America's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) association will today bring its ambitious XO laptop to Europe.
The XO, pictured below, is part of a long-running educational project that aims to put a low-cost, low-power laptop into the hands of children in the developing world.
Having launched in the U.S. during Q4 2007, the XO laptop carried a $199 single-unit price-tag - some $99 more than had originally been expected.
Today, the OLPC will make the XO available throughout Europe from retailers such as Amazon. The XO is to be offered as part of the OLPC's "Give One, Get One" program, in which you buy an XO for yourself and a second will be donated to a needy child.
It sounds simple enough, but its biggest hurdle will be convincing users to buy. The XO is expected to arrive at Amazon.co.uk later today with a price-tag of £254, and though the charitable consumer may find it to be a more than worthy cause, others may find the credit crunch leaves little room for such generosity.
The European XO will run a Red Hat Linux-based operating system and feature 1GB of Flash memory for storage, 256MB of DDR RAM, a 433MHz processor, Wireless 802.11b/g, and a 7.5in 1,200x900 screen.
Useful links
Amazon.co.uk product page
Official OLPC website
