Forget the iPhone, I want an OLPC

I just read another article about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and I’m pretty impressed with what they’ve come up with.

It’s a small, rugged laptop with some revolutionary features that you can’t find in today’s notebook’s. It seems that by reaching for the impossible (a $100 laptop for every child in the world), the creators of OLPC have forced the industry to push forward in face of seemingly impossible obstacles - and create a laptop unline any other.

A few notable features:

• Power consumption: 1 Watt of power when idling (energy-star compliant laptops currently use 14W)
• Multiple power options like solar panels and $10 niMH batteries that give the laptop 10 hours of runtime on each charge.
• Screen is visible and functional in direct sunlight (albeit black and white)
• 1/10 of the power drain of normal WiFi and range of up to a few kilometers.
• Made for kids and harsh environments so you can use it to smash coconuts (possibly)
• Open source out the wazoo. Might make me like Linux.

I’ve recently researched laptops and I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for outside of the ridiculously overpriced Sony VAIO lineup. I want something small, very light, rugged, energy-efficient, reasonably-priced, and “cool”. OLPC fits the bill more than any other laptop I’ve looked at.

I would definitely plunk down a few hundred dollars for this thing to 1. get what I need in a laptop 2. get my geek jollies 3. be retro-cool 4. help subsidize another one for a child who really needs it (not necessarily in that order of importance).

I didn’t get the last “cool” gadget since I feared the “iPhone hangover” - waking up one day and realizing I had spent $600 on a pretentious asshole accessory that tethered me to a crappy phone company for 2 years. Forget the iPhone, I want an OLPC!