... It's true that if you look only at the posted specifications of the XO, you might come to the conclusion that the laptop is underpowered. (It comes with a midrange AMD processor; 256MB of RAM; and a small, flash-based drive.) However, looking beyond straight specs, I saw a system that is anything but underpowered and incapable. Quite the opposite: The XO is one of the most powerful systems I've seen in years.
From its revolutionary display technology (which is readable even in
bright sunlight) to its supergreen power management and provision capabilities to its wireless mesh capabilities that allow an entire village of children to connect, the XO will have a massive impact on the lives of the children who use it. It will also influence the future of laptop technology, bringing on a new wave of more efficient and capable mobile systems. Even more surprising were some of the groundbreaking features found in the Linux-based Sugar software that runs on the XO laptop. While some of the programs in Sugar are simplified versions of standard desktop tools such as word processors, much of the software in Sugar is as innovative as the hardware on the XO, including one of the best-implemented collaboration environments I've ever seen. ... http://etech.eweek.com/content/desktops_and_notebooks/olpc_and_the_xo_weather_latest_publicity_storm.html -- http://olpc.ellak.gr