OLPC XO Review and Teardown

by Kevin O'Brien

A new initiative called One Laptop Per Child has the goal of getting a low-cost, entry-level notebook into the hands of children in developing countries. This notebook is the OLPC-XO which is an extremely basic version of what we might consider a portable computer, but comes in a durable, affordable, and easy-to-use package. In this review I will cover both the internal hardware aspect of this notebook, along with a comparison of it against more common consumer notebooks.

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Specs

• Processor: 433MHz AMD Geode
• Display: 7.5" LCD 1200x900 (black and white)/800x600 (color)
• RAM: 256MB DDR333
• HD/Storage: 1GB Flash w/ SD Expansion slot
• Wireless: 802.11b/g and 802.11s Mesh
• Ports: 3 USB, Headphone, Microphone
• Battery: 3.1Ah 6.5v
• AC Adapter: 12v @1.42A, 100-240v switching
• Dimensions: 9.52 x 8.97 x 1.26"
• Weight: 3lbs 2.2oz
• Price $400 with the "Give One, Get One" program ($200 per laptop)

Build and Design

The OLPC is targeted towards children and built for areas with less than perfect operating conditions. It is ruggedized and very sturdy even when compared to a high-end business notebook like a ThinkPad. Almost every inch of this notebook is designed to hold up against being dropped, thrown around, or carried by itself without any case.

The design of the OLPC is very simple, yet incredibly well thought out. The notebook is shaped like a thin lunchbox, with a carrying handle on top. All edges are rounded off, and the flat surfaces of the notebook are textured for easy gripping. Screen latches are nothing like what you would find on a standard notebook, with the WiFi antennas themselves acting as the latch mechanisms.

OLPC engineers even went one step further, making the notebook very easy to repair almost anywhere. With a single small Phillips screwdriver you can tear the entire thing apart to bare components in probably five minutes. The first time I cracked my OLPC open I had it apart in about 10 minutes including the time to take pictures for each step of the process. Another interesting design feature was the inclusion of spare parts. Housed inside the handle section are a number of spare screws for the entire notebook.

Screen

The screen on the OLPC is unique in that it works in both bright and dark environments. You can view the screen in black and white in bright sunlight, and then switch back into color by turning the backlight back on. Another interesting trait of this screen is the resolution changes between modes. In sunlight mode (black and white) it has a resolution of 1200x900, and in color has 800x600.

The reason for the change in resolution is rather technical, so if you want to know more about the screen resolution I'll direct you to the display section of the OLPC Wiki article.

Compared to even the most basic budget notebook, the OLPC's screen really falls short in terms of color, viewing angles, and brightness. Just moving a hair off of a direct viewing angle, the screen looks black and white. Colors when in optimal viewing range still don't compare to any standard notebook, with a very grainy and washed out feel.

Straight view: color. (view large image)

Horizontal view: color ... but looks black and white. (view large image)

Performance

In the speed sector the OLPC really falls flat on its face. Boot time from a fully powered-off state is 1 minute and 35 seconds. Simple tasks like viewing a basic webpage can also bring the OLPC to its knees. One example would be loading the NotebookReview.com homepage, and scrolling up and down the page. The OLPC has pretty bad lag doing that, and will have mini lockups on long distance scrolls. Following a YouTube link, if you click to play the flash movie the OLPC will become slow and unresponsive, and never actually start to play the video.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the OLPC is not unlike the flexible keyboard we reviewed a while back. Typing passwords or even a website address can be a pain, and it usually requires a few backspaces to correct errors. While it is undoubtedly a very durable keyboard for harsh conditions, I would take the keyboard on my Motorola Q over it.

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The touchpad has a soft matte texture and is fairly responsive. You notice some lag when moving the cursor around, but that could be blamed on system performance, not the touchpad. The touchpad surface is quite large, measuring almost 6" x 2", but only the center section (~2x2&quot is useable. The touchpad buttons are on the small side, providing shallow feedback.

External Connections

Left side: AC Power, one USB, headphone and microphone jacks. (view large image)

Right side: Two USB ports. (view large image)

Battery Life

With backlight on and the OLPC sitting idle and WiFi enabled it barely reaches 4 hours of battery life. Here is a link to a page on the OLPC's Wiki with more detailed battery life stats.

Software

Included software is very sparse, but with only 1GB total storage space for operating system and programs, you don't have much room to work with. While it does have some software you don't find on standard notebooks (acoustic tape measure, pippy for editing code), the software many people look for is missing or very basic. The word processor resembles wordpad, the chat software has no support for common protocols (AIM, MSN, Yahoo!), and the internet browser is very clunky to use.

"Browse" web browser (view large image)	"Write" word processor (view large image)
"Accoustic Tape Measure" (view large image)	"Naim" chat application (view large image)

Advanced users who have access to the internet can pull in updates and additional software through the console, making the notebook somewhat easy to maintain. One of the first programs I installed was Naim, which gave me very basic AIM instant messaging capabilities. While it doesn't look or feel anything like what people are used to, at least it worked.

Comparison To Other Notebooks

The Asus Eee PC is a good comparison for this notebook, as they are both in the same size and price range (the 2G Surf). While they are designed for different markets, the Eee PC is the only other recent product on the market that could be considered a competitor in most markets.

Asus Eee PC (left), Lenovo T60 (middle) and OLPC XO. (view large image)

Size and weight wise the Eee PC is smaller, and weighs almost 50% less. System speed is also almost no comparison, as the Eee PC has twice the speed, and has double the RAM. Just turning the systems on you notice the huge different between each notebook, with the OLPC starting up in 1m 35s, and the Eee PC starting in 12-20s. System storage space is also double on the Eee PC 2G Surf, with 2GB of space compared to the OLPC's 1GB.

For average use, the Eee PC is also much easier on the eyes and hands. The screen is much brighter, has vivid color, and the viewing angles are incredible in comparison to the narrow window on the OLPC. The OLPC keyboard is also a pain to use, as the OLPC uses a flexible membrane style keyboard, and the Eee PC uses a compact "standard" keyboard. With the OLPC you need to aim perfectly for keys, and give a solid press for proper recognition. The Eee PC has better tolerance, and as long as you have adjusted to the smaller layout it is much easier and faster to type on. Even the touchpads vary greatly between both machines, with the OLPC having a great deal of lag, and the Eee PC being snappy.

For your average consumer, the OLPC is not really the best notebook to consider for purchase. You can get much better performance and capability from the Asus Eee PC in almost every situation. The key difference though is the Eee PC is not anywhere near as durable, and probably wouldn't survive in the harsh conditions found in a developing nation.

Conclusion

As a cheap notebook for children to use who have no other prior computer experience this notebook is designed and built very well. It is extremely rugged, offers a simple repair solution, and has incredibly simple to use software. For power users this notebook should not be considered. It runs about as fast as a 4-5 year old notebook, can't properly render most webpages, and lacks software that many advanced users would need.

Don't get me wrong, it is fine for a child, but don't expect to take this notebook as a replacement for your work machine on vacation anytime soon.

Pros

• Very durable
• Sunlight readable display
• Has spare parts inside!

Cons

• Very slow
• Heavy in comparison to other similar sized notebooks

Additional Teardown Photos

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Interesting pictures Kevin. Thank you!

 

This review is teh AWESOME.



Thanks for the best OLPC review on the intarweb!

 

Nice review, and the pictures are fantastic. Thanks.

 

Very nice review! It looks like the OLPC program definitely has the right idea with the XO. Now all they need to do is make it perform better and cost less, and they will have a winning product for the people it was designed for.

Go OLPC!

BTW, that keyboard in front of your Thinkpad, is that a desktop keyboard? I'm assuming it is, but it looks like a Thinkpad without the screen!

 

It's actually a ThinkPad external keyboard that has been on the market for 5-6 years now.

Here's a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/IBM-31P9490-Keyboard-Thinkpad-Black/dp/B0002PUIAA

I'm sure Kevin can tell you more about it as soon as he takes a break from tearing down other products we have in our office.

 

Thanks for the review Kevin. I expected the OLPC to be slow, but not that slow. In any event, I am all for the OLPC initiative and only wish that they would receive much more support so that they can design and build even better notebooks/products for the children in need.

 

I've been following the XO laptop for awhile. I'm VERY thankful that you took picture of it taken apart. I was curious to see how easy they were going to be to disassemble. Excellent to see.

I had a question to anyone that uses one. I'm thinking of picking one up the next time they are offered. The reason that I want one is mostly for web browsing and as an E-Book reader. The question involves it's ability to read .pdfs.

Here's my situation. I have large pdfs about 200+ pages with graphics and such. ((They're actually D&D books that I own)) I'm curious how the XO can handle these. Will they even load up? Will they be able to change pages fairly quickly? Any comments on the laptop's .pdf reader functionality would be appreciated. Thanks again for the review!

 

Want to email me a sample pdf to load up?

 

Hey, I found out why it's so heavy. Did any of you notice "ACME" on the 7th picture down on the left column of that last set of pics?

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/site/catalog/images/items/0811851/081185115X/081185115X_large.jpg

Interesting little machine. It's definitely better than having no computer at all.

 

Sure. But um, can't find your email anywhere. It's not in your profile.

Here's a link to a good, free, sample .pdf of what I want to use it for. The real .pdf's I'll be using will likely be many more pages, but same idea.

http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/RiseOfTheRunelordsPlayersGuide.zip

It's a zip file with the pdf file in it.

 

You've just been Engadgetized!

Link: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/14/olpc-xo-gets-fully-dissected-cover-your-eyes-kids/

 

A PM would have revealed my email address

I will test that out tomorrow morning.

 

Excellent. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

Can I run Crysis on my new OLPC?

Thanks!

 

Just what I want, a laptop where I'm paying twice as much as what it's worth.

 

OMG U hate third world kiddies!!!

j/k

 

have you modded touchpad ant touchpoint (ultranav ) buttons on your thinkpad? why they are silver?

 

Just OC the GPU a bit, should be smooth on all high settings.

Anyway, wouldn't it be nice if it were touch screen? I mean, it's all tablet-ish and all, with that twisting screen. But I guess that's asking too much.

Great review!

 

I still like how the OLPC XO sounds.

/stereotype
It sounds so asian - like how asian kids have names like XoXoAzNbOiXoXo
/end stereotype

In all honesty, sounds better than "EeePC", but doesn't perform as well .

 

Is it possible to add more ram to this thing?
I really do like the idea of turning this into an Ebook reader/web browser
The durability, and multiple ways of powering this is a good idea, if they could
just tweak this a little bit, it has a good possibility of being a good little all around unit that can challenge the companies that want to make ebook reading their own format

 

Just wanted to chime back in (working on the olpc right now) and say that the pdf reading works fairly well. I played with the lenovo/ibm tabook, and it loaded just fine. If it was 1/6th the weight it would be a wonderful ebook reader

EDIT: Now that I am on a notebook that I can type in real time with no lag, here is the link to the PDF I tested on it. I wanted something that was hosted by itself that I could click and view, and the TaBook was the first thing that came to mind.

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf

 

I'll just wait for the 3rd world kiddies to sell em on ebay for half the price

 

In response to several of the posts, I thought I'd throw in some feedback based on using one for a while. Basically you need to actually use it for more than a tiny bit of time to get the idea.

Basically it is what it is. You can't add ram to it, but if you take the trivial step of adding a SD card to the slot on the monitor and adding a swapfile there....performance goes up massively. Toss the lame built-in browser and install the Opera port for a real browser which works fine. If the Sugar interface is too bizarre for you, you can get XCFE pretty easily. It's not designed for we folks who are used to Windows or XWindows etc so it 'is' a bit of a shock to the system (that said, switching to a MacBook 18+ months ago is 'still' a shock to my system after decades on Windows and Linux). Heck, if you want a mainstream os, Ubuntu derivatives without too much work and the guy who does the fabulous Puppy Linux got a donation of a XO from one user to help him port to the XO. Puppy on the XO would rock.

Wireless including WPA2 works great. I can't find any USB stuff that doesn't work. Networks fine both wirelessly and wired via usb->eth adaptor. The viewable-in-sunlight screen is really quite impressive when you try it outside, far better than any Dell or Mac laptop I've seen.

Just plain works as long as you can deal with the really tiny keyboard (as a touch-typist it's a bit rough for me but I figured it out after just a few hours).

I bought my two (gave two, got two) so the Mrs. can look into whether she can help teach her students with it. Other reason is that it really is a fabulous little semi-ruggedized travel laptop especially since 99% of what I need a laptop for while on the road for personal trips is get to Google Mail and perhaps some web pages and/or maps. Personally I think of it as a super-sized web-enabled PDA really, for what I wanted it for. Many of the state and local parks around here in the Seattle area are web-enabled, I wouldn't worry in the least about taking it to one with a beach.

I'd take two XOs over one Classmate or eePC or iPhone at the same price in a heartbeat. Actually I did

(disclaimer - I do Linux for a living since 1992 so it's just another computer to me under the hood. Your mileage may vary if you don't have any Linux or Fedora experience).

 

Ok, Now that we have all seen the insides, how long will it take before people add an eternal USB hub and then start adding more storage and Bluetooth.

See all the USB stuff they put inside the ASUS Eee.

With an 8 GB internal USB stick ($35) and a Bluetooth USB stick ($10), this could be a rocking media player. It does not need a case, and it can keep running while closed (because it has no venting needs).

Also, How well does it play high-bitrate x264 and DiviX files?

It would be nice to control music from the Bluetooth headset, while carrying the notebook around by a strap while it is closed. The 3.2 lbs may be what makes this mode of use unattractive.

 

Some people will want to be aware ... I didn't know this until today... that swapping to an SD is not for everyone.

• Swapping to flash tends to be slow,
• it wears out your SD card after a while, and
• frequent writing to the SD card eats up battery power.

See here and here for more.

We discovered this USB->ethernet thing too. Awesome!

As for WPA, make sure you get the OS update or you may not have WPA capability.
Also, we have not yet figured out how to connect to a WPA network that doesn't broadcast its SSID. There must be a way though.