What is OLPC?
One Laptop Per Child is a new, revolutionary project conceived at MIT Media Lab and founded by Nicholas Negroponte. It's aim is to provide children with an educational tool, where there are few or none, in the form of a small, low-cost (ideally $100), unique laptop called the XO.
What is an XO?
The XO is a small laptop built specifically with education in mind and upon theories on "learning learning", with unique capabilities and programs which will allow children in developing countries to improve their educational status, giving them the knowledge and opportunity to grow in the way that only education and knowledge can provide.
What are its technical specifications?
Dimensions: 242mm × 228mm × 32mm
Weight: less than 1.5KG
Case: 2mm plastic
CPU: AMD Geode LX 700 CPU, 433 Megahertz @ 0.8 watts
Graphics: Integrated
Display: 7.5 inches, 800 x 600 color, 1200 x 900 monochrome, LED Backlit
RAM: 256 Megabytes
Storage: 1 Gigabyte of NAND Flash memory
Expansion: SD Card Slot
USB: 3 USB 2.0 ports
Camera: 30 fps, 640 x 480 color
Battery: 16.5 Watt-hours NIMH or 22 Watt-hours LiFeP
For more detailed specifications go to the OLPC Wiki.
Why can it change the world?
Because knowledge is the start of all things. Because it is through education that some of the world's greatest problems can begin to be solved. A poorly educated people have little chance of doing better than the last generation.
Education fuels the mind as food fuels the body. An educated mind is more powerful than an uneducated mind, and every action and the very course of our lives are guided by our thoughts.
Why laptops and not text books?
Why not both? The XO has the capability of storing at least a few hundred textbooks, perhaps more. But it can do so much more, and these kids need more. The XO laptop is adaptive, giving teachers the versatility they need, while affording children access to so much more in so many ways.
Text books are static, cost significant money to buy and ship and become old and outdated. An XO laptop can be used to read a book one moment, run a scientific experiment the next and teach the basics of logical thinking using programming in another.
What makes the XO so unique?
The entire computer has been designed from the bottom up for the needs of children in developing countries. But any user would have to be impressed with the astounding capabilities of this little laptop. It's incredibly rugged, low power, can be recharged even where there is no electricity, and its screen can be read clearly in direct sunlight, among other things.
For a more detailed look at some of the XO laptop's features, take a look at the XO Benefits page.
Why an XO and not a Classmate PC?
Because the Classmate PC fulfills more of a corporate need than an educational one. It is a "trojan horse" built to compete for marketshare with the XO. No company wants to see a competitor bring a product to a new ripe market, even when that competitor is a non-profit organization with an educational aim.
But the Classmate PC has none of the unique capabilities that makes the XO so well suited for its tasks. The similarities between the two end at them both being small computers.
