IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 01/07/2009

Memorysolution reveals the Rapstore solid state drives
Germany's own Memorysolution has today announced the Rapstore line-up of SSDs which it is preparing to roll out under the Maxflash brand. The new 2.5-inch drives come in 64, 128 and 256GB capacities, feature Samsung MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chips, an Indilinx Barefoot controller, 64MB of cache memory and includes both mini USB and SATA connectivity.

The Rapstore SSDs provide read and write speeds of up to 230 and 160 MB/s, respectively and are backed by a three-year warranty. Unfortunately, Memorysolution hasn't said when the drives will hit stores or how much they will cost. We'll just have to scout online stores then. Oh joy.

NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller makes stealthy debut
While NZXT hasn't made any official announcement, a third Sentry series fan controller has now appeared at CaseKing.de, and it surely is a step up from the Sentry 1 and Sentry LX as it comes with a touchscreen.

The Sentry 2 takes up one 5.25-inch bay, includes the mentioned color touchscreen taking up much of its front and providing info like temperatures, fan speeds, has no buttons, and comes with five temperature sensors and support for up to five fans. The Sentry 2 also features an alarm function and costs 29.90 Euro.

Pictures courtesy of PCGH.

Dell delivers the Inspiron 546 desktop PC
Dell has recently added a new member to the Inspiron family, the 546 compact desktop PC for home and office use. Available in 8 colors, the new machine comes in a mini tower chassis and can be equipped with an AMD (Sempron, Athlon X2, Phenom X3 or X4) processor, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 2TB storage space via two hard drives, a DVD and/or Blu-Ray drive, and Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics or a Radeon HD 3650 256MB discrete card.

The Inspiron 546 features a 300W PSU, has a HDMI out, and can be pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Basic/Premium, Business or Ultimare. The new desktop is available here with a starting price of just $269.

Acer introduces more eMachines ET Series desktop PCs
Keeping its eMachines brand well supplied, Acer has now let loose three new ET family desktops which are claimed to be "bringing a fresh new look to PC computing." The cheapest of the new lot is the ET1810-01 model, which costs just $300 and is loaded with a 1.6 GHz Celeron 420 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive, GeForce 7050 integrated graphics, an 18x DVD writer, a multi-card reader and Microsoft's Windows Vista Home Basic (SP1, why not SP2, we don't know).

Next up, the $370 eMachines ET1810-03 is pre-loaded with Vista Home Premium SP1 and comes with a 2.2 GHz dual-core Pentium E2210, 3GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB HDD, plus the same IGP and optical drive. Last but not least, the ET1300-02 is priced at $450 and includes a 2.5 GHz Athlon X2 4850e, 3GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, a GeForce G100 graphics card with 512MB of memory, and an 18x DVD burner. This one also includes Vista Home Premium.

In addition to the three desktops, Acer has also release a display, namely, the eMachines E182H wm 18.5-inch widescreen LCD. The monitor has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, a 5ms response time, a 10000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, a D-Sub input, built-in speakers and a price tag of $130.

HP claims to have first six-core Opteron-powered workstation
Number one PC manufacturer, HP, has added the option to use the six-core Opteron processors with its xw9400 Workstation, making it the first professional desktop to feature AMD's latest and greatest parts. Said to be ready for 3D digital content creation and tasks related to fields like engineering, oil and gas, science, the new workstation can be equipped with up to two CPUs summing up to 12 cores of K10.5 powa, up to 64GB of RAM, various SATA or SAS hard drives, a DVD or Blu-Ray drive and a professional graphics card from either Nvidia (Quadro) or AMD (ATI FirePro)

"HP understands the immense pressure its customers are under to deliver more return on investment in a shorter period of time," said Jeff Wood, director, Worldwide Marketing, Workstations, HP. "By providing the most extreme combination of technologies أ¢آ€آ“ up to 12 cores in one workstation - HP continues its commitment to bringing customers leading-edge technologies."

The xw9400 Workstation is available for purchase starting at $ 2,599, so check out HP's website if you're interested.

I-O Data readies 3TB HDC2-U series external HDD
Introduced last year, the HDC2-U family of compact, dual-drive external storage devices, is finally getting an update, with the introduction of a model offering 3TB of storage space. The upcoming release is codenamed HDC2-U3.0 and it measures 82.2 (W) x 111.2 (D) x 181.6 (H) mm, weights 2.3kg, has two 1.5TB HDDs configured in RAID 0 (a RAID 1 option is also available), and has USB 2.0/1.1 connectivity.

The 3TB HDC2-U3.0 is backed by a one-year warranty and is expected to hit Japanese stores in about two weeks with a price tag of $525.

Transcend intros thermal sensor-equipped DDR3 memory modules
JetFlash promoter Transcend Information has just announced a new family of DDR3 server memory modules that feature built-in thermal sensors, thus enabling enhanced reliability, efficiency, and better system stability. Thanks to the info provided by the sensors, the memory load can be adjusted so as to provide high performance while protecting the modules from 'crash and burn' scenarios.

Transcend's sensor-enriched offer includes ECC DIMMs and Registered DIMMs working at 1066 and 1333 MHz with CL7 and CL9 timings, respectively. All the modules are backed by a lifetime warranty.

MSI unveils the 760GTM-P33 motherboard
MSI has now introduced to this cruel world the 760GTM-P33, a microATX motherboard based on AMD's 760/SB710 chip combo. Seen below in all its glory, the new board is Windows 7 ready and comes with the APS (Active Phase Switching) power saving technology, a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) header for secure storage of confidential data, Japan-made solid capacitors on PWM, and the USB Safeguard, an IC that helps prevent damage from ESDs (Electrostatic Discharges), power surges, and short circuits.

The 760GTM-P33 features support for AM2/AM2+ processors, has two dual channel-loving DDR2-1066 slots, Radeon HD 3000 series integrated graphics and one PCI-Express x16 slot that enables Hybrid CrossFireX setups. The motherboard also boasts six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, 7.1 channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and both D-Sub and DVI outputs. The MSI 760GTM-P33 is expected to become available in the next few weeks so keep an eye on online stores.

Flickr photo tweeting function out of beta
Giving a rather big slap to Twitpic, Yahoo has now rolled out the Flickr2Twitter feature for all users of its photo hosting/sharing website Flickr. With this move Flickr enables its users to quickly and easily Twitter their photos via their PC or mobile phone.

To be able to tweet pictures you have to add your Twitter account from the add a blog page, after which, just use the "Blog this" button on a photo page. A short Flic.kr URL is provided automatically so it almost can't get any easier. Resume tweeting.

Dell Vostro 1220 gets official
Unofficially unveiled just over a week ago, the small business-targeting Vostro 1220 has now been announced and released by Dell. The new ultraportable laptop weights as low as 1.52kg (with a 4-cell battery), comes in two color schemes - Obsidian Black or Deep Cherry Red and features a 12.1-inch LCD screen with a top resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.

The Vostro 1220 comes with videoconferencing software pre-installed, can be bought with Windows Vista, Ubuntu or FreeDOS, and packs a 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo T9900 processor, up to 8GB of DDR2 memory, GMA X4500MHD integrated graphics, a HDD with a capacity of up to 500GB or a solid state drive, a DVD writer or Blu-Ray drive, a fingerprint reader, and a 4- or 6-cell battery.

Dell's Vostro 1220 is now selling and has a starting price tag of $799.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 01/07/2009

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