Those last OLPCs back to design status

We're kind of back to the drawing board, so to speak, on the status of the OLPC's final design. Maybe it's not yet chosen (or maybe they're just not revealing it), but no matter what its status, those images we saw before of questionable validity of the blue and yellow mockups have shown up on the OLPC site as "concept images," nothing more. So yeah, at least they weren't too far off base (or completely fake). Frankly though, after all that Origami buzz we kind of think the OLPC is almost a more desirable and cost effective multipurpose handheld  / ultramobile anyway. Besides, does the 3-hour battery life Origami have hand crank power or mesh network radios? We think not.

[Thanks, Daniel]

[John @ Mar 13th 2006 8:50AM]

See, those look a LOT nicer than what was shown. Perhaps they should gear them more for an older audience...(aka less pastel-y colors)?

[Barry @ Mar 13th 2006 10:16AM]

Back in November Negroponte mentioned they were exploring the commercialization of the OLPC. I wonder if these concept drawings are for that version. They've announced a desire to make the government-issued laptops distinctive as a way to prevent theft so it makes sense to have at least one commericalized version. BTW: One thing that sets the OLPC apart from anything on the market now is that the "C" in OLPC stands for "child", not "computer". Cool focus to have for a project, no?

[animal @ Mar 13th 2006 10:21AM]

One Laptop Per Child.

Older audience bug off!

[Adam @ Mar 13th 2006 12:00PM]

Is this definitely not going to be for sale to the public then? I have not seen any specs of this yet. what are they?

[Jake @ Mar 13th 2006 12:29PM]

But why not market a version to adults? Even priced at $200, there'd be a great market for one of these in corporate colors. That would in turn help them achieve their price point of $100 per laptop, or possibly allow them to lower said price.

/me mumbles in frustration

[jamesbrown @ Mar 13th 2006 1:41PM]

yeah i agree. sell these things to consumers for extra so they can fund the real purpose of the machines. the treehugger crowd and the like will be willing to pay extra for a good cause. i'm talking $300-400.

what i'm really against is greedy nerds getting their hands on these things for the same price it takes to get one to a child in the third world.

[Jeff @ Mar 13th 2006 1:47PM]

Dudes, I would totally take one of these over any UMPC (origami) I have seen thus far. I don't care if they're meant for children or not. A lot of adults by Hello Kitty products too, and only Sanrio seems to understand why... but they're laughing all the way to the bank.

Give me a little tiny notebook (that means with a keyboard) in a color other than black or silver, with a nice little screen and a nice design like this, and I'm totally there. It doesn't need to be the most powerful thing out there; heck, it could be running on 10 year old hardware. All it really needs from the modern age is wireless.

The UMPC crowd could learn a lot from these designs. Make a UMPC this small, this stylish and add a keyboard, and you've got something. (What does it say when the most stylish mini-PC designs out there are for kids?)

[Textbook Seller @ Mar 13th 2006 5:24PM]

The reason you can't buy one as a consumer is the same reason cash-strapped governments that committed to buying them can't get one. They don't exist. They were sold a bill of goods, and since Mr. Negroponte's intentions are so above reproach, he's not called to the carpet about it. He's a joke.

"Does the 3-hour battery life Origami have hand crank power or mesh network radios?"

Does the OLPC? Does it really do anything? It was supposed to be a working prototype in NOVEMBER last year. Just one, and no one would have cared if it didn't have the mesh or crank working, journalists would have just soaked their slacks if a power led came on.

I'll be interested in how long this story goes, and if anyone ever holds Mr. Negroponte accountable for wasting the money from countries that can ill afford books for students, let alone empty good intentions. We're at almost a year now, and I guarantee we'll be seeing breathless updates at least for the next 6 months whether it ever runs or not.

He's just a classic, arrogant elitist, and he knows better than anyone what these natives need. And the last thing he'll let stand in his way of civilizing them is reality, their desires, or economics. That's why he only sells them to governments, because the people wouldn't want them. They want food, shelter, light. Apparently he doesn't realize that when the government uses your money to buy you somethign you don't want, they're not doing you a favor.

[ug @ Mar 13th 2006 6:19PM]

If you had one, you wouldn't want it. It has this kind of hybrid greyscale/color screen. When in color mode, the resolution is less than 640x480. You would not be able to get any serious work done on one of these. They are glorified PDAs.

[Billy Bob @ Mar 13th 2006 7:00PM]

First: Photoshops. The crank is in some photos and not others.
Second: Vista is THREE YEARS overdue. This is 5 months overdue

[Dull @ Mar 14th 2006 12:15AM]

Looks like they won the cake contest