Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Hitachi stuffs 320GB into world's fastest 7mm hard drive

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/hitachi-stuffs-320gb-into-worlds-fastest-7mm-hard-drive/

Well look at that: it's the world's first 320GB hard disk drive to spin at 7,200 RPM in a 7-mm high package -- take that Seagate. The 2.5-inch Serial ATA 3Gbps Travelstar Z7K320 features a 1,334Mbps max transfer rate assisted by a 16MB cache. The HDD draws 1.8 watts during read/write operations and 0.8 watts on lower-power idle while humming along at 23dB when idle or 24dB when seeking. And that skinny 7-mm form factor means it'll go places no standard 9.5-mm thick drive could even dream of when it hits the mass production lines in August -- like say next generation ultra-thin netbooks.

Continue reading Hitachi stuffs 320GB into world's fastest 7mm hard drive

Hitachi stuffs 320GB into world's fastest 7mm hard drive originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: LG UX10 tablet preview at Computex

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/exclusive-lg-ux10-tablet-preview-at-computex/

Microsoft isn't kidding around about showing Apple it's serious in regard to competing in the tablet space, and while most of the devices surrounding its Computex booth were locked down tight, we were able to spend a few exclusive minutes with a brand new LG that showed some serious promise. Boasting a 10.1-inch LED capacity touchscreen, the UX10 was one of the most solid tablets we've had the opportunity to touch. The prototype on the floor was equipped with an Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing webcam, an SD card slot, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 7200mAh battery and a micro-HDMI output. The entire front was smothered in glass, with an itty-bitty bezel and a striking pearlescent white paint job around back. Though, we couldn't help but notice the similarities in the logo when thinking of a certain Streak. Microsoft representatives couldn't comment on an estimated price, though they did affirm that the device will escape the prototype stage and ship to consumers at some point in the future. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and peek past the break if you're a fan of videos.

Gallery: LG UX10 prototype hands-on at Computex 2010

Continue reading Exclusive: LG UX10 tablet preview at Computex

Exclusive: LG UX10 tablet preview at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/meego-moorestown-powered-tablet-hands-on/

We saw a lot of new technology demoed at Intel's Computex keynote this afternoon, but the most impressive thing may have just been MeeGo running on a 10-inch Moorestown Quanta Redvale tablet. While the demo on stage was very brief, we caught up with some of the product managers right after the presser and convinced them to give us a peek at what is coming in 2011. To say we're impressed with the "pre-alpha" version of the software is a huge understatement. So, what are you still doing up here? Hit the gallery for a ton of hands-on shots and then that read more button for some impressions and video.

Gallery: MeeGo tablet hands-on

Gallery: Redvale MeeGo tablet press images

Continue reading MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview

MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, May 31, 2010

ASUS showcases ROG CG8490 gaming desktop: Core i7-980X, dual OC'd Radeon HD 5870s

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/asus-showcases-rog-cg8490-gaming-desktop-core-i7-980x-dual-oc/

ASUS' ARES line of gaming PCs has been kicking for a few years now, but regardless of how many iterations we see, we're still a wee bit terrified when approaching a chassis this gargantuan. Just after the outfit's press conference in Taipei, we daintily hurried over to the newest member of the family in order to snag a few shots and get the low-down on what users could expect when it ships between now and next century. Aesthetically, we're told that the CG8490 was inspired by "ancient and modern armor of both Eastern and Western cultures," likely a politically correct statement with no actual meaning. Regardless, this monster can overclock itself by as much as 20 percent without boiling over, and the six-core Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition CPU is suited for slicing up even the most complex of tasks. There's also 12GB of DDR3 memory, 2TB of hard drive space, a standard DVD burner and a pair of overclocked ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPUs to handle DirectX 11 and Eyefinity duties. Mum's the word on a price or release date, but we're going with "too much" and "not soon enough."

Oh, and be sure to peek the limited edition ARES GPU as well as the company's Rampage III Extreme motherboard in the gallery below.

Gallery: ASUS ROG CG8490 gaming desktop at Computex 2010

Gallery: ASUS ARES GPU and ROG Rampage III Extreme motherboard

Continue reading ASUS showcases ROG CG8490 gaming desktop: Core i7-980X, dual OC'd Radeon HD 5870s

ASUS showcases ROG CG8490 gaming desktop: Core i7-980X, dual OC'd Radeon HD 5870s originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia will kick off MeeGo effort with ARM-based silicon, not x86

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/30/nokia-will-kick-off-meego-effort-with-arm-based-silicon-not-x86/

We've heard a similar message from Nokia dating all the way back to MeeGo's introduction at MWC back in February, so it comes as little surprise that Espoo is apparently trumpeting the virtues of ARM for its first MeeGo-powered device that's still targeted for the tail end of 2010. What might make this particularly interesting is the fact that MeeGo 1.0 is clearly further along for Atom devices than it is for the Cortex A8-based N900, not to mention that Nokia has already warmed up to Intel thanks to its Booklet 3G -- but regardless of the silicon, getting the platform solid enough for any sort of retail device by the end of 2010 still seems like a tricky proposition when you figure that the ARM build doesn't even have a proper user interface yet. Ultimately, it might come down to a question of size; Intel still hasn't proven that it can scale Atom down far enough to tackle the smartphone market head-on, so if Nokia wants to go small with its first MeeGo hardware, that alone could be impetus enough to go ARM.

Nokia will kick off MeeGo effort with ARM-based silicon, not x86 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 May 2010 21:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ARM: 'Eagle' to follow Cortex-A9, will support Google TV

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/30/arm-eagle-eye-to-follow-cortex-a9-will-support-google-tv/

ARM kicked off the long list of Computex press conferences this morning, and though most of the time was spent giving us a history of mobile computing, ARM president Tudor Brown did shed a bit of light on future plans. When showing off the current family of ARM processors, we couldn't help but notice the next generation "Eagle" above the current Cortex-A9 platform. While Brown didn't share any specifics on the ARM v7-based chip, he did say that it will provide improved performance, and would be fully announced at "a later date." Also, when asked about supporting Google TV, Brown noted that it's in the works; he also said that with the company's recent Flash and Chrome browser support, they plan to optimize for the TV-based operating system. That's all we've got for now, but as you'd expect, the outfit brought along a load of ARM-based devices for showcasing, all of which you'll find in the gallery below.

Gallery: ARM press conference tablets

ARM: 'Eagle' to follow Cortex-A9, will support Google TV originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 May 2010 23:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi-LG goes official with HyDrive: SSD-equipped optical drives landing in August

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/hitachi-lg-goes-official-with-hydrive-ssd-equipped-optical-driv/

Hitachi-LG outed most of the major details for its forthcoming HyDrive last week, but the company just officially took the wraps off the world's first SSD-equipped laptop optical drive. Frankly, it's sort of astounding it took this long for such an obvious idea to come to fruition, but now that we're here, we fully expect other outfits to follow suit. Put simply, the HyDrive is a standard form factor optical drive (DVD burner or Blu-ray will be available), but there's a 32GB or 64GB SSD (not just a strip of NAND, we're told) tucked below. When this gets stuffed within a laptop, you're immediately able to access an optical drive, an SSD (for your operating system and critical launch applications) and a spacious HDD for storing music, media, etc. Previously, this type of three-drive arrangement was only available in beastly Clevo's and the like, but this solution is obviously tailor made for even ODD-equipped ultraportables. Another plus to the HyDrive is the integrated Defect Management technology, which essentially caches information from scratched discs (DVDs, namely) in order to play the content back sans jitters.

More after the break...

Gallery: Hitachi-LG HyDrive hands-on at Computex 2010

Continue reading Hitachi-LG goes official with HyDrive: SSD-equipped optical drives landing in August

Hitachi-LG goes official with HyDrive: SSD-equipped optical drives landing in August originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 00:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI WindPad 110: a 10-inch Tegra 2-powered Android tablet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/msi-windpad-110-a-10-inch-tegra-2-powered-android-tablet/

Oddly MSI didn't officially talk about its Android-powered WindPad 110 during the press conference, but it definitely exists. The 10-inch slate runs Android 2.1 and is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It's got a different design to the WindPad 100, but retains the same 10-inch capacitive touchscreen and will have a USB port and video-out capability. While the tablet runs just stock Android, we're definitely digging the curved form factor and the ability to swap out the back cover for a more "stylish" option. We heard very conflicting things about the availability of the tablet -- one product manager told us that the company hasn't decided if it will bring it to market, while another told us that they plan to sell it for $399 by the end of the year. Hopefully we'll clear that up soon, but we've got some hands-on pictures below, along with a video after the break.

Gallery: MSI Android WindPad 110 hands-on