Interested in getting your hands on a pre-release OLPC XO 1.5 laptop? These are the next-generation XO Laptops that use a 1GHz VIA C7-M processors instead of hte slower 433MHz AMD Geode CPU found in the original XO Laptop. And the OLPC folks in Cambridge, Massachusets have about 30 of the new models lying around, which they’re willing to send out to developers working on hardware software for the XO.

In order to apply, check out the official OLPC blog post. Suggested projects include developing a voice chat application, media editing, programming activities, or an improved eBook reader.

The next round of pre-production units will be available to educators. It could be a little while longer before the laptops are made available to the general public and/or governments and schools looking to purchase the new VIA-powered models.