Posted in OLPC Posted in Hardware

Last week I had the pleasure to play with one of the first models of the 100 dollars laptop, aka OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). And I am quite impressed by it. Before listing the good stuff let me say one thing that I didn’t like: that is the special interface for Linux Fedora. Maybe the kids will appreciate it but I found it to be rather confusing.

Now…. the good stuff:

The screen

For this inexpensive piece of hardware the LCD is simply amazing. You can adjust its luminosity very easy. And on the minimum level the screen looks a lot like paper, and you will need some light to read the screen (I imagine the kids in Africa will appreciate it). You can also turn the display just like a tablet PC. It is not a touchscreen yet but you have some buttons to scroll the screen or do various tasks.

The camera

First thing I thought when I saw the OLPC’s camera I felt ripped off. Last year I’ve bought a webcam that costed around 50$ and compared with the camera of the 100$ laptop it is a piece of crap. The camera built in the OLPC has almost the same quality as those on the Mac’s. I can not see a damn thing on my camera unless I turn all the lights on.

Battery life

20 hours. Do I need to say more?

The Keyboard

Though it is very small and made from rubber it is perfect for the kids that will gonna use it. Did you ever spill coffee on your laptop? I didn’t but I’ve seen some crazy movies on You Tube. But when the kids will spill some milk (and they will) on their keyboards nothing will happen. They can easily clean it with dry towel and laptop it’s as good as new.

Wireless access

Yep…. the laptop has some funny antennas that you can connect wireless to the Internet. What can you ask for more?

Conclusion

I’ve always considered the OLPC to be no more than an advanced toy but once I’ve seen the technology inside it I think it is quite a superb machine.