OLPC XO-1 (One Laptop Per Child) review

Performance
Forget Vista or even XP -- the XO-1 struggles to run Linux under a super-minimalist GUI called Sugar. Supplied as standard are basic word processing, paint, calculator, chat, RSS and games software. The browser, based on Firefox, is great, and an open source Flash player (Gnash) even lets it work with some rich content Web sites (although none that use Java).

Creative tools are especially well represented. The TamTam music creation suite includes easy to use composition, sequencing and even synth tools, and there are numerous programming/scripting gadgets to introduce kids smoothly to computing.

It's easy to download new software from OLPC's online library, and the selection of titles (all free and open-source) is growing daily. Loading software and switching between packages isn't seamless however: there are delays and crashes.

Because there's no hard drive, the XO-1 is completely silent in use and doesn't get hot. Battery life is a healthy three hours, depending on multimedia use, thanks to clever new controllers that power down a large portion of the chipset when it's idle.

There should be no problems with viruses, either, as OLPC's new Bitfrost security system forgoes firewalls and anti-virus software for built-in restrictions for each program that limits the data it can see and the hardware it can control.

Conclusion
How to summarise the XO-1: Is it an educational tool? A fundamental reconception of computing for the 21st century? Or simply a high-tech toy? The one thing it isn't is a normal laptop -- that over-powered portable entertainment unit for time-poor executives and bored students.

The XO-1 won't ramp up your digital productivity or amaze you with hi-def visuals. But what it might just do is remind you why computers are so cool in the first place. It celebrates its ability to communicate with people around the corner or around the world, access information, design programs and manipulate music, sound or pictures.

In short, this is a device for people who want to interact with the world beyond their keyboard. In an era when downloading other people's creativity accounts for 80 per cent of all Internet traffic, that can only be a good thing.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday