Laptops UK
 
 
XO Laptop to be Sold on Amazon
Wed, 12 Nov 2008
The One Laptop Per Child foundation has announced it has reached an agreement with Amazon.com to sell the XO laptop online . At present, only the Linux based XO laptops will be available on Amazon, rather than the newer Windows version. The laptop will be sold on Amazon in a similar manner to the Give 1 Get 1 programme, under which a consumer buys an XO laptop for $400, purchasing one for himself and sending one to a child in a developing nation.

The XO laptop comes with 1G of internal flash storage, 256 megabytes of RAM, a 7.5 inch liquid crystal display screen and Wi fi capabilities. OLPC claim that, depending on usage, the XO laptop’s lithium-ferro phosphate battery is more efficient than the batteries of commercial laptops . It is also possible for the laptops to run on solar power, a foot pedal or pull-string. The OLPC have already announced the XO-2 laptop, due for shipment in 2010, but are also working on an XO-1 Gen 1.5 to be shipped in the first quarter of 2009 as an update to the original XO laptop.

The news is a massive boost to the OLPC, who have faced increasing competition in the global education PC market, as the likes of Dell and Intel have developed rival products.