OLPC laptop drops AMD for Via

The One Laptop per Child project's XO laptop will switch to a Via processor as part of a general hardware refresh.

Generation 1.5 of the XO machine will have the same industrial design as the original model, but will use a Via C7-M processor, John Watlington, OLPC's vice president of hardware development, wrote in a post on Friday. Currently the XO, which is aimed at educational markets in developing countries, uses an AMD Geode processor.

"The design goal is to provide an overall update of the system within the same ID and external appearance," Watlington wrote. "In order to maximize compatibility with existing software, this refresh will continue with an x86 processor, using a chipset from Via."

XO Generation 1.5 will arrive in November, OLPC chief Nicholas Negroponte told ZDNet UK on Monday. He said the shift to the Via chip came about because AMD had discontinued its low-power processor.

Watlington said the refresh was separate from the "Gen 2.0" project, in which OLPC will switch to an ARM-based, instead of x86-based, processor. The first of the XO 2.0 laptops will launch in early 2011, Negroponte said.

In the XO Generation 1.5 refresh, the memory of the XO will be boosted from 256MB to 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM. Its flash storage will go up from 1GB to 4GB, with an option for 8GB.

The Via processor will have a clock range from 400MHz to 1GHz, resulting in power consumption of 1.5W to 5W, Watlington said. It will be integrated into the XO as part of Via's new VX855 chipset, which will also boost the XO's audio and video performance, he added.

While the revised XO will use the existing display, the OLPC is working with screen designer PixelQi to improve its brightness and efficiency, Watlington wrote. The new machine will also require an update to the OLPC software in order to support the new hardware, he said.

Watlington said early versions of the new hardware will be released for driver development at the end of May, with more prototypes coming out for software development and testing "around the end of August".

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[terminalblue]

this seems silly, i thought the whole point of the OLPC was to provide a beginner platform. it seems that they are now trying to compete with the netbook market. why not sell the original hardware for as long a possible...AND keep reducing the price. and almost 4 times the power consumption for a computer design for areas that dont have grids seems completely irresponsible

it just seems like a step backwards.

[Orion Blastar]

CNet forgot to mention that Intel is taking away the X86 license for AMD to make those low end chips. AMD was the backup source for 8088/8086/80286 CPUs in case Intel could not meet IBM's demand. Ever since then AMD licensed the Intel X86 designs. But Intel and AMD made a deal for the 64 bit AMD design for the Intel chips, but somehow the deal went sour for the low end chips.

[viper396]

@Orion, AMD's x86 license expires in 2010 and they are in talks to renew which, baring some act of god, will probable happen. All this fanciful talk about Intel taking the license away, meeting demands and so forth is just creative banter by fanboys pretending to be knowledgable on a subject that they have no involvement with... Either way, it's off topic and has no real relevence to the article so CNET was right for not mentioning it.

[pithenumber]

@Orion
Intel needs AMD or they will become a monopoly
Intel fans need AMD or that mid range Core i5 you want to buy will cost 10 grand because Intel has no competition

so Intel will prolly not revoke their license and renew it when it expires

[codynews]

Does the take off of "netbooks" make the OLPC system pointless? Seeing as I just got a nice notebook delivered for $240, it would seem the pricing goal has been about hit.

Cody

[pithenumber]

there an Acer netbook for only $79 on sale but it comes with strings(ATT contract) attached though

[gggg sssss]

Are these clowns still even newsworthy? How many non usa children have actually gotten their hands on one of these things?

[monkeyfun14]

Last I heard the adults were taking them over.