy and claim the laptops could sell for as little as $75 each.

The new laptop is a slimmed down version of its predecessor, and features a touch screen keyboard that also functions as a second display when the device is placed on its side, enabling two students to use the laptop. The XO 2.0 laptop is lighter and smaller than the original XO laptop, and is forecast to be ready for production in 2010.

The machine will operate on Windows XP after OLPC agreed a deal with Microsoft that will see the operating system run cheaply on the basic laptops.