Introducing the OLPC's '$75 laptop'

The OLPC's stated goal has always been the education of schoolchildren, especially in developing nations, so the planned XO-2 laptop also draws on that most classic of classroom technologies: the book. Here, the computer has been switched from horizontal, laptop mode to a vertical e-book format. The group says version 2 will be about the size of a book, or about half as big as the current design.

Another goal for XO-2 is even lower power consumption. Where standard laptops tend to draw between 20 to 40 watts of electricity, the first-generation XO uses just 2 to 4 watts, and the organisation aims to get the XO-2 to just 1 watt.

Last week, the OLPC announced that it would offer a Windows-compatible version of the XO, long a Linux-only machine, for sale in several countries starting in June.