Other World Computing
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I have seen the future, and it's SSD
On the Macworld show floor, I didn't really see one specific product that blew me away. What I did see, however, is the next big concept that's going to not only blow all of us away, but it will change the way we relate to our computers. It's the SSD (solid state drive) and it's almost ready for prime time. As we've mentioned before, an SSD is a high performance storage device that has no moving parts. These drives can contain DRAM or EEPROM memory, a CPU, a memory board and a battery card (more details here). Having no moving parts, they can move data much quicker than an HDD (hard disk drive) which uses quickly spinning platters with magnetic surfaces. I got to play with what's being sold as the quickest SSD on the market, courtesy of Other World Computing. Their new Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD drives start at US $229 for 50 GB and top out at 200 GB for $779.95. You can see our own Steve Sande in a video interview showing the boot time of this SSD vs. a stock 5400 rpm Apple drive. Watch for it at about 2:20 into the video. OWC set up a test of two Macbook Pros; I saw this demo myself and my jaw dropped as the SSD equipped laptop booted up and started running applications in 32 seconds. The HDD equipped Macbook Pro took at least three times as long to accomplish the same thing. The computing experience is one of perception. How fast or slow your computer seems is based on more than the CPU speed alone. It's a composite of I/O speed, CPU speed and dozens of other factors. If you have a screamingly fast CPU with a poky drive, you have a poky computer as the chain is only as good as its weakest link. I've found, on my i7 iMac, that no matter what I do, I usually can't use up all the CPU speed, so the slowness may be due to the HDD not being able to keep up. The current and future classes of SSDs are going to change all that. I can imagine sitting down, booting up and before I can lift my coffee cup, the computer has come up and is running startup programs. This will take some getting used to, since it will change my and everyone's work flow somewhat. Instead of all the little interruptions you get from waiting for something to happen, the response will be nearly instantaneous. This will tend to keep me more focused since I'm a procrastinator by nature, and get distracted quickly, like whenever I see a spinning beach ball. If a computer works as quickly as I feel it should work, I will be more engaged.
OWC takes quad-interface Mercury Pro external BD burner to 12x
Pioneer's BDR-205 may not be hitting shelves in retail form until early next year, but those who desperately need a Blu-ray burner that outpaces the optical media currently available still have an option. OWC has today updated its long-standing Mercury Pro external BD drive -- which boasts FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA connection options -- with Pioneer's latest, giving it the ability to toast BD-Rs at up to 12x. Of course, you'll need lady luck on your side to actually find any media that'll support said rate, but hey, there's always the future. It's available today for $349.99, or $449.99 if you want Roxio Toast Titanium PRO bundled in.
OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro takes longer to say than to boot
One of these days, SSDs will hit a price point that doesn't require a second mortgage to buy one. Until then, we can just gawk at things like OWC's latest, which is a portable version of Crucial's still relatively new line of affordable SSDs, built around the familiar Indilinx controller and Samsung NAND flash. Coming in sizes from 64GB ($280) to 256GB ($730), the new Pro devices can transfer data and get their power from either a Firewire or USB port. Alas, that means you'll be limited to 100MBps read rates -- as opposed to the 250MBps you could get from an eSATA connection -- but that's a small sacrifice to make if you care about losing the moving parts in your portable storage. [Via Electronista]
OWC rolls out USB 2.0 display adapter for Macs and PCs
It's hardly the first product of its kind, but we're guessing there's still plenty of folks out there ready to jump on OWC's new USB 2.0 display adapter, which will let you add up to six monitors to your Mac or PC. As with similar products, however, you will be slightly limited in terms of resolution, with the adapter topping out at 1600x1200 for standard monitors and 1680x1050 for widescreen displays, although you will get full 32-bit color and, of course, your choice of mirrored or extended display settings. What's more, in addition to the main USB to DVI adapter, you'll also get a DVI to VGA and a DVI to HDMI swivel adapter right in the package, plus a regular USB cable -- all for $99.
