Nortel Buzzboard

The $100 laptop targeted at the underprivileged children in developing nations is getting quite a makeover. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) - the organization founded by Nicholas Negroponte - unveiled plans for the second generation of it’s XO laptop last week.

While the current generation XO is a great device on its own, the XO-2 brings to it some incredible advancements.

• The new model, which is estimated to be available in 2010, ditches the green keyboard in favor of a touchscreen - two actually, one touchscreen for each side of the laptop. This dual touchscreen design should give the XO-2 more flexibility (including the ability to be held vertically like a book). The first thing I thought when I saw the touchscreen design was the iPhone, but I don’t know if the XO-2 will have “multi-touch” capabilities the way the iPhone does.
• The XO is already an energy miser, using only 2 watts (versus 20-40 watts in standard laptops), with a 1-to-10 charge to use ratio. The XO-2 will use only 1 watt.
• The XO-2 will also be about half the size of the current XO
• And all this while cutting the cost more than 60%. While today’s XO laptop (which went into mass production late last year and already has 600,000 units deployed) has an actual current price of $188, OLPC estimates that XO-2 could cost only $75.

The XO-2 introduction comes on the heels of news that Microsoft Windows will soon be available on the XO, and an announcement that the Give one, get one (G1G1) program will return this summer.

Below are a few pictures of the new XO-2, the current generation, and links to a few videos and articles. FYI - Nortel became a member of OLPC in December 2005.

A few pics of the new XO-2

A diagram of the current XO

A few videos:

• A great NY Times review on YouTube of the current XO.
• A 60 Minutes feature from last year on the XO laptop.