OLPC XO-1 laptop a rugged marvel

IF the global financial crisis is getting you down, imagine life in many Third World countries, where times are tough and brutal whether the Western economies are in recession or not.

For many children, getting access to the array of digital smarts available to the average Australian school student is a distant dream.

Technology big thinker Nicholas Negroponte decided to do something about bridging the digital divide and hit on the idea of producing a laptop tough enough and cheap enough for Third World service.

The result was the OLPC XO-1 laptop and about half a million of the bright green and white notebooks have been distributed so far, mainly in South and Central America.

This Christmas the OLPC program has come to Australia. The organisation has been working with the Northern Territory Education Department to introduce laptops into schools, where they can benefit about 10,000 NT school children described as being off the educational grid.

Under the OLPC Australia promotion, you donate an XO for $US399 and get one free as a gift. Those generous enough to make a donation will receive an intriguing piece of digital design.

With its puny 433MHz AMD Geode processor, 256MB of memory and 1GB of flash storage (with an SD port for more) the XO has grunt more akin to a smart phone than a notebook. It runs Fedora Linux with a graphical front-end called Sugar and the included open-source applications load and run at a very leisurely pace.

For robustness, the XO has no moving parts and it is designed to be easily repaired in the field. There are three USB ports, audio jacks, stereo speakers and microphone, a VGA camera, a waterproof membrane keyboard and an ingenious LCD screen that is perfectly readable in bright sunlight.

We compared the XO's screen in sunlight with a $5000 Dell laptop and found the XO won hands down.

The case is made of robust, 2mm thick plastic and the twin wireless antennae latch it closed so it can be carried with the neat built-in handle.

While a little heavy at 1.58kg, the XO is a ruggedised marvel for the price.

• Price: $US399 donation