Nvidia refreshes mobile GPU lineup

When we say refresh, we mean rebrand

 

Nvidia rolled out a few new 6xx series mobile GPUs on Tuesday, but frankly there is not much to talk about. The GT 635M, GT630M and 610M are merely revamped 5xx series parts, basically a low-end stopgap until 28nm parts come online

Even the clocks remained unchanged, so we are basically looking at GF106/108 and GF119 cores. The GT 635M is basically a GT 555M with a new sticker, the GT630 is the GT 540M, while the 520MX is now 610M

The designations seem to indicate that Nvidia is leaving room for future 645 or 655 parts, probably based on new 28nm cores. There is still no word on any upcoming high-end models

Panasonic readies impressive Android smartphone

Android, hi res 4.3-inch OLED screen

Panasonic is gearing up to reenter the phone market in style and its first crack at a high-end Android smartphone looks rather impressive

Mind you, the Android market is already overcrowded and Panasonic will face an uphill struggle to gain a foothold, or toehold for that matter. However, its nameless prototype seems to tick all the right boxes



It features a 4.3-inch 960x540 OLED screen with a surprisingly tiny bezel, which means the phone is rather compact. Panasonic describes the design as a “D-form factor” and we must say we are impressed. The minimalistic design looks rather compact and the clever form factor, with gently sloping edges, sets it apart from the rest of the Android crowd. Fudo thinks it looks like the lovechild of an old iPod nano and Zune HD, but this is not a bad thing. Panasonic also claims the phone is waterproof and dustproof, so it probably feels pretty rugged as well

There is no word on the specs or price. However, the phone features NFC so we reckon it runs Android 4.0. Panasonic hopes to sell just 1.5 million units next year, and if the price is right we can see quite a few takers. The only major concern is how Panasonic will implement Android 4.0, or more precisely whether it will mess up the UI

AMD's Barts replacement Pitcairn comes in February

Updated: Week after Chinese New Year

According to our sources, AMD's mid-range HD 7000 series GPUs based on the Pitcairn GPU will come after Chinese New Year, or late in February, while CeBIT that starts on 6th of March is currently the launch date of the new dual-GPU New Zealand part

According to the current AMD schedule, Pitcairn is scheduled to launch after Chinese New Year. Since the Chinese New Year starts on February 3rd this year, and ends with Lantern Festival on the 15th day, you can expect the Pitcairn to be launched somewhere around the 20th of February, or simply a week after Chinese New Year

There has been no talk regarding the price of these cards and the recently rumoured prices are simply an educated guess as if you have Tahiti prices, which are still not set in stone according to our sources, it is pretty easy to guess the pricing of mid-range cards. The rumoured pricing, put Pitcairn cards at US $299 and US $199. It is expected that Pitcairn will be branded as Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850.

Of course, we are still a long way off from the February launch date so there will probably be more leaks after the CES 2012 show in Las Vegas. In any case, AMD has a decent amount of breathing room as Nvidia's Kepler is still scheduled for March, or simply, Cebit show time, but we guess we'll at least see something from Nvidia during CES 2012.

Update

We were accidentally looking at the wrong date for Chinese New Year and since the Chinese New Year starts on January 23rd next year, it means that Pitcairn should come early to mid-February rather than late February. It ain't official yet, but our sources claimed that it should be launched a week after the Chinese New Year, and since it ends on 15th day, that date should be somewhere around 7-10th of February. Credit goes to one of our posters in the comment section for having a keen eye

AMD Tahiti needs 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors

For both HD 7950 and HD 7970.

We've been fed whispers that indicate final versions of Tahiti based cards, known for now as the HD 7950 and the HD 7970, will both feature 8-pin and 6-pin PCI-Express power connectors

If you do some simple math this means that the HD 7970 will have a maximum power draw under 300W while the HD 7950 will need more than 225W. The PCI-Express motherboard slot offers up to 75W of power, 6-pin adds another 75W and 8-pin can pump 150W of power. This is a pretty strange move as the HD 6950 ended below 225W and thus needed only two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors but that will apparently change with the HD 7900 series

The recently pixellized Tahiti cards both had 8-pin solders, but it was expected considering we were looking at ES type cards. According to what we know so far, AMD advises a ~500W PSU for the Radeon HD 7970 and that is 100W less than what Nvidia asks for the GTX 580 and somewhere around the GTX 560 Ti. This can be cosidered a great improvement if the rumoured performance turns out to be true

Of course, these are still rumours but we are sure that we'll have official details pretty soon as we draw closer to the rumored January 10th launch date

Acer and Asus to streamline notebook production

Fewer new models, lower development costs

Acer and Asus are apparently taking a page out of Apple’s book and planning to streamline notebook development in 2012.

The big idea is to take a more minimalistic approach to notebook design and reduce the number of models. It works for Apple, so Acer and Asus believe they can cut development costs and reduce inventory risks by limiting the number of new models

For example, Asus has about 50 various notebook designs on offer right now, whereas Apple has but a handful. The number of EeePC netbook designs will be halved from 10 to 5. The company will also reduce the number of mid-range designs in favor of ultrabooks, but it will still retain high-end and value models to maintain volume

Acer is apparently taking a similar approach and shifting focus away from traditional notebooks to more lucrative market segments

More here

Big Blue dominates India

Best way to make sure you get good curry

Biggish Blue is doing rather well in India and is apparently cleaning the clock of rivals  Wipro and Infotech

According to IDC IBM's market share is 11.9 per cent in the first half of 2011. The Indian IT services market is estimated to touch $9.5 billion in 2011. That would mean that IBM in India earns revenues of over $1 billion. Ashish Kumar, GM, global technology services, told the Times of India that his company was better and the others all sucked.  Well not really but he trottled out the usual excuse that it was a better innovator, had better domain expertise and value in service delivery through repeatable platforms and service delivery methods.  Of course the others would say the same thing so it ends up being largely meaningless

Actually what seems to have happened is IBM scored some big deals in the telecom sector in the mid-2000s and built on these this year by targeting the banking financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector. Manappuram Finance inked a 10-year multi-million dollar deal with IBM to transform its IT systems

More here

Asus UX21E Ultrabook tested - Performance and Conclusion

Review: A step in the right direction

Lo and behold, the first Asus ultrabook made an appearance in our Vienna lab and right from the start to have to say we are guilty of some misplaced criticism of Intel’s latest mobile platform

We weren’t too thrilled with the entire concept and most of our criticism centered on the price. The Asus Zenbook UX21E is no exception. This 11.6-incher will set you back €999 in Euroland and you will probably agree it is no bargain by any measure

 

However, the Zenbook is a pretty impressive piece of kit and we were pleasantly surprised by its performance and overall user experience. It packs a 1.6GHz Core i5 2467M processor, 4GB of RAM and a speedy 128GB drive, all of which help deliver surprising performance and system responsiveness

The UX21E is available in two SKUs and today we will be looking at the slightly more affordable one. In case you are up for it, Asus will be more than happy to sell you a Core i7 powered version for €1199. However, the pricier version retains the same memory/storage configuration and we are really not sure whether it’s worth the extra 200 euro

Mind you, the ultra low voltage Core i5 is no slouch. This Sandy Bridge based processor supports hyperthreading, packs 3MB of L3 cache, but most importantly it can hit 2.3GHz on Turbo. However, it was throttled down to 2.0GHz in the UX21E. The TDP stands at 17W, but bear in mind that the figure also includes Intel HD 3000 graphics, running anywhere between 350MHz and 1150MHz depending on load. Intel usually sells this part for $250, which makes the €999 price tag sound a bit more realistic

In terms of costs, Asus also opted for a very fast 128GB SATA 6Gbps SSD from ADATA model ADATA XM11 128GB and it rides the fastest so far Sandforce controller. Such drives don’t come cheap and we can safely assume the drive ads about €100 to the price similar drives retail for roughly 1 euro per gigabyte

This is not your ordinary 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch drive. It is an mSATA card which, in terms of dimensions, is closer to a DIMM module than your run of the mill hard drive. Speaking of which, the UX21E also lacks traditional memory modules. Instead, it has 4GB soldered onto the motherboard

 

The end result of all this weight saving measures is impressive. The UX21E weighs in at just 1.15kg and it measures 299 x 196 x 17mm at its thickest point

You might notice that it has a somewhat larger footprint than most11.6-inch devices and a relatively large bezel around the 1366 x 768 LED panel. This is quite normal for all ultrathin designs and we are talking about something like 10mm on each side, which doesn’t really make much of a difference

Design and Build Quality

Obviously Asus took its design cues from Apple, but this is by no means a bad thing. It is also worth mentioning that Asus dabbled in ultrathin designs two years ago, using Intel’s now defunct CULV platform. The result was the UX30, a very stylish and thin 13-incher which spread some of much of its DNA to current Asus ultrabooks. Speaking of heritage, the UX30 also launched at €999.

The design of the UX21E is equally minimalistic, sleek and downright beautiful. The all-aluminium chassis looks right from every angle and it is by no means tacky. Asus manufactures the chassis from a single piece of aluminium and obviously the same goes for the lid. Since you can’t really change the SSD or add memory, there are no panels on the bottom, and there are no cooling vents either

It all culminates in a very sturdy feeling chassis, despite the low weight. There is no flex on the keyboard and hardly any on the lid. The elegant, brushed finish feels great to the touch and it won’t get soiled by fingerprints unless you really have some personal hygiene issues, in which case you probably won’t mind anyway

We also liked the understated chiclet keyboard design and even the screen hinge looks great. The same goes for the ever so slightly indented touchpad, which is spacious enough to accommodate multitouch gestures, which is not always the case on small notebooks. Thanks to great build quality, the palm rests feel very robust, despite the very thin design

The lid is equally well designed and crafted. The extra large hinge feels like it will outlive all the hardware onboard the UX21E, maybe even some of its users. On top of the lid you will find a tiny lip that should help you open it, which tends to come in handy, especially if you hate smudging the lid with your hands. On uneven surfaces, you might have an issue with opening the lid, as the notebook is insanely thin but you will get used to pull the lid “the right way”. Apple has a somewhat different approach, instead of a lip on the lid, MacBook Air models have a small indentation on the chassis

Asus chose to use a somewhat darker tone of grey for the display lid, which, along with a different brushed pattern, helps add some contrast to the overall design. There are no alternative colour options and this is pretty much true of all ultrabook designs we have seen to date. Although most manufacturers go for a neutral, silver finish, we would really like to see a bit more diversity. A lot of people would love to see black or dark grey designs, especially the crowd who would not like to be mistaken for Apple users from afar

So, Asus has managed to catch up to Apple both in terms of design and build quality, but it still has some minor foibles. For example, the power adapter looks great and it is also quite practical thanks to a strap that will keep the cables in place. However, it still features a traditional power plug, which doesn’t come close to Apple’s (patented) MagSafe connectors. It’s not a matter of good looks, it’s just seems clever to have some sort of failsafe power connector on very light devices. In case you accidentally snag a MagSafe cable, it will simply snap out and live to fight another day. However, a traditional power cable could easily drag a very light laptop to the edge of the desk, resulting in a very expensive crash test

Overall Asus did a very good job. Build quality is top notch, the design is mouthwatering and Asus paid a lot of attention to detail, making the UX21 a proper premium product

Keyboard

As we said earlier, the keyboard is excellent. There is no flex and it does not feel cramped at all. This is where the somewhat larger footprint comes into play. The UX21E has a bit more room to spare than regular 11.6-inchers, so the palm rests are relatively large and comfortable

However, the palm rests tends to sting your hands, and the edge of the chassis should be a bit rounder. We believe that this is an easy fix for Asus. After a while, you learn how to keep your arms on the palmrest to avoid the unpleasant feeling. The all-aluminium chassis feels very cold to the touch when you first start it up on a cold day. However, the low voltage hardware does not heat up too much even when you push it, which would make the UX21E a lot more uncomfortable

 

The power key is placed in the upper right corner, the place where you usually find the delete key, so we can imagine that at least in a first few days you might accidentally turn the machine off or send it into standby, instead of deleting something

The layout is standard, not much to say here, other than to point out that this is a German keyboard, so the layout is somewhat different on US/UK models. Most users prefer full size Enter and Backspace keys, like the ones on our sample, but the English keyboard version sports a single column enter key. Just a small detail, but it’s worth mentioning

Also, users who prefer soft, matte keys might object to the metallic finish. There is no LED backlighting, but it is a gimmick for show-offs anyway, so few users will miss it. You will need some time to get use to the keyboard, but this is true of every notebook. Once you get used to it, you will be able to type really fast, assuming that you can type fast to begin with

Touchpad

The touchpad is pretty large for an 11.6-incher and it is roughly the size of the one used on Apple’s MacBook Air. There’s not much to complain about really, the touchpad works well and it offers plenty of space for multitouch. However, novice users will find themselves swiping it by accident while typing. It just feels very, very sensitive. Of course, sensitivity can be adjusted in software, but it won’t resolve the issue entirely. This takes some getting used to, as it is rather impractical to switch it off every single time some serious typing is involved

The integrated buttons are pretty responsive and they feel sturdy, but they could be a bit more quiet

Ergonomics, Everyday Use

Here is where all the weight saving and over-engineering starts to make sense. The UX21 is a gorgeous piece of kit, but Asus did not skimp on practicality, either

Understandably, the front and back feature no connectors. They are only supposed to look cool and they do

The right side features a single USB 3.0 port, micro HDMI and AC in

 

On the left you will find, USB 2.0, audio out and mini VGA

 

Aside from the lack of many connectors usually found on notebooks, necessitated by the ultrathin design, there is not much to complain about. However, we would have preferred to see the USB 3.0 connector on the left, as it is more likely to be used for storage, i.e. have cables sticking out of it at some point

The 1,366x768 screen is truly a sight to behold. We don’t we ever come across a better notebook panel. Blacks look great, yet there is plenty of brightness to go around. The result is excellent contrast. Colour definition is equally impressive, but viewing angles are just average. This is really a minor issue on such a compact device. The only real downside is Asus’ decision to use a glare panel, which is not a good choice for any ultraportable device

It would be a pity to let such a screen go to waste with a pair of underpowered, tinny speakers. Asus sure seems to think so, that is why it developed an audio system with Bang & Olufsen. This is not just another marketing ploy, it really works and we were awe struck to hear it in action. Both in terms of sound quality and volume, this is easily the best ultraportable we have ever come across and it will even put much larger notebooks to shame

 

Like all ultrabooks, the UX21 does not feature a user-replaceable battery. Fortunately, the built-in 35Wh battery should suffice for most scenarios. Asus also provides a battery management application that displays relatively accurate battery life and standby time estimates

We averaged almost 5 hours with an everyday workload, consisting of multi-tab browsing on WiFi, some Office applications and your standard messaging services, and the occasional YouTube video. It is a pretty good result, but battery life can easily drop below 4 hours if you push it. However, we reckon most users won’t buy an 11.6-inch ultraportable to run overly demanding applications anyway


 

Asus provides its own battery tool that can give you an idea how much more battery you have left. The 5-hour average, easily drop to 2 and a half hours or less if you try playing games, but with video content it will average on 4.5, which is pretty good. The five hour mark should be possible to achieve with web browsing and office productivity mode will drop slightly below it

Playing games on a 17W TDP chip with Intel integrated graphics might not be the best idea, but at least some older games and basic, casual games should run fine on this notebook. Gamers will be much better off getting something more serious, as €999 can get you quite decent GPU in much bigger and heavier notebook

First thing you notice once you turn your PC on, is that it boots really fast. From the moment you push the power key, until Windows loads all programs, takes 15 or less seconds. We didn’t install too many things on Windows 7 Home Premium, but we can imagine that over time it gets slower

One of the best things about ultrabooks is the instant on feature. The five hour battery also means that this notebook should idle in stand by for roughly a week. It takes a few seconds to get to idle mode and it takes less than two seconds to turn the machine on from stand by

This is an extraordinary score and your machine will boot really fast. This cannot be said for the integrated camera that takes a bit more than 5 seconds to turn on, but this is something that you will have to learn to accept. Once it turns on, it works just fine, but the quality is average, not great

Asus UX21 comes with a lot of Asus software and one of them is the updater that takes care of necessary and recommended driver and software updates. We updated our bios to the latest version but the bios software update tool is created in traditional Winbond, who don’t know how to make eye pleasing user interface. At least in one other case Asus bloatware will show its real, ugly user interface art, but this is a common issue for most PC manufacturers

Asus also has Web space tool, and provides free 3GB space for UX21 users. We didn’t played with it much, but most people on Asus forums write that it’s quite slow and that Dropbox is a better alternative

 

Let’s be realistic, most people who get this machine will either spend time on web, check emails or do some type of writing. Being equipped with Core i5 2467M processor clocked at 1.6GHz and Turbo support of 2.0GHz, your web pages will open really fast. This of course will be true if you have fast internet connection

This CPU is fast, especially in combination with fast SSD, but we could not see the difference between i5 2467M and Alienware MX11 R3 powered by a Core i7 2517 that maxes out at 2.6GHz. No real noticeable difference in web browsing so getting a Core i7 based UX21 is probably a waste of money

We were surprised that Wlan comes from Atheros and not from Intel, so you can kiss Intel Wireless display goodbye. This would be a nice to have, but we are sure that only a few people have it. Wlan worked just fine, was fast enough connecting at 130Mbits/sec on a test router

Micro HDMI works just fine, and uses the same port as some phones but the 1366x768 resolution might not be optimal on some 1080p TVs

 

The box includes a power adapter, USB Ethernet adapter, mini-VGA to VGA adapter and a nicely designed pouch

 

Performance


As you can imagine a part of 3Dmark we haven’t tried any games. 3Dmark 2011 won’t run as the graphics card is not DirectX 11 compatible, but 3Dmark 06 did run. We scored 1513 marks, nothing spectacular and even slower than dirt cheap AMD Brazos notebooks. The SM 2.0 score set to 510, HDR SM 3.0 scored 620 while CPU score is 1017.

 

AS SSD test of ATADA XM11 showed that SandForce powered drive works really fast. Its seq read score stops at 472.83MB/s but its write score settles at 149.45MB/s. in comparison Alienware MX11 R3 powered with Samsung PM810 256GB drive scores 240.45MB/s read (2 times less than ADATA) but with 200.94MB/s has better writing capabilities

In Cinebench the UX21 scores 0.84 in CPU test and in OpenGL it scores 3.74 FPS. Alienware MX11 R3 scores 7.75 FPS in GPU test, courtesy of discrete Geforce 540M graphics. Naturally we don’t think that a hefty, 2kg 11.6-incher geared towards gamers is competition for the 1.15kg UX21, but we just wanted to give you something to compare it with. Alienware scores 2.4 pts in the same test

 

 

Conclusion

Frankly, we all laughed when we heard Intel’s price targets for ultrabooks. In theory ultrabooks are simply MacBook Air clones manufactured by Intel partners that are not as experienced with ultrathin and light machines as Apple. Well, the UX21E is quite a good machine. It comes with a 128GB SSD drive, it costs €200 more than the flagship 64GB iPad, but it is still a good 150 euro cheaper than a comparable MacBook Air with the same Core i5, 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD

For Intel and Asus, this is a step in right direction, but we cannot shake the feeling that we would like to get ultrabooks’s for a bit less money. Just remember that a few years ago ultraportables were selling for €2000 or more, so with that in mind, €999 is a good price. Much thicker machines, with HDDs and 2kg or more will cost probably half, but this would be comparing apples and oranges. Bear in mind that Intel’s goal is to cut ultrabook prices and hit a price target of €699 next year

A machine powered with Windows 7 is still a better choice in terms of productivity than any tablet available to market, and the two-second start makes a big difference. We know the Ivy Bridge second generation of Ultrabooks will get better and Windows 8 will also help, but then again there will always be something better coming

If you are looking for a very thin and stylish machine that can last a few hours, surf the web, play HD really fast and you want it to be extremely thin and light, we can strongly recommend the Asus UX21E

Our European readers can grab one at Ditech, our tech shop around the corner which supplied us with the sample

Nvidia releases Geforce 290.36 beta driver

PhysX for Arkham City, Ambient Occlusion for Skyrim and COD: MW3

Nvidia has released a new set of beta Geforce drivers, the Geforce 290.36 beta. The new driver supports all the GPUs since Geforce 6 series, including ION GPUs, and features PhysX version 9.11.11.07.

As far as features go, the new beta driver brings updated Physx System Software, version 9.11.11.07, in order to bring "the best PhysX experience to Batman: Arkham City title. The new beta drive aslo adds ambient occlusion support for both The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as well as the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The new driver also enables NVidia Surround support for Intel X79 SLI-certified motherboards, adds or updates SLI profiles for Crysis 2, Heroes and Generals, Inversion, Stronghold 3 and Syndicate and as well as adds support for 3D Vision over native DisplayPort 1.1 connection featured on pair of BenQ monitors as well as adds and updates 3D Vision profiles for bunch of game titles

The new 290.36 beta driver updates HD Audio driver to version 1.3.9.0 and fixes a couple of bugs including random flickering of Windows boot logo, corruption in Crysis 2 when running in SLI mode, random artifacts in Battlefield 2, adds ability to set Surround resolutions to 5760x1080 using custom resolutions, and fixes corruption in Settlers 7 game

You can find the driver here where you can check out detailed release notes

Corsair rolls out new Vengeance DDR3 SODIMM kits

The 4 and 8GB at 1866MHz

Corsair has updated its Vengeance memory lineup with a trio of new memory upgrade kits for notebooks. Although not as mean as their desktop counterparts, the new Vengeance notebook kits are surely a tempting option in case you are looking to upgrade your notebook

The lineup starts with a single 4GB DDR3 module clocked at 1866MHz with 10-10-10-27 latencies at 1.5V. The next in line is a bit slower 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 kit working at 1600MHz with slightly tighter 9-9-9-24 latencies at same 1.5V. The top part of the offer is the dual-channel 8GB (2x4GB) 1866MHz DDR3 kit with 10-10-10-27 latency at 1.5V. While searching for the prices, we also noticed a 4GB DDR3-1600 module running at those tighter 9-9-9-24 latencies as well

Currently, the new Vengeance SO-DIMM kits are currently listed in Europe with a lowest price set at €19.63 for the 4GB-1600 CL9 one, while 8GB 1600MHz kit sells for as low as €39.27. The top offer 8GB 1866MHz CL10 kit is available for as low as €78,53. As far as the US market goes, all three officialy announced kits are currently listed on Corsair's site with a price set at US $39.99 for the 4GB-1866 module, US $74.99 for the 8GB-1600 kit and US $149.99 for the 8GB-1866 one.

You can find them all here

AMD releases Catalyst 11.11c performance driver

Crossfire scaling for HD 5000 in Skyrim

As was promised with the release of the 11.11b performance driver, AMD has now launched yet another performance driver that fixes performance scaling on Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards in the Elder Scrolls Skyrim

AMD received a lot of bad press over driver performance in some games for quite a while now, but it looks as if that the company is finally getting it right, as we have seen a couple of performance drivers and tweaks in a very short period of time. The first performance 11.11 driver was released on 22nd of November. In addition to the added Crossfire scaling for the AMD Radeon HD 5000 series cards in Elder Scrolls Skyrim, the new Catalyst 11.11c performance driver also brings all the performance improvements, tweaks and fixes seen in the Catalyst 11.11a performance driver

Of course, it is mostly a minor update or two for new game titles but it is definitely a way to go. Hopefully, we'll see these "performance drivers" in future as well

The new driver can be found here, but unless you are running on Radeon HD 5000 series cards in Crossfire and want to play Skyrim, you'll be fine with the 11.11a as that is the one with all the performance improvements

AMD HD 6900 series gets a price cut

 

XFX cards US $30.00 cheaper

While looking at current prices of AMD's HD 6900 series cards we noticed a nice price cut for both the HD 6950 and the HD 6970 XFX cards at Newegg.com

Of course, since we are talking about Newegg.com, all of these price cuts are with a mail-in-rebate and include free shipping, as well as Dirt 3 download code in a limited time offer. The XFX HD 6970 was previously priced at US $349.99 and dropped to US $329.99, which translates to US $299.99 with a US $30 mail-in-rebate

The XFX HD 6950 is currently priced at US $239.99 but with the same mail-in-rebate it translates to US $209.99. There are also some US $20 mail-in-rebates with Radeon HD 6800 series cards and we are pretty sure that all other AMD partners will pretty soon join in

Of course, such price cut/deals were expected as Nvidia did put some pressure on Radeon HD 6950 cards with its limited edition GTX 560 Ti 448.

You can check out the deals over at Newegg.com

A-Data rolls out new USB 3.0 flash drives

Waterproof, shock-resistant and decently priced

A-Data has rolled out a new series of USB 3.0 flash drives with a rather interesting, ruggedized design. Featuring a shock-resistant and waterproof casing, the new S107 USB 3.0 flash drive series will be avialable in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities

As the name suggests, the new flash drives feature the USB 3.0 interface and achieve read speeds of up to 100MB/s. Thanks to special casing design, S107 drives feature military grade shock and water resistance, as well as an interesting arc design that doubles as a flash-drive cap holder

The transfer speeds are set at 95MB/s for read and 15MB/s for write on the 8GB model, 100/25MB/s for the 16GB one and 100/50MB/s for the 32GB model. The exact dimensions are 61.8x18.7x10.7mm and the drives weighs 13.6g

The entire series is backed by a lifetime warranty and come with Norton Internet Security 2012 (60 day trial) as well as UFDtoGO backup software. The best part of the story is the price set at around US $20, US $30 and US $65 for 8, 16 and 32GB model

AMD Radeon HD 7000 series priced

To hit market with US $449/549 price tag

We hear whispers of the final launch price of AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 7000 series cards and it looks as though the faster variation of the Tahiti chip will hit US $549 price tag while the slower one should be priced at US $449.

Of course, bear in mind that nothing is carved in stone here as AMD still has the option and ample time to change the price, or as they call it, adjust it, even a few days before the actual launch. The same thing goes for the name of the card as these are only finallized when partners boxes are sent for printing. But for now, the HD 7950 and the HD 7970 are the names most partners are using and these US $449/549 are the prices that came from AMD

As you already know, AMD planned to ship the cards in the first week of December as holiday shopping is always a nice timeframe for a launch. Unfortunately, TSMC is the one to blame as we are hearing that even the yields of the 40nm HD 6900 series are still not great and TSMC is also the reason why HD 7000 got pushed to early-January shipping date, or in time for CES 2012.

In any case, we'll keep our eyes and ears ready in case AMD decides to change these anytime soon