Starting from 12 November, the XO laptop, formerly known as the $100 laptop or the Children’s Laptop, will be available in the US as a ‘buy one give one free’ offer.
In order to boost sales of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) scheme which aims to bring educational tools to the over two billion children in developing countries with limited access to education, the organisation has brought in the Give One Get One (G1G1) program.
For US$399 the purchaser will get the XO laptop themselves while the other will be sent to a child in the developing world.
The laptop is backed by industry players such as Intel, eBay and Google, and has processing power provided by semiconductor manufacturers AMD.
The laptop was originally called the US$100 laptop but now costs US$200 to pay for and deliver to its destination.
The low-cost, low-power durable model is down to a free open source Linux operating system, with Flash memory instead of a hard drive, and a hard wearing dirt and moisture resistant plastic exterior with hinges that allow it to be used as an eBook reader as well as in laptop mode.
The laptop only uses 2 Watts of power in normal use compared to the 10 Watts and upwards power consumption of ordinary laptops.
By Marie Boran
