The concept now turns into reality! $100 laptop is soon to bring big smiles on the faces of pupils in rural South American hamlet. The five years old concept of $100 laptop project finally gets the green light to ramp-up production of this low-cost machine. This low cost machine is scheduled to hit the streets this October.
The concept took five years of designing, collaboration and innovation for bringing the $100 laptop to this stage and this has been a turbulent journey for One Laptop per Child (OLPC), the organization behind the scheme and its founder Nicholas Negroponte.
Some critics’ notion is that such a cheap device could not offer the technology or durability required to be beneficial. Others pointed out that the target third-world countries had more burning problems, such as starvation, dehydration and disease.
But for OLPC this endeavor is not a gift of modern technology, but rather an educational initiative and ‘an expression of global solidarity’ that would ‘open up new fronts’ for children’s education.
The innovative design of the XO machine is impressive, even to critics. This innovative ‘XO’ device is designed to run on less than 10% of the power required by an ordinary laptop. The main purpose of developing XO is to cope with the harsh and remote conditions found in areas where it may be used, such as the deserts of Libya or the mountains of Peru.
The software, memory, and screen are all designed to minimize energy consumption. The battery-run XO can even be recharged with solar cells, or human-operated foot pumps or pull-string chargers, and last four times as long as an average battery.
The laptop will initially cost $176 but the organization predicts that the price will drop to the target $100 as manufacturing and improvements are integrated.
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