SlashGear

It’s come in for some stick over the course of its development, and I have to say I’d partially dismissed it as a gimmick that wouldn’t take off (not least for the toy-town design that made initial prototypes look effete), but the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project has finally made it to semi-production stage and the team has documented the unboxing of one of ten initial models.

Of particular interest to me is the size comparison shot, which shows it to be a jolly compact machine, and the “web tablet” orientation with in-built webcam.  The build looks good, with the glossy plastic conjuring thoughts of Apple’s own much-admired industrial design.  I’m still not keen on the green keyboard (the highlights around the edge are okay, but I’d prefer white keys) but the build looks sturdy and that hinge seems to be pleasingly chunky.  Although it might be blasphemous to say it, I can envisage a lot of people choosing the OLPC over Microsoft’s clever-but-pricey UMPCs.  I can’t wait until we can get our hands on a review model!

OLPC unboxing [via MAKE:]