Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve already seen quite a few companies lower their forecasts in the wake of the Thailand floods and subsequent hard drive shortage, and it unsurprisingly looks like Intel is no exception. The company issued a press release today advising that its fourth quarter revenue is now expected to come in at $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and not $14.7 billion (plus or minus $500 million) as previously expected. If you do the math, that means the company is taking around a $1 billion hit in revenue, due largely to a reduction in the worldwide PC supply chain that’s led to a drop in processor purchases. According to Intel, thing should begin to turn around in the fourth quarter, when it expects computer sales to be “up sequentially,” although it notes that hard drive shortages are expected to continue into the first quarter, with a recovery anticipated to take place over the first half of 2012. The company’s full statement is after the break.

Continue reading Intel cuts Q4 revenue forecast by $1 billion due to hard drive shortages

Intel cuts Q4 revenue forecast by $1 billion due to hard drive shortages originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever since we spent some time with OCZ’s RevoDrive Hybrid back at Computex, we eagerly awaited its arrival so that it could be put through its paces. Well, the time has come for the $500 storage mongrel to face the music and for us to find out if it adds up to more than the sum of its SSD and HDD parts. Hot Hardware found the RevoDrive Hybrid delivered on its promise of mind-blowing peak transfer speeds of almost 1GBps, with performance that could only be matched by dual SATA III SSDs in a RAID 0 setup. Everyone spoke well of the Dataplex software that manages the RevoDrive’s caching, as it dutifully maxed out performance once it learned usage patterns. TRIM support was a welcome feature, but all noted the niggle that it must be used as the system boot device, so it can’t pull duty as secondary storage. All in all, the consensus is that while the RevoDrive Hybrid may be too pricey for some, it’s a darn good deal for the performance it provides. Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it, so dig into the full reviews at the sources below.

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid review roundup: a speedy and spacious storage solution originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate’s latest addition to its GoFlex line of hard drives is dubbed the Cinema and, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s designed to hook up to your home entertainment system. Inside is a set of spinning platters up to 3TB in size, and around back are HDMI, composite, and S/PDIF hookups. This isn’t just some hard drive with a marketing gimmick though. The hardware itself is capable of pumping out 1080p video in a slew of different formats (including MKV and MP4 amongst others), and even comes packaged with a remote for perusing your media collection from the comfort of your milk crate couch. The GoFlex Cinema is available now in Europe, starting at €99 ($136) for the 1TB version and climbing to €179 ($246) for the 3TB model. No word yet on US pricing or availability.

Seagate GoFlex Cinema puts up to 3TB of media files at your TV’s disposal originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Storage enthusiasts (yeah, there is such a thing — what of it?) would probably tell you that PCIe-based SSDs are a dime a dozen these days. But in all seriousness, the prices we’re seeing are proof that a few more competitors wouldn’t hurt. A few weeks back, Austria’s own Angelbird started to ship a solution that we first heard about during 2010, and we were fortunate enough to pop a Wings PCIe SSD RAID card into our Mac Pro for testing. For years, we’ve been booting this up and running every single application off of its stock HDD — a 640GB Hitachi HDE721064SLA360 (7200RPM) — as we surmise many of you desktop owners might be. Anxious to see if these are the Wings your existing tower needs to soar? Head on past the break for our impressions.

Continue reading Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD preview and benchmarks

Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD preview and benchmarks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s taken its sweet time, but folks who weren’t exactly keen on the Promise Pegasus finally have a compact option for putting their Thunderbolt port to good use. LaCie has just announced that it’s Little Big Disk Thunderbolt external drive — a first for the outfit — is available to purchase. For those keeping count, it’s only the second overall T-bolt drive to hit the scene, with this 1.4-pounder boasting a pair of 2.5-inch drives, support for JBOD / RAID 1 / RAID 0 and a typically metallic chassis that measures 1.6- x 5.5- x 3.3-inches. We’re promised speeds as high as 480MB/sec (for SSD arrangements) and 190MB/sec (for HDD models), and users can daisy chain several of ’em to hit transfer rates of around 800MB/sec. These guys should be available starting today (though Apple’s online shop currently has a “one to two week” wait), with the 1TB 7200RPM edition retailing for $399, and the 2TB 5400RPM model listing for $499. We’re still awaiting word on the specifics surrounding the October-bound 240GB SSD variant, but those who’d rather press their luck for a free one can enter the ongoing contest in the More Coverage link below.

Continue reading LaCie ships Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, promises 240GB SSD variant in mid-October

LaCie ships Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, promises 240GB SSD variant in mid-October originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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