The XO-1.75 laptop uses an from Marvell Technology with Arm processing technology on board.

The new laptop takes a major step into the tablet-era for OLPC, McNierney said. The group put the entire motherboard, which holds the chips and other components, behind the laptop screen, leaving the other half of the laptop for the keyboard and battery. The move simplifies the design so the next step can do away with the bottom half and end up with a tablet.

The XO-3 tablet will have the same screen size as Apple's iPad, 9.7-inches, McNierney said.

"It's gotta be a full-sized device," he said.

OLPC also plans to make a cover to protect the tablet's screen. OLPC could put a soft, flat keyboard on the cover for easy typing and use a solar panel to solve the power issue.