The SATA 6G standard offers more than simply a faster 6.0 Gb/s data throughput speed, to wit: improved NCQ support, better power management, and a new connector to support 1.8-inch drives.
While modern-day, spindle-based hard drives struggle to keep up with SATA 3G speeds, modern SSDs are nearly saturating the existing standard, and a move to SATA 6G was welcome in the hardware community. It looks like that technology will be delayed, though. The only chip supporting the standard today, the Marvell 88SE9123, is having major issues.
Motherboard vendors including ASUS and Gigabyte, which had planned on releasing SATA 6G technology using the chip on Intel Lynnfield platform motherboards later this summer, are having to remove the Marvell 88SE9123 and redesign their boards at the last minute due to significant speed and reliability issues.
Tracy Jones-Harris Gaming, computers 6.0Gb/s, asus, Gigabyte, Marvell, Marvell 88SE9123, SATA, SATA 6G
ASUS is diving head first into the HD media streamer game? Based on images and details acquired by Hardware, we’d say chances are looking pretty good.
Reportedly, Asus will showcase its very own media player at Computex next week in Taiwan, and our expectations are already fairly lofty. The O!Play (codename HDP-R1) is said to be a fair bit quicker than competing models, and the file compatibility list is also worthy of laud. Port wise, this one’s packing eSATA, USB, HDMI, stereo audio jacks, optical digital audio, Ethernet and an AC port.
If all goes well, we could see this little bugger in European stores by July, with a price tag pegged at €119 ($168). Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if that price nets you an internal HDD, but we’ll find out for sure soon enough.
Tracy Jones-Harris Gadgets, computers asus, Computex, eSATA, HD Media, HDMI, HDP-R1, Media Player, O!Play, USB
Asus have finally unvieled their new Eee PC 1008HA at CeBIT. As far as anyone can tell — ASUS is a little coy on specs so far — the laptop harbors fairly traditional netbook specs and a netbook pricepoint, but the exterior is all new and rather attractive. The computer is 1-inch thick and weighs 2.4 pounds, with a curved, shiny plastic “shell” (ASUS calls it “pearlescent”) to give a bit more luster than the average Eee PC. ASUS is including 802.11n, Bluetooth, 3G and WiMAX options, and packing in it Eee Sharing and Eee Arena software. Check out the photos at Engadget
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It’s used in military armour to stop bullets and the Space Shuttle to thwart heat. Now, Asus is reintroducing the material in its sci-fi-tastic Marine Cool motherboard.
All of those off-white stuctures on the board are “micro-porous ceramic” heat sinks. But not only do they dissipate heat from board components while looking ever so evil—the ceramic also improves the structure integrity of the board itself.
The only catch to performance clockers may be the inclusion of SO-DIMM slots—small form memory slots generally reserved for notebooks.
As of right now, the Marine Cool is a concept. But like their dual-screen laptop, if Asus actually brings this model to market, we’d all remember that the company is capable of creating a lot more than just netbooks. As is always the case with ASUS, there’s no indication of a price or eventual commercialization date, but in the meantime we can sit and wonder.
Tracy Jones-Harris computers asus, concept, cooling, motherboard