OLPC project's XO begins mass production
updated 01:35 pm EST, Wed November 7, 2007
OLPC XO Starts Production
The One Laptop Per Child project has announced that its XO notebook is now in volume production, ending years of development and testing. The small, developing-world system is being assembled by Quanta in a plant near Shanghai and will see its first production runs heading to students in Mongolia, Uruguay, and other early bidders; individual North Americans participating in the Give 1 Get 1 program will also get their notebooks when they ship in December, the company says. US residents recently received a bonus in the form of free T-Mobile Wi-Fi access.
Originally intended as a $100 system for countries where typical computers are either too expensive or too fragile for the harsh climate, the price of the XO has climbed to $200 as the company both upgraded to a 433MHz AMD Geode processor and dealt with increasingly more expensive parts. Give 1 Get 1 systems will cost $400 when they go on sale between November 12th and the 26th but include a unit for the developing country as well as for the buyer.
