One Laptop Per Child has refreshed its XO-1 laptop hardware, dumping chips from AMD in favour of processors from Via Technologies, the VIA C7-M. “In our continued effort to maintain a low price point, OLPC is refreshing the hardware to take advantage of the latest component technologies,” OLPC officials wrote. Note that we are talking about the current OLPC laptop, and not any upcoming models.
Isn’t OLPC officially a load of crap by now?
Yes, I think that it was kind of first netbook attempt. I also wonder why C-7 – is that so much cheaper than Nano? Nano provides more performance per watt. I also wonder, if ARM would not be a better option anyway? Remember that those are not game PCs, so power consumption would surely be better with ARM, no?
C7 is cheaper than Nano because VIA has a lot of C7’s lying around that they are trying ot get rid of (also if the system is highly configured for it it’s a decent chip, though its no Nano).
To answer the post above it was also not the first netbook attempt, if it was there would be a different company suing everyone who called there small laptop a “netbook”
In the end the C7 beats teh hell out of the Geode (for all intensive purposes). AMD doesn’t even intend to update teh Geode anymore due it “the architecture being to old and not scalable for newer tech improvements.” It’s not that different frmo the old cyrix design that AMD got (Via got the better stuff and actually improved it).
I’m pretty sure the phrase is: “intents and purposes”
“intensive purposes” is so wrong I laugh when I read it.
That’s a pet-peeve of mine as well. Although in this case, it may actually be correct – at least if it’s used to mean that one CPU is better for intensive (as opposed to non-intensive) purposes
Speaking of which: does it bug anyone else that there’s a button above the comment form called “Italic Selected Text”? I could be wrong, but I always thought the verb was “italicize.”
Linguaphiles unite! Err, I mean join, combine, or incorporate so as to form a single whole or unit!
No I literally meant intensive (like processor intensive) purposes. Though admittedly it is both so it’s hard to say
I believe they already announced that they are headed to ARM for the next-gen hardware.
The original XO computer benefited from a lot of software and hardware work by other companies which was only available because of their use of the x86 architecture.
Also, they wanted large PC OEMs to (be able to) manufacture the XO.
I think a better question would be: Who even finds OLPC to be relevant anymore, if they ever were?
I’m sure OLPC employees find the OLPC very relevant
the wider community.. not so much.
Well they have shipped over a million units, I would consider that quite relevant.
Poor nations could certainly benefit by receiving $100-$200 per child in food/medical aid/water wells/etc. vs $100 in computer hardware.
Is this laptop edible?
Maybe if you put enough together they can use it for shelter.
Food and medical aid do have tangible benefits — in the short run.
Capital investments, esp. in rule of law and education, will help developing regions in the long run.
OLPC is supposed to be part of the “education” aspect, meant to help countries leapfrog into the 21st century economy (like India has, leveraging its large based of educated, English-literate workers). It’s debatable how effective it is in this endeavor …
To disreputable characters:
If you see the OLPC like a pile of crap, you are totally wrong. You are -most probably- living in North America or in Europe. Some place where electricity is “natural”… Hum ?
The OLPC is not for you guys, go buy a Netbook, an iphone, or the kind of gadget which cost a year or two of food, for an entire family in developing nations.
May I remind that OLPC is not your toy, but a project for intellectual nourishment of emerging countries ?
To criticize is quite insulting to the persons who work hard on this project. They do their best for the others.
What about you ? Have you a constructive idea for them ? Are you ready to help OLPC ? In a constructive manner ?
From the first time I heard about the OLPC project, I thought that despite its good intentions, it would end up being a project about bringing up “educated slaves” (IT low wage workers) in so called 3rd world countries like Brazil, India (which have some infrastructure in place) and not e.g. Ghana which are presently hopeless.
So, I’m not disappointed about the project’s eminent failure. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The OLPC was most effective as a hypothetical dream – combining new technology with political / economic idealism to enhance the quality of education and opportunity around the world.
But unfortunately the real world kicked OLPC’s ass. Management problems, inflated pricing, competing commercial projects, mainstream markets encroaching on the niche, post-sale support failure, committed buyers backing out…
Simply, the OLPC organization over-promised and under-delivered while at the same time failing to maintain any level of technological or economic advantage over commercial products.
Which is why I repeat, who cares about OLPC anymore? I thought they were irrelevant the minute they dropped Sugar.