‘Knocking Down the Barriers to the $100 Laptop’: Behind the high-res display

Here, from eWeek.com. Quote from CTO Mary Lou Jepsen at One Laptop Per Child:

What I have done is re-examined the LCD for our laptop. I looked at the cost structure of LCD, and the needs of our users, the kids of the world, half of whom have little or no access to electricity. Many of whom spend much of their time outside. What I came up with: a dual-mode display. Mode 1 is 800×600 (or higher—even 1024×768 looks surprisingly good!) color backlit with 1W MAX power consumption. Mode 2 is high resolution 1200×900 black and white reflective sunlight readable with 0.2W MAX power consumption. Mode 2 is also room light readable with the backlight off at again 0.2W power consumption. There are several keys to making this display work—they all add up to a large impact.

Related: Super-cheap laptop display coming: More significant than E Ink, for now? and E-book use on $100 laptop: New wrinkle might improve display’s brightness and contrast.