TechSpot: Asus P7P55D Deluxe Motherboard Review
Asus anticipates selling nearly half a million P55 motherboards by the end of the year. If this is the case, it will mean that P55 products alone will have accounted for 10% of the annual motherboard shipments for the Taiwanese manufacturer.
In other words, there is quite a bit on the line for both Asus and its competitors. In an effort to meet the diverse demand expected for P55 products, Asus released a total of nine P55-based motherboards on the platform's launch day, ranging in price from $135 for the basic P7P55D LE to ~$250 for the Maximus III Formula and P7P55 WS SuperComputer.
The P7P55D series sits at the center of Asus' P55 line-up, and the $220 P7P55D Deluxe we are reviewing today is meant to be your no-nonsense choice if you are looking for an integral P55 solution. Then the obvious question has to be what exactly makes this motherboard special?
View: Asus P7P55D Deluxe Motherboard Review
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TechSpot: Averatec N3400 13.3" Ultraportable Notebook Review
Netbooks have quite a few things going for them. They are extremely lightweight and portable, typically affordable, and more recent models come with full size keyboards, larger displays and great battery life. But for all their advantages and evolution in recent years, they still lack in one key category: processing power.
Today we'll be taking a look at their affordable N3400 Series Ultraportable Notebook, a 13.3-inch model boasting an Intel dual-core processor and a thin aluminum shell that shares some styling cues from Apple's MacBook Air.
Weighing in at only 3.8 pounds, the N3400 is powered by an Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400 CPU operating at 2.16 GHz, 3GB of DDR2 (expandable to 8GB), a 250GB hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM, 13.3" WXGA LCD display (1280 x 800), Intel GMA4500 graphics, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a 2-cell 5000mAh battery.
View: Averatec N3400 13.3" Ultraportable Notebook Review
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Magnetic-based HDDs still cheapest in 2020
A new study has found that if magnetic-based hard disk drives (HDDs) continue to progress at their current rate then by 2020 we'll see a 2.5" HDD with a capacity of more than 14TB at a cost of about $US40. Flash memory will also become cheaper, but will reach terminal limits before 2020 keeping the ultra-fast technology from replacing HDDs.
The study by Professor Mark Kryder and Chan Soo Kim of Carnegie Mellon University, published in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, showed that in fact most technologies wouldn't be able to compete with HDDs on a cost-per-TB basis by 2020. That is, except for two new technologies: phase change random access memory (PCRAM) and spin transfer torque random access memory (STTRAM).
PCRAM is based on a technology involving heat and chalcogenide glass. Heating the glass switches between both an amorphous and crystalline state that can be used as memory. The downside is this technology takes a lot of power to sustain.
STTRAM uses a spin-polarized current that writes data by reorienting states of a magnetic tunnel. The technology is more power conscious than PCRAM, but at this point it has less potential for higher capacities of data.
Commenting on the study, Kryder said, "We were surprised to find that the study indicated that, even in 2020, HDDs were likely to be considerably less expensive on a cost per terabyte basis than any of the competing technologies."
Kryder also went on to say that he found it surprising that the technical limits and potential of certain technologies weren't reflective of where the industry is investing its research dollars. Rather, Kryder believes the industry invests where they have the most current knowledge.
Kryder hopes the study will focus the industry in evaluating technologies that have significant potential long-term - i.e. PCRAM and STTRAM.
The study can be read in the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics journal, Vol. 45, No. 10, October 2009.... Read on »
Barnes & Noble enters the e-book reader market
There is a new e-book reader literally every month and the U.S. has many e-reader devices, each with its own share of pros and cons. Yet another big player, Barnes and Noble, has entered the market with very interesting hardware.
According to the Codex Group, a consultant to the publishing industry, Amazon has sold about 945,000 units, compared with 525,000 units of the Sony reader. Now Barnes & Noble, one of the largest bookstore chains in the U.S., released their own e-book reader, the Nook, for pre-order; the company launched an e-bookstore in July.
Users have access to over one million books, magazines, and newspapers, which can be downloaded with the integrated Wi-Fi and 3G. Its full-color touchscreen makes it easy to bookmark, make annotations, and highlight passages. This is one of two innovative software features; the other is the ability to share e-books with friends for up to 14 days. What is really cool about this is that it's open to any and all devices, including the iPhone, Blackberry and the PC.
In any of the chain's 1,300 bookstores, consumers can download e-books for free on the in-store Wi-Fi network. Outside the stores, consumers can access the e-bookstore on AT&T's 3G network, which Barnes & Noble touts as the nation's fastest. The Nook also has software which detects when a consumer walks into a store so that it can offer coupons and other promotions. It also has the largest built-in memory of any device with 2GB.
The Nook will start shipping in late November for $259.
Also read the hands-on impressions from the Frankfurt book fair.
... Read on »
Frankfurt Book Fair: e-book readers gaining a foothold.
The e-book is on the rise. Last week everyone who cares about books went to the Frankfurt book fair. Three devices in particular seemed the most interesting. Here are some impressions, including snippets from two interviews.
Lawrent Picard, co-founder of Bookeen, is confident that e-book technology will continue to gain momentum over the next few years. Long before Amazon launched the greatly successful Kindle, Bookeen brought out their first device in 2000. Seven years later, just three weeks before Amazon, they released another device, the Cybook Gen3. Now at the book fair they presented their latest model, the Cybook Opus. It's significantly smaller, sporting a shiny white housing with rounded edges. Mr. Picard's opinion on the competition is that Amazon wants a monopoly and Sony simply wants part of the business, but Bookeen is focusing just on e-book readers. "We offer a very intuitive device, which is simple to use," he says, "and we know our customers very well."
Simplicity seems to be the biggest selling point for all the e-readers on the market at the moment. Sony, Bookeen and italica all declare their products as the easiest to use. Even a well known device such as the iPhone cannot claim the e-book market for itself. A free program called Stanza, available for Apple's popular mobile platforms, has been downloaded over 500,000 times. A few months ago, Amazon bought Lexcycle, the company which makes Stanza. This backs Mr. Picard's opinion on Amazon's scheme to monopolize the e-book market. Germany is already the second largest e-book market, behind the U.S., but still only less than 60,000 titles are available.
Reading habits are changing rapidly. At the beginning it was necessary to explain want an e-book actually is. Ciando, a German online marketplace, has been selling e-books since 2001. They have split their business operations into three sections. Consumers being the first and primary focus, the second and third being wholesalers and libraries. When asked about the similarities between the publishing and music industry, Ciando says that the former is much more fragmented. In music there really are only a few big players whereas in publishing big and small publishing houses coexist on the market.
At the book fair several new e-book readers were presented. Sony's reader Touch Edition, Bookeen's Cybook Opus and the italica reader are only three from a handful to choose from. The latter is a product from a German start-up company, which caught me by surprise. Although technically not the most advanced, it is aesthetically the most pleasing. While, Sony offers a touch-screen based device, and Bookeen the smallest of the three, italica reader certainly is the one that fits comfortably in your hand. All three products definitely shows that e-book technology is on the right track to fully mature in 2010. Pricewise the Cybook Opus is the cheapest at $ 250 and it has also the largest internal memory with 1GB. All of them share the same high-contrast e-ink displays, which allow for comfortable reading even in direct sunlight. Another advantage all three e-book readers share is the extremely long battery life of up to two weeks. Also, unlike the Kindle, all three devices are open-ended, so you can buy e-books anywhere you like.
The throng waiting to gaze the new e-book readers made it impossible to take each device for an extensive test drive. However, initial impressions, albeit brief, are positive with all them. As you might gather this is a topic impossible to generalize. At the moment, there are so many devices on the market, with new ones appearing every week. Consumers must have a difficult job choosing which e-book reader best meets their personal preferences. Choice is a good thing, of course; many of the smaller companies will find it hard to gain momentum on the market, though. For now, the European market is open. Yet, very soon a leader will emerge.
Bookeen Cybook Opus
Sony Reader Touch Edition
italica Reader
... Read on »
TechSpot: OCZ Agility EX 60GB SLC SSD Review
OCZ is showing strong commitment to be at the forefront of SSD technology. Over the past year the company has released nearly a dozen different series targeting every possible market, from affordable netbook oriented products to enterprise-grade solid state drives for servers and data warehouses.
They have had a great deal of success with multi-level cell (MLC) drives such as the Vertex we reviewed a few months ago. At the other side of the spectrum, single-level cell (SLC) solid state drives tend to sell for more outrageous prices.
OCZ has been working on making this technology a bit kinder on your bank account. Their latest 2.5" consumer drive is known under the Agility EX moniker, and is touted as the most cost-efficient SSD based on single-level cell memory with a cost per gigabyte at around $6.65 -- or 40% less than the Vertex EX and other similarly equipped SLC solid state drives.
View: OCZ Agility EX 60GB SLC SSD Review
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85% of Mac owners have Windows too
According to a study done by the NPD group, 85% of people who own a Mac, also own a Windows based PC in their home. Approximately 12% of homes in the U.S. own a Mac computer, up from 9% in 2008, and out of that 12%, approximately 85% own a Windows PC.
The study reveals that the explanation behind Mac users owning both a Mac computer and a Windows PC is that they tend to own more computers. According to the NPD group study, 66% of Mac households have three or more computers, compared to only 29% of Windows households.
The study also showed that 36% of Mac households have an income greater than $100,000, compared to only 21% of Windows households. Mac users also own more laptops than Windows users, with 72% of Mac users owning a laptop, compared to only 50% of the Windows PC households.
Mac users also tend to own more electronics, 63% own electronics such as iPods and 50% own some kind of electronic navigation system, compared to 36% of Windows PC owners have iPods and 30% own a GPS. The average Mac household owns approximately 48 consumer electronic devices, compared with an average of 24 in computer-owning households.... Read on »
Amazon Kindle to launch in UK soon
Amazon will launch the Kindle in the UK, possibly as early as next month, The Times reports. According to the leading publishing trade magazine The Bookseller, the highly successful reading device will hit shelves as early as October. An official announcement from Amazon could come as early as next week.
It was only a matter of time before Amazon would launch the Kindle outside the US. They just never divulged a possible timeframe. Last week Amazon.co.uk secured a UK manufacturer for the device. Amazon expects to sell a million in the US before year end. Bringing the device to the UK will definitely help them gain more market share. The Association of American Publishers says that eBook sales in July were up 213 per cent compared with July last year.
Qualcomm have worked out a solution to offer the whispernet wireless service in the UK. Over the 3G network connection users can buy and download new eBooks wirelessly. However, Amazon will meet a stiff competition, since its biggest rival Sony has a device on the market with Waterstone's, W H Smith and Play.com, selling the Sony Reader. The Bookseller also reports that Blackwell's offers exclusively the BeBook in all its stores since August. Borders launched the Elonex e-book reader into all of its stores last month. Priced £189, it is the cheapest device on the high street.
It remains unclear what the Kindle will cost when it launches in the UK. The newest Sony Reader, named Daily Edition, offers both wireless syncing and a touch screen, which analysts call a great advantage over the Kindle. Students have not been impressed by the Kindle, though. The Wall Street Journal reports a lackluster response to it.
... Read on »
TechSpot: OCZ Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard review
Art Lebedev Studio created a whirlwind of excitement when their Optimus Maximus keyboard concept surfaced in 2005. The peripheral touted a full set of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) buttons that were 100% user-customizable and downright amazing-looking.
I had the opportunity to see it in person at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show as well as get some hands-on time with its little brother, the Mini Three. The hype was real and the technology very cool indeed. I wanted one, as did nearly everyone else -- that is, until the company revealed how much it would cost. Priced at over $1,400, the Optimus Maximus remains more fantasy than reality, as the closest most users will come to it are the photos and videos available online.
Fortunately for those interested in OLED keyboard technology, Art Lebedev isn't the only player around. OCZ Technology recently released their Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard, which features a bank of nine programmable OLED keys and a significantly cheaper price tag.
View: OCZ Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard review These articles are brought to you in partnership with TechSpot... Read on »
Dell Latitude Z introduces wireless charging
Dell's new Latitude Z brings new light to the laptop market, with wireless charging, allowing users to cut the cord. The tiny form factor comes in at 16" across and 14 millimeters at the most narrow point, weighing 4.5lbs, being the world's thinnest and lightest laptop, also including instant-on technology.
The completely wireless laptop comes with a inductive pad built into the bottom of it, which allows for a full charge when placed on the wireless charging stand, giving a full charge in about the same amount of time as wired.
The Dell Latitude Z also comes with sliding touch controls on the right side, bringing up customized controls for volume adjustment, screen brightness or even quick access to specific applications. The sliding touch can also be used to scroll up and down in a browser window or applications such as Word and Excel are in use.
The Latitude Z comes equipped with Instant-on technology, which uses a separate smaller motherboard and ARM processor, through a non-Windows interface, providing users with access to Email, contacts, calendars and a Firefox-based web browser. The smaller ARM processor does not have access to the ports on the main motherboard.
Instant-on capability gets up to two days of battery life usage from a single full charge, but only a four hour usage using Windows on the Core 2 Duo processor.
The Latitude Z comes with either 1.4 GHz SU9400 Core 2 Duo with 2GB DDR3 integrated memory or 1.6 GHz SU9600 Core 2 Duo with 4GB DDR3 integrated memory. The laptop also comes with a variety of other customizable choices including one or two solid state drives in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB encrypted.
View: Latitude Z at Dell.com
... Read on »
Intel shows off new Light Peak 10Gbps optical connector
At the IDF right now, the big talk is about USB 3.0, and for good reason. It's a fantastic improvement to the current USB 2.0 technology, and it's now beginning to show its head in the consumer world. This may be a great improvement, but it certainly isn't all that technology enthusiasts have to look forward to in the future. Intel's just unveiled a new form of optical connector, dubbed Light Peak, capable of some pretty impressive things.
What makes this so special is that it can carry 10Gbps of data, both ways, simultaneously. Even better, it can carry data through cable that's up to 100 metres in length, with Intel hoping that the cable will progress to being able to transfer up to 100 gigabits per second in the future. Dadi Perlmutter, who is the co-general manager of Intel's Architecture Group, said that Intel hopes to just see one universal cable for computers a bit later on. The reason for this is because smaller laptops can have their usefulness hindered by the need for many cables attached to the sides, for various devices.
The cables are very durable, as people can quite happily tie knots with them and they still work perfectly. To make things better, Intel is planning to combine the technology with copper, so it can be used to power devices at the same time. The long-term vision of Intel's, as mentioned, is for Light Peak to become a universal port on computers, which would certainly be a good thing for most people.
If you're excited about this, which we hope you are, you'll still have to wait a little while for it to become available; Intel's working to standardize it currently, and the components needed for it will be available in 2010. That doesn't mean you'll see it on shelves by then, though. ... Read on »
TechSpot: ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review
Following a successful run with the codenamed R700 family of GPUs, which was originally released back in June 2008 as the Radeon HD 4000 series, AMD is launching the highly anticipated R800. Debuting to no one's surprise as the ATI Radeon HD 5000, the new series is said deliver around 2x more performance than previous generation Radeon cards, and brings DirectX 11 support to desktops for the first time.
On TechSpot's test bed today they have a reference HD 5870 graphics card packing some 2150 million transistors and produced on a 40nm process. With an introductory MSRP of $380, the Radeon HD 5870 is roughly $120 cheaper than today's undisputable performance champ, the GeForce GTX 295. It is also almost twice as costly as the Radeon HD 4890, however, which begs the question: is the Radeon HD 5870 really that much faster?
Today we finally get to find out, as we will be comparing AMD's latest and greatest against every single high-end graphics card released over the past year.
If you're interested in purchasing the HD 5870, NewEgg are offering the card for $380.
View: ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review
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Intel demonstrates 22nm chips scheduled for 2011 release
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, stated in a 1965 research paper that the number of transistors on a CPU will double approximately every two years; this belief became very famous, and is now known as 'Moore's Law'. Intel is still very determined on keeping to that law, as Paul Otellini, President and CEO of Intel, has just demonstrated the world's first CPU constructed with a 22nm manufacturing process. This means that, according to Intel's press release, a massive 2.9 billion transistors are squeezed onto a wafer in about the same area as the average fingernail.
Otellini stated, "At Intel, Moore's Law is alive and thriving. We've begun production of the world's first 32nm microprocessor, which is also the first high-performance processor to integrate graphics with the CPU. At the same time, we're already moving ahead with development of our 22nm manufacturing technology and have built working chips that will pave the way for production of still more powerful and more capable processors." This is fantastic news for the technology industry, and even other non-related industries.
The 22nm wafer that Otellini demonstrated has a rather hefty 364 million bits of SRAM memory, as well as packing the smallest ever SRAM cell used in working circuits (.092 square microns). To add to this, the technology isn't too far on the horizon, either; according to Engadget, the chips are said to be heading for a release in the second half of 2011.... Read on »
Seagate release their first 2TB SATA 3.0 hard disk
Seagate have introduced their first hard drive which supports the new SATA 3.0 specification. The Barracuda XT is the Seagate's first drive to use the new interface, which has a theoretical bandwidth of 6Gb/s - double that of the SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) specification. The drive offers 2TB of storage space, using four platters, according to Seagate (via Techspot).
The 7200 RPM drive has a sustained data rate of 138MB/s – the fastest speed achieved by a 7200 RPM drive, Seagate claims. The 64MB cache provides "screaming burst rate speeds and improve[s] overall performance," according to their website. The drive is backward compatible with both the SATA 3Gb/s interface and the SATA 1.5Gb/s interface, although if you don't have a motherboard compatible with SATA 3.0 you're probably better off buying a slower, but cheaper 2TB hard drive if you don't plan on upgrading the motherboard anytime soon.
Aimed at enthusiasts, Seagate said "[the] Barracuda XT offers capacity coupled with high speed which will definitely appeal to performance enthusiasts in video editing, multi-media publishing and, of course, PC gaming." According to an article by Techspot, the hard drive will have an MSRP of $299, potentially making it appealing to those looking for a large, fast storage device to complement an SSD.
Whether or not the new SATA interface will convince enthusiasts to spend out remains to be seen, considering that SSDs have come down in price (a 100GB SSD would have cost around £300 eight months ago, compared to less than £200 now). You can find all the specifications of the Barracuda XT on the Seagate website.
... Read on »
Quad-Core on the cheap: AMD Athlon II X4 620 reviewed
AMD is launching a new series of affordable quad-core processors today under the Athlon II brand name. Based on the 'Propus' architecture and built using a 45nm design process, the new series is intended to help AMD secure the low-end portion of the market, as Intel's Core i5 750 and LGA1156 platform have clearly made life difficult for them on the mainstream front.
This is essentially the same Deneb architecture that is used by the Phenom II X4 series, except for the L3 cache which has been removed from the Athlon II X4 parts. With models ranging from 2.20GHz through to 2.9GHz on the horizon, AMD has decided to unleash the Athlon II X4 620 first, clocked at 2.6GHz and expected to retail for just $100.
The amazingly low price tag puts this chip in a category of its own, as there are currently no quad-core parts competing here. In our review, we will put AMD's budget quad-core processor to the test next to comparable offerings like the Phenom II X2 550 and the older (yet still well-regarded) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600.
View: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor Review
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Mainstream Quad-Core CPU Performance Comparison
Looking back, quad-core processors have had quite the run already. Intel's first quad-core CPU, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 was released almost three years ago, with the much more popular Q6600 following up months later at a rather steep $850. As you may recall it was quite the luxury then to have one of these at your disposal.
Today we find ourselves with very different and diversified offerings from both companies, that are not only cheaper but also significantly faster. Just take for example AMD's Phenom II X4 945 that can be purchased for as little as $170, not to mention Intel's most recent release, the Core i5 750, which is meant to crush its competitors offering top notch performance at the $199 price point.
With more powerful quad-core processors becoming mainstream, and with so many options currently available, we wanted to know which CPU provides users with the most value at under $300. That said, we won't just be evaluating the value of the individual processors, but also their accompanying platforms.
View: Mainstream Quad-Core CPU Performance Comparison These articles are brought to you in partnership with TechSpot... Read on »