Aug 19

Corsair adds 90GB SSDs to Force 3 / GT lines

Posted in: SSD, storage, Today's Chili
Been thinking Corsair’s Force SSD lineup was too small at 60GB, but too darn capacious at 120GB? Well Goldilocks, we’ve got good news, as the company’s unveiled two middling models that might be just right. We begin with the 90GB Force 3, which wields 550MB/s reads and 500MB/s writes at a $159 price point. For an additional $40, you can bump speeds up by 5MB/s on both counts with the identically sized Force GT. Just like their smaller and larger brethren, the two additions tote SandForce SF-228x controllers as they haul bits over SATA 6Gbps. They’re supposedly available “immediately,” but, like AnandTech, we couldn’t find either in stock. If middle of the road is your thing, then Godspeed, but we’ll stick with the big one.

Continue reading Corsair adds 90GB SSDs to Force 3 / GT lines

Corsair adds 90GB SSDs to Force 3 / GT lines originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 17

Samsung SSDs Sport 6Gb/s of Speedy SATA Storage

Posted in: samsung, SSD, storage, Today's Chili

830 Series SSD Drive

For an internal drive, Samsung’s new 830-series SSDs are pretty hot looking

Samsung’s new 830-series SSDs are blisteringly fast and also offer curiously redundant good looks. The solid state disks don’t speed themselves up with any radically new internals. Instead, they are using the SATA 3 interface to talk to the computer in which they sit, which is itself enough to potentially double the data throughput.

I say potentially, as SATA 3 is essentially just a fatter pipe, offering up to 600 MB/sec (6Gbit/sec) speeds. To actually exploit that bandwidth, the drives themselves will have to pump the data through pretty fast. Still, some SSDs have already saturated SATA 2’s bandwidth, so this is great news.

The sleek brushed finish of these drives is odd, though. The 830-series is designed to work as an internal drive and so you’ll only see it when you open up your computer to swap one in or out. Still, we love this kind of obsessive attention to detail. The drives will be officially launched in October, when we shall find out just how much Samsung wants for its 64, 128, 256 and 512GB boxes.

Samsung SSD 830 Series to Deliver SATA 6Gb/s Speeds to Consumers [Business Wire press release]

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Aug 17

Samsung’s 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, samsung, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, SSD, Today's Chili


Many SSDs could easily blow away that legacy spinning drive in your notebook, but there’s always room for a performance boost when it comes to tech. Announced last week, Samsung’s 830-series SSD packs up to 512GB of storage, and full support for SATA’s 6Gbps max throughput — a 100 percent boost over Samsung’s previous gen drive. There’s only one problem with last week’s version: it’s only available to OEMs, leaving a DIY upgrade out of the question. Well, today Samsung announced consumer availability for the same drive, letting any Joe Bag O’ PC Upgrades pick one up at retail come October. Drives will be available in 64, 128, 256, and 512GB capacities, with pricing details coming at the official launch this fall. Jump past the break for the full PR, should you care to read all about the drive’s “precision engineered” brushed metal enclosure, with “deep black” highlights and a “stylish and chic exterior” — exactly the features you should be looking for in an SSD.

Continue reading Samsung’s 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date

Samsung’s 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 17

Intel to finally issue firmware fix for faulty 320 series SSDs

Posted in: firmware, intel, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, SSD, Today's Chili

When Intel first unleashed its third generation 320 series SSDs, we were thrilled with their prices that were 30 percent lower than Chipzilla’s previous offerings. The love fest didn’t last long, however, as many customers soon found they hadn’t gotten what they paid for — drives of all sizes were reporting only 8MB of capacity due to flawed firmware. Well, good news, storage speed demons, Intel’s in the final stages of testing a firmware fix, and it’ll be made available “within the next two weeks.” SSD salvation’s only a few days and a download away, so hit the source for the full details.

[Thanks, Philip]

Intel to finally issue firmware fix for faulty 320 series SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 15

IFixit Kit Puts Second Hard Drive Inside DVD-Free Mac Mini

Posted in: Hacks, Mods and DIY, SSD, storage, Today's Chili

Macminihddkit

With iFixit’s kit, some time and some patience, you can save yourself $400

You won’t be able to add an optical drive to your new Mac Mini (not without some extensive Dremel work at least), but with this kit from iFixit, you can at least add a second hard drive, or even your own SSD.

The $70 Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit contains the parts and tools you’ll need to fill the empty space inside the 2011 Mac Mini with the storage device of your choice. You get a SATA cable, mounting screws and grommets plus a logic board removal tool, 26-piece driver kit and the ever useful spudger. As that list might suggest, taking the Mac Mini apart to get to the hole within is harder than the actual installation. But as this is iFixit, there is a full step-by-step guide on the site. Follow this and even I can’t go wrong.

Why would you do this instead of just buying the pre-configured two-drive model from Apple? Because that sever model costs an extra $400, that’s why.

The Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit is currently out of stock, and will be back soon..

Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit [iFixit]

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Aug 12

Samsung’s speedy 6Gbps SSDs shreds bits, blows minds

Posted in: samsung, SSD, Today's Chili

For most of us, the decision to move to flash-based storage has been one wrought with compromise: suffer through a year of ramen to afford a capacious SSD, or splurge on steak and settle for a cramped one. While we await our platterless future, Samsung keeps on chuggin’, having just begun volume production of a speedier line of solid state drives it calls the PM830. Available in 128, 256 or 512GB flavors, they tout 20nm-class MLC NAND flash and SATA 6Gb/s support — which equates to 500MB/s reads and 350MB/s writes, or almost double last year’s model. Before you reach for the plastic, know that the line is available only to OEMs — you know, computer manufacturers — with the firm promising consumer-friendly goodies for all you DIY types soon. Of course, no word on when that’ll be or how much they’ll cost, but at least the PR after the break’s free, right?

Continue reading Samsung’s speedy 6Gbps SSDs shreds bits, blows minds

Samsung’s speedy 6Gbps SSDs shreds bits, blows minds originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 10

SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon

Posted in: flash, memory, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, SSD, storage, Today's Chili, Toshiba
Toshiba and SandForce

SandForce, the company behind the companies that make some of the best SSDs on the market, is at it again — this time demoing 24nm NAND flash from Toshiba at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA. An SF-2000 processor was matched with the new shrunk-down storage, a 6Gb/sec SATA connection, and jammed inside a 2.5-inch enclosure to deliver 500MB/sec read and write speeds. It’s not the fastest we’ve seen, but the big news here isn’t the data rates — it’s the potential for cheaper SSDs. The smaller manufacturing process means Toshiba will be able to squeeze more storage out of the same wafer of silicon and, hopefully, shrink those still somewhat bloated prices. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon

SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 10

SATA-IO outs new SATA Express and Embedded SSD standards, acronyms abound

Posted in: SSD, storage, Today's Chili

It’s a big day for SATA-IO, as the organization has just announced not one, but two new SATA standards. The first of these, the SATA Express specification, gets the latter half of its name from the ‘e’ in PCIe, as it will allow current SATA standards to piggyback on the PCIe interface, boosting speeds to 8Gbps and 16Gbps, up from the current 6Gbps. SATA Express is expected to make its official debut later this year. SATA µSSD, on the other hand, is currently ready to go, and already implemented in SanDisk’s iSSD embedded drive. It ditches the module connector from the old interface, allowing OEMs to stack single-chip drives right on the motherboard. A plethora of SATA-related press releases awaits you after the break — if you’re into that sort of thing.

Continue reading SATA-IO outs new SATA Express and Embedded SSD standards, acronyms abound

SATA-IO outs new SATA Express and Embedded SSD standards, acronyms abound originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 09

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M71z business desktop keeps your productivity up for $599

Posted in: CoreI5, desktop, education, enterprise, intel, lenovo, SSD, Today's Chili, touchscreen, Windows, windows 7, Windows7

Ready to revamp your company’s computer systems once the summer’s heat is a mere memory? Come this October, Lenovo’s letting loose its 20-inch ThinkCentre M71z all-in-one desktop, priced starting at just $599 to keep those expense reports low and your interest piqued. Better yet, you’ll be able to deck it out if you’re ready to rack up some points on the company credit card. Around the outside, you’ll find six USB ports and a DisplayPort connection, but it can also be equipped with a multi-touch screen as well as a two megapixel webcam — fantastic for those 10-way Skype or Google+ meetings. If you’re hungry for performance, the desktop can be maxed out with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, WiFi and either a 1TB HDD, or 160GB SSD capable of 15 second start-ups with RapidBoot. For good measure, the M71z comes bundled with Windows 7 Professional along with a wireless mouse and keyboard — the latter of which is flood spill-resistant. Please excuse us while we get back to the business of blogging, but you’ll find the full PR past the break.

Continue reading Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M71z business desktop keeps your productivity up for $599

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M71z business desktop keeps your productivity up for $599 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 09

Acer’s Aspire 3951 leaks with MacBook Air-like specs, available in October?

Posted in: bluetooth, intel, laptop, leak, macbook, macbook air, MacbookAir, processor, rumor, SSD, Today's Chili
It looks like Acer may be dropping down to the lightweight laptop division, now that images of its so-called Aspire 3951 have leaked out of Vietnam. An ostensible rival to the recently refreshed MacBook Air, the 13.3-inch 3951 reportedly boasts a similarly slim design, measuring 13mm thick and weighing less than 1.4 kilograms (about three pounds). According to Sohoa, the aluminum-cased device is powered by a second generation Intel Core processor, features an optional 160GB SSD, and offers more than six hours of battery life, along with Bluetooth 4.0 support. Much like the Air, this Aspire can purportedly boot up pretty fast, as well, rousing from sleep mode in just 1.7 seconds. It’s rumored that Acer will release this new line in October within the curiously affordable price range between $770 and $960, but we’ll have to wait and see whether that actually comes to fruition. In the meantime, you can check out an extra image of the Aspire 3951 below, or hit the source link for the full collection.

[Thanks, @tranquochuyvn]

Update: Oddly enough, it appears that we’ve caught a glimpse of this exact same laptop before, except it was portrayed by M.I.C. Gadget as a Thunderbolt MacBook Air leak. Perhaps the folks received some bad intel, be it intentional or not.

Continue reading Acer’s Aspire 3951 leaks with MacBook Air-like specs, available in October?

Acer’s Aspire 3951 leaks with MacBook Air-like specs, available in October? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSohoa (Translated)  | Email this | Comments

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