OLPC Laptop Experience

So, I was the second in my class to test the OLPC laptop that came to us yesterday. It was a quite different than my home computer. The laptop had both its pros and cons.

Cons:

I have to admit that I had trouble even opening up the computer, until I read that you have to lift the antennas up, and separate lift in between the green part of the laptop. I was not a fan of the touchpad mouse. I found it hard to move, and that I had to put in a lot of effort trying to get where I wanted to. The keyboard was cute, but it was challenging to type on. I had to push hard in order for the characters to register. My main issue with the OLPC laptop was that it was slow. It took a really long time to load a new activity. The computer also froze on my multiple times, and I had to restart the computer three times. I found some of the programs to be challenging to use, especially Pippy, and Turtle Art. I was also not sure how to use the SynthLab or EToys. I was not able to browse the internet or chat with other users in the chat activity.

Pros:

Despite the cons, the laptop did have some great features. I thought the appearance of the laptop was very cute. I like the rotating head, and how it comes with a handle so that it is easier to carry. I did like the neighborhood view, which allowed me to see other users of the laptop and establish a connection with them. However, for some reason it showed all other users as being locked. I did like the paint program, and the write activity. They were somewhat similar to the basic paint program and word processors on a home computer, but there weren't as many features in each. I liked how the calculator allowed me to use sin, cos, and tan, and I liked the appearance of it. Memorize, which was a memory game, and the various TamTam activities, activities which allowed me to play with different sounds and make music, kept me entertained for a while. I was impressed by the record function. This allowed me to record video and audio, and take pictures. I thought the quality of the pictures were pretty good, but the video was fuzzy.
It would have been nice to use the NewsRead function, which had various articles in it, but I could not read these articles. I think this was due to the lack of an internet connection. Furthermore, it had a pretty good battery life

In all, I did quite like the laptop. In saying that, the laptop was, however, difficult to use for a first time user. I found how to use most of the programs through the OLPC website, but for a child, I am not sure how they would be able to get access to the site. I also did not like the lack of an instruction manual. Despite all this, I think the OLPC laptops are a great program for underprivileged children, and is a durable computer that will give them hours of entertainment, while also giving them knowledge and an opportunity to work with a computer. Overall, I am pretty happy with this laptop!