OLPC foundation has gone through thick and thin to develop low-cost notebooks for children to lend help to the education sector in third world countries. A year back, the non-profitable organization signed an agreement with Microsoft for Windows XP-enabled OLPC XO laptop. Soon after that, the OLPC XO 2.0 made its appearance in the market.
Yet another version of OLPC laptop is set to hit the markets with an internal upgrade. Under the One Laptop Per Child project, the foundation is apparently developing the Gen 1.5, the refreshed version of the XO-1 laptop.
According to the report on the OLPC blog, the revamped XO-1 laptop switches to a VIA C7-M processor with clock speeds ranging between 400MHz and 1GHz, leaving behind the AMD Geode processor. It would work on Via VX855 chipset.
With this enhancement, the Gen 1.5 is believed to employ a new 3D graphics engine and high-definition video decoder with surround sound. Other core aspects that are expected to be revamped are memory and storage space. The new model might come with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of NAND Flash with an option of 8GB storage capacity that will be installed during the production time. The system may carry SDIO and USB amongst other features.
Electronista stated that the networking will be attachable for school kids or technicians to restore the Wi-Fi connection in the field. Plus, the high-visibility LCD is said to possess enhanced brightness and efficiency.
The Gen 1.5 system will probably be available for testing in August. However, the shipment date of the laptop is still unclear.
Besides, this apparent Gen 1.5 gives room to one more question; is the foundation likely to defunct the XO-2?
