First 1,000 XO Laptops Roll Off the Assembly Line in Shanghai
Posted on: Tuesday, 21 November 2006, 09:00 CST
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) announced today a major milestone in its mission to develop a low-cost laptop to eliminate global poverty by advancing the education of children in developing countries. The first 1,000 XO laptops have rolled off the assembly line at Quanta Computer's manufacturing facility in Shanghai. Quanta Computer, the world's largest manufacturer of notebook computers (approximately one-in-three notebook computers in the world are manufactured by the company), has devoted significant engineering and manufacturing resources to bring the OLPC product to market.
The first machines will be put through rigorous environmental testing that will simulate the harsh conditions under which the laptops will ultimately be used. Tests will include dropping the XOs from various heights, children pounding on the keyboards, and making sure the encasements are dirt and dust resistant. Software developers will also receive units to debug the software and applications that make up the operating system.
"We have answered the question of whether or not we can build a low-cost laptop," said Walter Bender, president of software and content of One Laptop per Child. "The challenge now is to fine-tune it to the needs of children's learning."
Following the completion of this phase of testing, the next units to be manufactured by Quanta in early 2007 will go to school children in Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand -- the first countries to participate in the OLPC initiative. These units will be used by the children in real-life conditions as the final phase of testing before mass production begins in the summer of 2007.
About One Laptop per Child
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and other faculty members from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, open source, and so energy efficient that they can be powered by a child manually. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal will start near $100 and then steadily decrease.
Source: Business Wire
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User Comments (14)
| 14. |
Posted by MOANPE on 06/08/2007, 18:02 WE the MOANPE are a nonprofit educational organization at PERU we would like to parti****te in this project since we allready are promoting programs of information and education, for low income children and adults thanks moanp@hotmail.com |
| 13. |
Posted by James on 02/25/2007, 12:00 The laptops are a very good idea but my question is this. There is a lot of talk about sending these $150 laptops to 3rd world countries and the like. What about the lower income school districts in the U.S.? Will our orphans and low income families be able to take advantage of this great deal? How about just outfitting the schools with computer labs that utilize these laptops instead of the more expensive Dell options that only raise our property taxes? It would be great if we also included the unfortunate children in the U.S. in this plan that might not otherwise be able to ever see a computer. Is this just a third world country plan or for poor children worldwide? The inner city schools that can't afford computers would be a great test bed. How about that option? |
| 12. |
Posted by mark on 02/18/2007, 05:48 I would like to know what operating system it has on it and how the power supply works? |
| 11. |
Posted by Natasha on 02/12/2007, 21:30 This article is so touching because to know that poor kids are geting a beter education because of the XO laptop. |
| 10. |
Posted by Gene Kinney on 01/15/2007, 15:35 Just back from a two week medical mission to Nicaragua. They could definitely use the laptops throughout the country. How can I help facilitate the process? |
| 9. |
Posted by Asjad Mehmood on 01/04/2007, 03:09 Please tell me how to get this laptop I am a student 16 years old from pakistan |
| 8. |
Posted by Cary Lacklen on 01/03/2007, 14:56 I would like to volunteer to facilitate purchase and distribution of the OLPC units in Honduras. I have close connections with NGO and governmental agencies. I have been part of a project to provide recycled Dell Computers to Honduras. However, I believe that the OLPC product is more appropriate for the conditions on the ground in Honduras. |
| 7. |
Posted by Tripti Singh on 12/24/2006, 21:57 I am from India Let me know how i can buy a 'OLPC Children's Machine XO' for my child! Tripti |
| 6. |
Posted by Matt on 12/12/2006, 14:01 It would be very cool if the price sta*** at $100 for rich countries and any reduced costs of production were passed onto countries that need it and not rich kids in American suburbs (who I think should pay at least $150 today). Thus the "higher" (if you can call $100 higher) price pa*** by rich countries would help to make the laptop even cheaper for poor countries. It's still so cheap for American and European kids anyhow... |
| 5. |
Posted by Bob on 12/02/2006, 06:31 Nov 30 - A September coup effectively ended the career of Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister whose cabinet had pledged to buy 250,000 of Mr. Negroponte's $100 laptops, according to The Nation, a Bangkok newspaper. Thailand's new administration now says it has no interest in the project, which would have provided all of the nation's primary-school students with the low-cost machines. http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1743/thailand-nixes-one-laptop-per-child |
| 4. |
Posted by Fred Taylor on 12/01/2006, 13:56 OLPC is the wrong solution for using IT to improve education in many of the countries named. So fat the cost has almost doubled (probably quadrupled, or more if you consider the TCO) the much hyped wind-up power system dumped, etc. When this was launched Kofi Annan broke the handle off and the investor of the wind-up radio said that their planned system wouldn't produce enough power (and it didn't). No body is arguing against education as a key driver to alleviate poverty, but is this the right route or just an interesting idea which is long on hype and short on reality? The later I suspect. |
| 3. |
Posted by Kamugisha Byabato on 11/29/2006, 04:24 Dear readers I have noticed some printing errors in some words in the last sentences. They should read like this: "So let us work together on this. I can be contacted through this e-mail: byabato@googlemail.com Congratulations once again" Please forgive my printing errors. It seems that my right hand has a tendency to shift one letter to the right. Best regards K.Byabato |
| 2. |
Posted by Kamugisha Byabato on 11/29/2006, 04:15 Congratulations to OLPC for this milestone. I would like to be the Distribution Agent for these laptops in the East African Region especially Tanzania. As far as this region is concerned, for the children of this region to be able to benefit substantially from this project, some more work needs to be done in the translation of software user interface into Kiswahili language which is the most widely spoken language for common people and their children. So let is work together on this. I cam be contacted through this e-mail: byabato@googlemail.com Congratulations once again |
| 1. |
Posted by island boy on 11/28/2006, 23:03 the country that can first sell a 100 dollar laptop will conquer the IT market. |
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