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Toshiba's new 2.5-inch AL13SE hard drives: up to 900GB of 10,500RPM storage
A 2.5-inch drive spinning at speeds up to 10,000RPM? Sure, we've seen it before, but only with enough room for 600GB worth of data. Toshiba, however, has trumped its forebears by upping the capacity to 900GB with its new 2.5-inch HDD, dubbed the AL13SE. 300GB, 450GB and 600GB flavors are offered as well, and all of them spin at up to 10,500RPM and promise a 32% increase in sustained transfer rates over previous-gen drives. Additionally, the AL13SE sends and receives data via a 6Gbps SAS 2.0 connection to make life easier on IT guys than those SATA drives most of us use. Unfortunately, Tosh isn't telling how much the new drives will cost, nor when they'll be available for purchase, but you can dig into all the drive details you can handle in the PR after the break and at the source link below.
OWC Mercury Aura Bundles let you replace your MacBook Air's SSD, use it as external storage
Got a Macbook Air from 2010 or 2011 and want to upgrade the storage without dropping its pre-existing SSD module all together? Well, you're in luck, thanks to OWC's new Mecury Aura Bundles. After upgrading your Air with one of the company's Mercury Aura Pro Express SSDs, the included Mercury Aura Envoy lets you re-purpose the factory SSD as a bus-powered, USB 3.0-compatible external drive. Better yet, the Envoy is made of aluminum, matches the Air's tapered design and weighs just 1.5 ounces. Owners of the 2010 Air can opt for a 180, 240 or 480GB 3Gb/s drive, while those with the 2011 model can bump up to 6Gb/s bus speeds with the same storage allotments and a 120GB option. Pricing for the bundle starts at $200 for the 120GB variant, maxing out at a hefty $780 and $800 if you want to move up to the spacious 480GB offerings. Thankfully, like the SSDs, the Mercury Aura Envoy is available as a stand-alone enclosure, and it'll cost you just under $50 bucks. Hit up the press release after the break for the full details if this dual-drive setup piques your interest
ADATA reveals three new SandForce SSDs for the high, mid and low end (updated)
ADATA makes multiple memory solutions, including super fast USB sticks, and now the company has released a trio of new SSDs, with a model for every type of consumer. There's the XPG SX900 built for enthusiasts that uses a SATA III 6Gbps connection and SandForce SF-2281 controller to deliver 550MB/s reads and 530MB/s writes in up to a 512GB drive. The Premier Pro SP900 packs similar specs to deliver 550MB/s reads and 520MB/s writes in up to a 256GB package, but at lower price point than its performance sibling. Rounding things out is the Premier SP800, a budget entry in 32 and 64GB sizes that uses a SATA II 3Gbps interface, plus an SF-1222 SF-2141 controller to deliver 280MB/s and 260MB/s sequential speeds. As usual, ADATA's not telling how much the new SSDs will set you back, but there's a full slate of specs at the source below and PR after the break.
SanDisk launches Extreme SSDs: $190 for 120GB, $400 for 240GB
SanDisk is hauling its consumer SSD range into the SATAIII era, offering a pair of Extreme branded drives that deliver performance broadly on-par with other 6Gbps rivals. The 120GB and 240GB variants are available now priced at $190 and $400, while a 480GB version will ship "later this year" with a $750 asking price. Random reads / writes are claimed to reach 83,000 / 44,000 IOPS, with 550MB/s and 520MB/s sequential speeds. The PR after the break also mentions a new X100 OEM drive for PC manufacturers, just any of them happen to read it.
Plextor announces M3 Pro SSD with 24nm flash and 7mm form factor
Bored by Plextor's safe and steady M3S? Then ponder on its new performance model, the 2.5-inch, SATAIII-sporting M3 Pro. It notches up random read/write speeds by around seven percent to 75,000/69,000 IOPs, while sequential read/writes have also had a marginal bump to 540MB/s and 450MB/s. It's not yet clear how much the new drives will cost when they reach stores in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB varieties next month, but the use of 24nm toggle flash -- which squeezes more storage onto less silicon -- should help to keep pricing relatively sane. Oh, and the 7mm height also means that the M3 Pro will slide happily into the compressed bowels of your Ultrabook -- unless that slot has already been reserved for a Crucial. Read on for the press release.
RunCore outs new storage solutions for CES, Marvell-based Falcon series included
If you're looking to quell your inner storage enthusiast after the holidays, RunCore may have something to satisfy your appetite. The company announced that it has two products intended for launch at CES. The Falcon series is a Marvell-based storage solution that boasts R / W IOPS speeds that best the outfit's Pro V SATA 6Gb/s SSDs. Speaking of the Pro V series, RunCore is looking to set up shop in Ultrabooks with a 7mm model of its 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s SSD with 540 MB/s read and 500 MB/s write speeds. Looking for a bit more info? Hit the full PR after the break.
OCZ debuts Synapse Cache Series SSDs to compensate for your HDD's shortcomings
This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given some of OCZ's other offerings, but the company has outed its Synapse Cache SSDs so you don't have to suffer the speed limitations inherent in spinning disk storage. These 2.5-inch, 6 GB/s SATA drives come in 64 and 128GB flavors, and do the dual drive dance with your HDD of choice using the firms' Dataplex caching software. That nifty bit of code hastens data retrieval by dynamically managing your data, placing frequently used info on the speedy SSD, and shoving the rest on your capacious, cheap-as-chips HDD. When can you up your storage speed limit and how much will it cost? OCZ's not telling, but the drive's full performance specs can be found in the PR and source below.
Samsung's 6Gbps SSD gets a consumer label, October release date
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.
SanDisk outs faster U100 and i100 SSDs for ultra-portables and tablets, we go hands-on
SanDisk has been pumping out press releases all day thanks to Computex-mania, so we shuffled past its stall to see what all the fuss is about. The biggest news is the U100 range of tiny SSDs for ultraportables, which crank data in and out at twice the speed of SanDisk's previous generation P4 drives. We're talking 450MB/s reads and 340MB/s writes thanks to the latest SATA III interface, plus a max capacity of 256GB -- specs which have already enticed ASUS to use the U100 in its lightweight UX-series notebooks. Mass production is expected in Q3 of this year. Specs table and triple-shot of PR coming up after the break, plus a gallery showing size comparisons of the U100 SSD in its glorious mSATA and Mini mSATA varieties, stacked up against some common objects like a 2.5-inch SSD drive, an HP Veer, and a vaguely goth bracelet. Meanwhile, SanDisk hasn't forgotten about our desperate need for faster tablets. The company has doubled the speed of its existing iNAND embedded flash modules, and is also releasing a brand new SATA III drive, the i100, specifically for this form factor. The i100 maxes out at 128GB and achieves a significantly slower write speed (160MB/s) than the U100, but it has same impressive read speed (450MB/s) -- which should mean nippier tablets in the not-too-distant future. %Gallery-124851%
Buffalo's 256GB SSD comes with 6GBps SATA interface, silly price tag
The SSD market is about to get a little more crowded, now that Buffalo has unveiled a new, 256GB fatty. The company's SSD-N256S/MC400 has a SATA 6Gbps interface, supports multi-level cell NAND Flash memory and boasts read and write speeds of up to 405 MB/s and 223 MB/s, respectively. If you're interested in grabbing one, you'll have to shell out a cool ¥72,200 ($882). Or, you could get an even faster SSD for less money. The choice is yours.
Crucial releases m4 SSDs, prices them between $130 and $1,000
Been yearning for more affordable solid state storage built on an even smaller production process? Crucial's now ready to sate your weirdly specific wants with its 25nm NAND flash-filled m4 SSD, which it has priced at the reasonable level of $130 for a 64GB unit. The company describes it as the fastest drive it has yet introduced, and although early reviews pointed out it'd lost something in read speeds relative to the previous generation, the new m4's improved write speeds and general performance should certainly make that a compelling entry price. More ambitious archivists will be looking to the 128GB and 256GB models, priced at $250 and $500, respectively, while those without a budget will also be given the option to splash $1,000 on a 512GB m4 SSD. All four varieties come in a standard 2.5-inch form factor, support 6Gbps SATA transfers, and are rated to reach read speeds of 415MBps. Availability is immediate and worldwide, so hit the Crucial link below if you're keen on getting one for yourself. Full PR after the break.
Intel's SSD 510 reviewed, measures up well against Vertex 3
Been wondering how that new 6Gbps SATA interface and Marvell controller have been treating Intel's latest SSDs? The answer, it turns out, is really rather nicely. Faced off with OCZ's awesomely quick Vertex 3 drive, the 250GB SSD 510 from Intel more than holds its own, occasionally flashing ahead and taking the lead. Opting for Marvell's processing chip has improved Intel's sequential performance, but has actually led to it taking a ding on random read speeds -- the latter being arguably more important on a day-to-day basis. Still, this $584 drive is one of the finest the consumer world has yet had to feast upon and should encourage high expectations from Intel's 25nm G3 storage units, which are still to come. As to having the extra Serial ATA bandwidth, we'll leave it to Anand from AnandTech to summarize: "these next-generation SSDs not only use 6Gbps SATA, they really need it."
Intel outs SSD 510 Series with 6Gbps SATA interface, 500MBps transfer speeds
We didn't think the previous generation of SSDs, topping out at around 280MBps read speeds, were in any way hampered by their celerity, but Intel's bringing the future to us whether we like it or not with its new 510 Series SSDs. These Marvell-controlled flash storage drives will zip data to your processing unit at a rate of 500MB per second and write anything you send back at a clip of 315MBps. That's mostly thanks to the 510 being one of a new breed of consumer SSDs with a 6Gbps SATA interface, which has effectively removed a bottleneck from the performance equation and uncorked the extra vroom now contained within. When bought in bulk, a 250GB SSD 510 will cost you $584, while the slightly slower (450MBps read, 210MBps write) 120GB model will set you back $284. Full press release after the break.
OCZ intros Vertex 3 Pro, Vertex 3 EX and Z-Drive R3 PCIe SSD at CES
Hello, speedsters! OCZ Technology has just busted out a new trio of solid state solutions here at CES, so we won't waste any time getting down to business. Up first is the performance-oriented, MLC-based Vertex 3 Pro, which runs along quite hastily on the SATA 6Gbps interface. We're told that it's built with a next-generation SandForce controller, enabling it to approach 80,000 IOPS and demonstrate 550MB/sec transfer rates. Up next is the Vertex 3 EX, which also utilizes a SATA 6Gbps interface but relies on SLC Flash memory. It's also capable of pushing a similar read rate (and the write rate of 525MB/sec ain't too shabby, either), with both the EX and Pro to be offered in capacities of 50GB, 100GB, 200GB and 400GB. Finally, the third-generation Z-Drive is being officially revealed, with the Z-Drive "R3" PCI Express SSD being the company's first SandForce-drive PCIe SSD. It's engineered for Tier-0/1 data applications, and offers performance rates of 1GB/sec and 135,000 IOPS. Those with absurdly deep pockets can buy one with up to 1.2TB of onboard storage, but alas, OCZ's not serving up MSRPs on any of these guys. The full release is after the break, complete with details on its new ZX Series of power supplies. %Gallery-112480%
Okoro's GX series HTPCs ship with SSD, USB 3.0, Core i7 and... an iPad?
Yeah, it's true -- Okoro Media Systems is shamelessly hopping on the tablet PC bandwagon, and it's actually bundling an iPad with each GX series HTPC in order to give customers an elegant way to control their multi-zone audio setup (or whatever else you feel like controlling). 'Course, the GX line ain't the cheapest on the block, with starting prices just south of five large. That said, if you're looking for the most bodacious HTPC on the planet and you can't find the time to build your own, you can look forward to a Core i7 processor, upwards of 6GB of RAM, an 80GB SSD boot drive (paired with a 2TB 6Gbps media HDD), Blu-ray support, USB 3.0 ports and a quad CableCARD tuner. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Tap that source link if you're interested in customizing your own, but only if you're kosher with never leaving your home again in order to finance it.
Crucial's 6Gbps RealSSD C300 goes on sale, costs as much as a decent laptop
You've gone for the 64GB of quad-channel DDR7 RAM, you've got your Core i26 processor, and you're running a triple pack of those Radeon Ultra HD 9000 cards in CrossFire. But something's missing from your speed demon machine -- could a $799 SSD be the answer? Crucial would have you believe that, yes, splashing all your rent money on a 256GB storage drive is a totally worthwhile investment, and early reviews of the RealSSD C300 revealed it to be "holy mother of god" fast. So no qualms about its speed, but if your benchmark lust knows some budgetary bounds, you may want to consider the slightly more reasonable 128GB variant, which comes in at $499. Both are available right this minute direct from Crucial, so either go buy one or stop this torture and go distract yourself with something cheaper. [Thanks, Rick]
RealSSD C300 tested, offers sublime speed at superlative prices
It's been a few months since Micron became the second to introduce the world's first SATA 6Gbps hard drive (Seagate was the other), and regardless about who was earliest we now know which is currently the fastest. TweakTown put a Crucial-branded C300 through its paces and came to a rather simple conclusion: "At this point in time there is no other drive, platter or solid state that is in the same league as the Crucial RealSSD C300." It blitzed through all their tests and at the end, when others would be a smoking ruin of high access times, it still performed as good as new. There was one catch, though: Windows Media Player performance was abnormally low, something that testers believe is a glitch to be addressed in firmware. Other than that, if you want the best this is it. But can you afford it? A 128GB model will set you back $499, and the 256GB one is $799. Yeah, ouch.
Prototype SATA 6Gbps SSD gets benchmarked: yessir, it's hasty
We've already seen Seagate tout the speed advantages of its SATA 6Gbps hard drive, but it's the 6Gbps SSD that we're really curious about. PC Perspective managed to snag itself a Marvell prototype drive, and even though they could only test the read capabilities of it, the results are nothing short of titillating. Reviewers pitted the Marvell drive against Intel's well-respected X25-M G2, and their (admittedly limited) testing led them to discover a 33 percent increase in burst performance over one of the quickest SSDs on the market today. In case you're still not impressed, you should know that they also saw a 27 percent uptick in sustained read performance (compared to the X25-M G2) and a 175 percent increase over the aforementioned SATA 6Gbps Seagate HDD. Obviously it's still too early to tell whether the 6Gbps SSD really is the best thing since the vacuum tube, but if these ultra-early results are any indication of what's to come, we suggest you start packing those pennies away right now to finance your next storage upgrade.
Micron RealSSD C300 becomes first SSD to leverage SATA 6Gbps interface
Seagate may have claimed the rights to the planet's first SATA 6Gbps hard drive, but it's Micron claiming the same feat in the SSD realm. The outfit's new RealSSD C300 is the first of its kind to natively comply with the wicked fast new specification, which will (at least in theory) provide read speeds of up to 355MB/sec and write speeds of up to 215MB/sec. It's also the first solid state drive to use ONFI 2.1 high-speed synchronous NAND, and while we're obviously eager to see what real-world benchmarks show, the demonstration vids after the break already have our mouths watering. As for availability? Tthe drive is currently sampling in 1.8- and 2.5-inch sizes, though consumers shouldn't expect to pick one up (in 128GB or 256GB sizes) until Q1 of next year. Best start saving, bud. %Gallery-79352%
CyberPower adds USB 3.0 and SATA 6G to entire Gamer Xtreme desktop line
While we wait for the big boys to get their acts together and standardize around USB 3.0 and the newest SATA protocol, the more nimble outfits are already looking to capitalize. Take CyberPower, for instance, who has just announced that its entire Gamer Xtreme desktop range will soon boast USB 3.0 and SATA 6G as standard features. In fact, prospective buyers can customize a rig right now with both of those features onboard, and of course, both are backwards compatible in order to work with your existing slate of accessories and peripherals. The Gamer Xtreme line gets going at $749, and yes, we too hope this introduction sparks a revolution across the board.
