Apple Tablet PC Expected to Debut Today
Today is the day Apple is expected to release its much anticipated tablet device! According to reports, Apple will show off a tablet PC that can be used with a docking station or an electronic reader. Rumors of Apple offering a tablet device have been swirling for close to a decade, so it will be great to see the official press release and initial reviews!
In a few hours, the jig will be up. Apple will have unveiled its latest and greatest gadget, which is widely expected to (and better) be a tablet. For months, the tech world has been swarming over a steady stream of purported leaks, rumors, and strategically planned business moves by Apple that have pointed in a number of directions. Let's break a few of the big ones down by quality.
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ASUS N61Jq First Notebook To Feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0
The recently released ASUS N61Jq notebook packs a ton of features into a notebook that has a screen size of just 16-inches. For starters the notebook is powered by the Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost Technology, which automatically speeds up your processor when your PC needs extra performance. It is also equipped with ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics card with DirectX 11 to deliver the latest in video technology. If that doesn't impress your friends then you can show off the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface! Yup, this notebook has one of those too! Prices start at $999 plus shipping at online e-tailers like Newegg.com.
ASUS is the first to introduce the new USB 3.0, capable of providing a bandwidth of about 5Gbps or around 10 times the bandwidth of the current USB2.0.USB 3.0 is capable of transferring 500MB from a 2.5-inch HDD in 1 minute 41 seconds, compared to the 3 minutes and 49 seconds of USB 2.0 in the exact same conditions*. This allows for faster transfers of high definition data, such as movies and videos, as well as various other large capacity file formats. It also charges USB-chargable devices with 900mA,faster than the 500mA of current USB 2.0. Finally, the USB 3.0 helps to extend battery life, suspending operations when it is in idle mode.
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Nvidia Says Patent Settlement With Rambus Unlikely After Loss
Nvidia Corp., a maker of graphics chips that help run video games, said it wont negotiate with Rambus Inc. after losing a U.S. trade agency decision that it violated three Rambus-owned patents. Nvidia has several options to prevent any order banning imports, he said. If the commission sides with Rambus, Nvidia can appeal to a court that specializes in patent law. Nvidia is receiving no pressure from customers to settle the case, Shannon said.
Rambus and Nvidia talked for eight years before they sued us, David Shannon, Nvidias general counsel, said in an interview yesterday in Washington. I dont think its realistic to think that theres going to be an agreement anytime soon between the two companies.
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Mushkin Enhanced Announces Volta and Joule Power Supplies
Mushkin Enhanced recently announced the release of two new power supply series: Volta and Joule. With an exceptional feature set and high-efficiency operation, the Volta Series PSUs offer unparalleled value. Available in 500W and 600W versions, the Volta Series are an ideal choice for enthusiasts, gamers and professionals. For the most demanding systems and users, the Joule Series offers a massive dose of power at an incredibly friendly price. Available in 1000W and 1200W versions, Joule power supplies stand up to the heavy loads of overclocked and multi-GPU systems while keeping rail voltages steady and stable.
"Our new PSUs provide value and enthusiast power solutions. The value conscious builders will be pleased with the output levels and connector options of the Volta series. The Joule units will fuel overclocked components with clean power; allowing the most hardcore enthusiasts to reach new speeds and levels of stability. Both units distribute their power responsibly, with up to 85% efficiency." Brian Flood, director of product development.
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OCZ Technologys Vertex 2 Pro SSD Reviewed on AnandTech.com
OCZ Technology Group, a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, had its Vertex 2 Pro Solid State Drive reviewed recently on AnandTech.com. Titled "OCZs Vertex 2 Pro Review: The Fastest MLC SSD Weve Ever Tested.", the Vertex 2 Pro outperformed the Intel X25-M G2 SSD. Our own Nathan Kirsch has this drive and will be posting his take on this drive soon.
Ill admit, I havent really been looking forward to this day. Around the time when OCZ and Indilinx finally got their controller and firmware to acceptable levels, OCZ CMO Alex Mei dropped a bombshell on me - OCZs Vertex 2 would use a new controller by a company Id never heard of. Great.
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DirectX 11 Be Damned - Intel Gains GPU Market Share on AMD and NVIDIA
Jon Peddie Research announced today its estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market shares for Q4'09 and their results are a tad shocking. It shows that Intel has gained 1.6% of the market share while AMD fell short 0.2% and NVIDIA dropped full percentage point! JPR noted that the supply constraints in the 40nm process hurt sales for AMD & NVIDIA and that strong Intel Atom netbook sales helped Intel. This is shocking as many figured AMD would have a great Q4 as they recently announced that they have sold over 2 million DirectX 11 cards in roughly that time period. Some very interesting numbers, but the overall graphics market is growing with an estimated 600 million graphics chips to be sold in 2011. Not bad considering in 2002, the year Legit Reviews started, only 181 million GPUs were sold.
Intel was the leader in Q4'09, elevated by Atom sales for netbooks, as well as strong growth in the desktop segment. AMD gained in the notebook integrated segment, but lost some market share in discrete in both the desktop and notebook segments due to constraints in 40nm supply. Nvidia picked up a little share overall. Nvidia's increases came primarily in desktop discretes, while slipping in desktop and notebook integrated.
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MSI Announces Availability of Wind U135 Special Edition Netbook
MSI Computer just announced the availability of the MSI Wind U135 netbook. These special edition netbooks commemorate the millions of Wind models sold globally and are the first to feature the powerful, yet efficient Intel Pine Trail Platform with the Atom N450 processor . Available in Silver, Charcoal, Ruby and Sapphire, the newest addition to the Wind family also features a 160GB or 250 GB hard drive, 1 GB of DDR2 memory and Windows 7 Starter and start at $309.99.
The U135s new CPU and single chipset architecture combine to consume just 7 watts, increasing battery life by 15% and overall performance by as much as 10%. Consumers can choose between a 3-cell or 6-cell battery, with the later delivering a battery life of up to 7.5 hours. The U135 also features several design upgrades including a new raised chiclet keyboard and a color film printed case. The elevated keys are 20% larger, firm to the touch and improve typing accuracy and user comfort. The U135s stylish color film printed case prevents smudging, giving the netbook a glossy finish. MSI also packed a 1.3M webcam, D-Sub port, 3 USB 2.0 ports and 41 card reader into the portable lightweight U135.
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OWC Mercury Extreme SandForce Based SSDs Announced
Other World Computing (OWC) announced today the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD as the fastest, most reliable, and longest endurance 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) available on the market for Macs and PCs in single or multiple drive use including all RAID configurations. The OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD with its SandForce Processor is able to provide sustained and consistent read and write times over 260MB/s with 0.1 ms latency and experience virtually no reduction in data transfer rate over the five year warranty life of the drive. Designed and made in the U.S. from imported parts, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD is available for immediate ordering in capacities up to 200GB priced starting at $229.99.
- 50GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD - $229.99
- 100GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD - $399.99
- 200GB OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD - $779.99
Utilizing SandForce DuraClass Technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD is able to provide up to 100x higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class Hard Disk Drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD provides RAID like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity.
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Intel Smoke Application Demo Using Horsepower
Intel has been showing off the Smoke multi-threaded game framework for a few months now, but it appears they have moved some existing Smoke systems over to a new demo called Horsepower. Smoke already contained a threaded AI system so this capability was migrated to Horsepower. Intel has posted a video to YouTube showing off this demo called Horsepower. See what a difference the new Windows 7 kernel makes compared to Windows Vista. The Windows 7 kernel is optimized for use with Intel core microarchitecture and not only does it perform faster it also allows you to put a few cores to sleep while maintaining peak performance. If you watch closely it would look like the Windows 7 system has some stutters.
Horsepower was created to showcase a perceptible difference for users with a multi-core CPU. By threading to take advantage of multi-core CPU power, a few horses running in a field are multiplied to hundreds of horses (Figs. 13). Dynamically adjusting the number of horses drawn on-screen maintains a consistent frame rate of 30 frames per second (fps). The demo decreases the number of horses drawn on screen until 30 fps is hit and maintained and, on the flip side, increases the number of horses on screen until the target 30 fps is hit. Although the horses are the main animated objects in this demo, you can use this technique on any ambient animations in a game for a better game experience.
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BioWare Launches Mass Effect 2
Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that Mass Effect 2, the sequel to the award-winning science-fiction phenomena Mass Effect, has begun shipping to retailers worldwide.
The Mass Effect trilogy is an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets. In Mass Effect 2, players will once again step into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, commanding their crew of some of the most dangerous operatives from across the galaxy on a mission so challenging that its potentially suicidal. Featuring intense shooter action, a rich futuristic storyline, space exploration and emotionally engaging character interaction, the game delivers an unparalleled cinematic experience.
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Kingston 128GB V+ Series SNV325-S2 SSD Review
Kingston announced the SSDNow V+ series of SSDs on August 10, 2009 and aimed the product at mainstream consumers who wanted to switch over from a hard drive to a solid-state drive. Legit Reviews did a review on the 256GB V+ series SSD last fall and found it to be using all Samsung components and was an overall solid performing mainstream drive. Kingston announced their second generation of V+ series SSDs yesterday and we have spent the past several weeks playing around with one of these new drives. What has Kingston done differently with their second generation of V+ series drives? Well, for starters they have moved over to a Toshiba controller with Toshiba MLC NAND Flash. The drive also features Windows 7 TRIM support right out of the box, is available in higher capacities and is said to be speedier overall with improved read/write speeds.
Kingston Technology's second generation of their SSDNow V+ Series of SSDs performed very well and was stutter free no matter what the task was that we threw at it on the desktop or in our notebook. The Kingston SSDNow V+ was said to have sequential read speeds of up to 230MB/sec. and write speeds of up to 180MB/sec. We were able to meet or exceed those rated speeds when using benchmarks like ATTO.
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PNY VERTO GeForce GT 240 Video Card Review
The PNY VERTO GeForce GT 240 supports Direct X 10.1, DirectCompute, native HDMI 1.3a and has a built-in HDMI audio processor. Not bad features for a single slot PCI Express graphics card that costs just $89 after rebate. We test the PNY VERTO GeForce GT 240 on several games and then dive deeper and look at power consumption, temperatures, overclocking and some F@H performance numbers!
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Kingston 128GB V+ Series SNV325-S2 SSD Review
Kingston announced their second generation of V+ series SSDs yesterday and we have spent the past several weeks playing around with one of these new drives. What has Kingston done differently with their second generation of V+ series drives? Well, for starters they have moved over to a Toshiba controller with Toshiba MLC NAND Flash!
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