I tend to avoid writing stories about the OLPC XO Laptop because it's not really targeted at consumers. I'm much more interested in laptops you can walk into a store and buy, or at least order online from Taiwanese dealers. But if Nicholas Negroponte hadn't turned his dream of a low cost laptop into reality, it's possibel that the Asus Eee PC and all the low cost mini-notebooks that have followed it never would have existed. So every now and then it's worth taking a peek at OLPC land.

And this week there are two interesting stories making the rounds. Gizmodo reports that developers of the OLPC have created a limited edition red XO laptop specifically for the folks working to cram Windows XP onto the device. Basically, it's just like your good old green XO, but it has 2GB of solid state memory instead of 1 to make Windows XP slightly more comfortable. OLPC only pumped out about 100 of these red laptops and there are no plans to make any more.

In other news, the unique Sugar OS software interface designed for the XO Laptop might not stay unique for long. PC World says that Sugar Labs, the foundation behind the user interface, is working with Intel to create similar software for the Classmate PC. The Classmate is Intel's answer to the XO Laptop. It features more storage, a more traditional looking laptop body, and is designed to run Windows XP.

So if you're keeping track, that means Windows is coming to the XO Laptop, while Linux could be coming to the Classmate PC.

If you thought it was just consumer-oriented computers like the Eee PC, MSI Wind and ECS G10IL that were getting the new Intel Atom processor, think again. CNET Asia found a Classmate PC hanging out that the Intel Atom booth at Computex.

The Classmate PC is built using an Intel reference design, and is basically Intel's answer to the OLPC XO Laptop. The machine is primarily targeted at educational markets and developing nations. The model on display at Computex was manufactured by ECS, the sole Taianese manufacturer, although other companies in other countries will likely introduce the same product with different names.

In the US, CTL sells the Classmate directly to consumers under the CTL 2go PC name with a starting price of $399. Currently the CTL 2go PC ships with a 900MHz Intel Celeron CPU, but hopefully we'll see a version using the power-saving Atom CPU soon.

Darren Waters at the BBC is spending the next week tinkering with one of Intel's Classmate 2 laptop computers. In the video above you can see he's also spent some time with the OLPC XO Laptop, and he clearly highlights some of the differences between the devices. While both are aimed at developing nations, the XO represents a whole new way to think about computers, while the Classmate is designed for Windows XP and lets users experience computers much the same way that users in developed nations would. But smaller.

Waters reports that the Classmate 2 is capable of performing most individual tasks without a problem, but thanks to its poky processor it doesn't hold up to multitasking very well. Like the XO Laptop, the Classmate 2 uses mesh networking to share internet connections with other nearby computers.

We should be getting a full review in about a week, as well as a complete review from someone closer to the target audience, 9 year old Rufus Cellan-Jones who reviewed the XO for the BBC last year.

Intel has a word for cheap ultraportable laptops using Intel chips and reference designs: Netbook. But if you thought all Netbooks were going to look have the Fisher Price styling of the Classmate PC and the 2Go PC, think again.

A mystery Netbook made an appearance during a developer forum in Shanghai. CNet reports that an Intel executive showed off a computer that's about as thin as a Macbook Air, but has a larger keyboard and screen than the current crop of Classmate/Cloudbook/Eee PC models.

There's no word on who's making the machine, if it's designed for consumer or educational markets, or when it will be released, if ever. It does appear to be running Linux. If I had to guess, I'd say it's running Linpus Linux Lite or a similar distribution designed for small screen devices and Linux novices. There's also no word on the pricing, but if this is truly a Netbook, odds are it should be closer to $500 than to the MacBook Air's $1800 starting price.

[via Eee PC News.de]