XO Laptop not quite built to last

March 28, 2008 11 Comments

A post on Gizmodo has pointed out a disturbing trend, which has been noted in the laptop.org forums- the rubberized keys on the keyboard of the OLPC laptop are being easily peeled off by the children.

 The forum thread has several people asking how to get replacement keys, and one of them even posted a picture:
ripped_keyboard.jpg

Having never physically handled one, I had always assumed that the rubberized keyboard was all one piece, ala the ‘rollable’ rubber keyboards that you can purchase on ThinkGeek.  The main purpose being, over course, to keep grit and moisture from getting into the keyboard.

But if laptops like the XO are to be designed for educational purposes, the designers are going to have to take into account the sorts of random things little hands will do when they get near a keyboard. 

There are no replacement keys or keyboards for the XO. Thankfully, somebody has devised a way to replace the keyboard with a usb one, but in a developing nation, I don’t think that option is always going to be readily available.

This story should make us all eternally grateful for how sturdy the Eee PC is.

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  • Leo

    Well, i dropped orange juice on my eee-pc, and after two, 2-hour clean up sessions, i am left with a mostly annoying kb where some keys hardly work, nd typing is really a pain. I would buy a replacement keyboard, but guess what, Asus doesn’t sell them. Too bad, ’cause I love my 701 otherwise …

  • chrissy

    I dont recommend buying the OLPC, theres a rugged one by JumPC. Which is a modified version of the classmate pc. so buy that and with the DVD drive and install Windows XP Pro with er, office or openoffice and connect, youre done!

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  • someone

    Leo, same here… that’s how I found this page, looking for a new one. Sigh.

  • http://www.monster-rakeback.com Get the rake

    Fairly decent laptops are becomming so cheap now i like to replace them every few years and just buy something in the mid range to budget area.

  • David Howard

    Parts and accessories for OLPC XO at:

    http://www.ilovemyxo.com/

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    Good post congratulations.

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    hello dude ……… It’s not only interesting; it helps us readers to ponder on the subject. I m very impressed with your work, and I look forward for more of it…. Congratulations on your good work….I feel this article is very good…….

  • http://basebuilders.com Engineering Business Management Software

    Hi ……… This blog is amazing. I think no one can beat that……$100 OLPC XO machine hasn’t gotten off pleasantly since it was introduced, and besides it was not meant . I am glad to have read your article.

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    Really this is such a good news. I am just impressed with your work. Thank you for posting.

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