For the first of our Z97 reviews, GIGABYTE sent us its mid-range Z97X-UD5H. This model is designed for the casual enthusiast interested in the higher end of the feature set but not so far in overclocking nor gaming. GIGABYTE has a new color scheme f…
AMD sends word this afternoon that they’re instituting an official price cut for one of their more recently launched video cards, the Radeon R9 280. The 280, AMD’s lower tier Tahiti part and Radeon HD 7950 analogue, was launched back in…
Lenovo utilized its Accelerate 2014 Partner Forum in Orlando to launch two new devices under its “Think” brand which are aimed at the business user. The first is a Windows 8.1 tablet, and the second is an entry level workstation.
The ThinkPad 10 is a 10.1” tablet powered by the familiar Intel Bay Trail-T Atom SoC, with this tablet sporting the 1.6 GHz Z3795 version of the chip which launched in Q1’2014. The Z3795 is a quad core CPU with a max Turbo frequency of 2.4 GHz. It includes Intel HD Graphics with a base frequency of 311 MHz and a burst frequency of 778 MHz. It supports up to 4 GB of memory in dual channel LPDDR3, and unlike most 10” Bay Trail tablets, the ThinkPad 10 will offer the choice of 2 GB or 4 GB of memory.
Also unusual in the 10” Windows tablet market is the display. The ThinkPad 10 has a 1920×1200 resolution which matches the ThinkPad 8 mini tablet announced at CES. The IPS display features Corning Gorilla glass and ten point multitouch. One of the biggest features of the display over most other Windows tablets is the inclusion of an active digitizer and pen.
To round out the offering, the ThinkPad 10 will come with Windows 8.1, a choice of 64 GB or 128 GB storage with a 64 bit OS, an 8 MP rear camera with flash, and cellular broadband with 3G/4G LTE as an option. Prices for the tablet start at $599 with availability expected in June.
A myriad of accessories were also displayed for the tablet. The first was an ultrabook style keyboard which the tablet can dock into magnetically. Unlike a true clamshell dock, there is no adjustment of screen angle however, with the tablet docking into a specified slot. The tablet will also dock into the keyboard in a closed state, so it can be used for transport. The keyboard dock also includes a spot for the pen, which unfortunately has nowhere to store it directly on the tablet. The next case is the Touch case, which also attaches magnetically and provides a keyboard much like the Surface touch cover with flush keys. Also shown was the Quick Shot cover, with the same quick access to the camera as shown on the ThinkPad 8 version. The final case shown was a ruggedized case with a silicon outer shell around a hard plastic interior, a hand strap, a screen protector, and port covers. The final accessory is a docking station to use the tablet on a desk connected to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The ruggedized case also integrates with the dock by having a fold away door so the tablet can dock with the case still attached.
| Two in One Computers | ||||||
| Lenovo ThinkPad 10 | Asus Transformer Book T100 | Microsoft Surface 2 | ||||
| Dimensions |
H: 177mm W: 256.5mm D: 8.95mm (16.95mm w/ Smart Card Reader) |
H: 0.41″ (10.5mm) W: 10.35″ (263mm) D: 6.73″ (171mm) |
H: 0.35″ (8.9mm) W: 10.81″ (274mm) D: 6.79″ (172mm) |
|||
| Weight | 598g (WiFi), 610g (WWAN), 660g (Smart Card Reader) | 1.21lbs (550g) | 1.49lbs (676g) | |||
| CPU | Intel Bay Trail-T Z3795 | Intel Bay Trail-T Z3740 | NVIDIA Tegra 4 T40 | |||
| GPU | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | NVIDIA Tegra 4 T40 | |||
| RAM | 2/4 GB LPDDR3 | 2 GB LPDDR3 | 2 GB LPDDR3 | |||
| Storage | 64-128 GB | 32-64 GB | 32-64 GB | |||
| Display Size and Resolution | 10.1″ 1920×1200 | 10.1″ 1366×768 | 10.6″ 1920×1080 | |||
| Battery | Rated at 10 hours, no size specified | 31 Wh | 31.5 Wh | |||
| Price | $599 with pen | $349 with keyboard | $449 without keyboard | |||
The second device announced today is the ThinkStation P300, available both as a Tower and Small Form Factor. CPU options include Intel Core i3, i5, i7, or Xenon X3-1200v3 processors. On the GPU side, Intel HD P4600 Graphics is the baseline, with optional NVidia Quadro K600 in the SFF, or K4000 in the tower model. As with any workstation class device, ECC memory is available, with up to 32 GB of capacity.
The Tower version has room inside for up to four 3.5” hard drives with the SFF supporting two 3.5” and one 2.5” internally. Both models offer 24 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB of storage in mSATA. There is a large selection of PCI-E slots, as well as a PCI slot, as well as optional ports such as Firewire and Serial. Unfortunately the device only ships with a single Ethernet port. The optional ports are part of what Lenovo calls its FLEX module which allows customers to specify ports required at the time of purchase.
The ThinkStation P300 starts at $729 with availability in June. Once available on the Lenovo site, we should have a better idea of what kind of hardware options that can be configured.
I’ve reached out to Lenovo to get a full set of specifications for both announcements, and will update this post with them when they are available.
Update: Lenovo has provided the detailed specs for the ThinkPad 10 and ThinkStation P300. In addition to other features noted, there will also be a verison of the ThinkPad 10 with a built-in Smart Card reader which should appeal to many companies which rely on Smart Cards.
Humble Bundle just started their latest bundle, but this time there’s a twist: instead of a single bundle that will run for two weeks, they’re doing fourteen different daily bundles. Obviously we don’t know what each day holds in store until the bundle for that day starts, but if today’s bundle is any indication we could be looking at some great values. I’ll update this post daily with information on the new bundles, but kicking things off, the first daily bundle comes courtesy of Deep Silver and includes between four and ten games, depending on your donation. Here’s the list, sorted mostly by release date (newest to oldest)
Assuming you go for the entire package, that’s nine full games (including plenty of extra DLC packs) for $1 each. Some are maybe worth a pass, and the DLC packs are oftentimes a questionable value, but nearly every game in the list has a normal retail price on Steam of at least $10, and most are priced at $20 or more – the one exception being Sacred Citadel, which is only a $2.49 game. Basically, if you can find even one game in the list that you’re interested in playing but haven’t purchased yet – there were several on my list, chief among them Dead Island and Risen – then this is a great deal and worth your money.
And you’ll want to act sooner rather than later, as the clock is ticking – just over 20 hours remain on this first daily bundle. Should you choose, you can give some or all of your donation to Child’s Play or the American Red Cross – or give it to the developers or Humble Bundle if you prefer.
While most SSD manufacturers are likely holding their product announcements until Computex next month, SanDisk has today announced a new model to their business SSD portfolio: the X300s. Most manufacturers tend to have just two lineups, one for the clients and the other for enterprise, but it’s not unheard of for manufacturers to include a third, business-oriented lineup as well. SanDisk has been doing this for quite some time now and Kingston is doing it with their KC300 series.
Even though most business-oriented SSDs are just derivatives of client models, the idea behind the separation of the two is that businesses tend to require a more sophisticated feature set, which the manufacturers use to cash in. The manufacturers know that features like hardware encryption are vital in business use but not in average consumer use, so by limiting some features to business models the manufacturers are able to make an extra profit. Obviously not all manufacturers do this, for instance Crucial and Samsung have decided to not have a separate business lineup and has improved their client drives instead, but SanDisk’s strategy is to have the business drives as their own entity.
With a brief outline of product segments out of the way, let’s focus on the X300s. It will be available in June through SanDisk’s Commercial Business Channel, meaning that it’s unlikely that you will be able to find this drive in retail. There will be two form factors, 2.5″ 7mm and M.2 2280, and the capacities will range from 64GB to all the way to 1TB. The M.2 version will only be available in up to 512GB, which is due to the fact that SanDisk has opted for a single-sided design in order to make the drive slightly thinner and thus more suitable for Ultrabook designs.
| Capacity | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB | 1TB |
| Controller | ? | ||||
| NAND | SanDisk 1Ynm MLC | ||||
| Sequential Read | 450MB/s | 510MB/s | 510MB/s | 520MB/s | TBD |
| Sequential Write | 140MB/s | 300MB/s | 450MB/s | 460MB/s | |
| 4KB Random Read | 68K IOPS | 80K IOPS | 89K IOPS | 96K IOPS | |
| 4KB Random Write | 35K IOPS | 63K IOPS | 77K IOPS | 79K IOPS | |
| Idle Power (slumber/DEVSLP) | 80mW / 3.5mW | 80mW / 4.0mW | 80mW / 4.5mW | 80mW / 5.0mW | |
| Max Power (read/write) |
2.3W / 1.95W |
2.35W / 2.75W |
2.35W / 3.8W |
2.45W / 3.85W |
|
| Endurance | 40TB (21GB/day for 5 years) | 80TB (43GB/day for 5 years) | |||
| Encryption | TCG Opal 2.0 & IEEE-1667 | ||||
SanDisk is being very tight-lipped about the hardware inside the X300s and they wouldn’t even reveal whether the controller is in-house or third party. However, I’m fairly confident that it is a Marvell’s 88SS9189 because the X210 used a 88SS9187, and the lower DEVSLP power numbers suggest the 9189 as it brought some DEVSLP optimizations at the silicon level. It’s certainly possible that the controller hasn’t changed from the X210 and SanDisk was able to fine tune the firmware to lower DEVSLP power consumption, but either way it is very likely a Marvell controller.
As for the NAND, SanDisk lists it as 1Ynm MLC, which translates to second generation 19nm NAND. The NAND and SSD manufacturers don’t always disclose the exact lithography and use the letter X, Y and Z instead to refer to the generation of the NAND (X refers to first generation, Y to second and so on). We know that SanDisk’s first generation 10nm-class (i.e. 10-19nm) lithography was 19nm (1Xnm) and we also know that the second generation is also 19nm (1Ynm). I went through the reasons why both lithographies are called 19nm in one of our recent reviews but shortly put the first generation had a cell size of 19nm*26nm, while the second generation has 19nm*19.5nm, meaning that both can technically be marketed as 19nm even though there is a quite dramatic difference in actual cell size. The second generation 19nm NAND is the same as what Toshiba refers to as A19nm or Advanced 19nm since the companies have a joint-venture that produces the NAND.
Now, the features. Probably the biggest addition in the X300s is the support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards, which together bring support for Microsoft’s eDrive. Furthermore, SanDisk is including Wave’s Embassy Security Center software with every X300s, which includes some additional encryption features that businesses may find handy (e.g. can authorize computers to access the drive remotely). The X300s has also been certified by several other encryption software providers, such as McAfee and AbsoluteSoftware, so there is no need to migrate to a new software in case your existing software is in the list of comptible software vendors.
All in all, the X300s seems to be a relatively modest, yet needed upgrade from the X210. It brings the much desired support for hardware encryption while providing a decent upgrade in performance (at least based on the specifications). The newer NAND should also ensure that pricing is competitive, though unfortunately SanDisk hasn’t released any MSRPs. Even though the X300s isn’t a retail product, we are trying to get review samples from SanDisk to see how the X300s stands up with the retail Extreme II.
