CES 2007: Evolutionary not Revolutionary Products
by Gary Key on January 12, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
ASUS: Motherboards and More...
ASUS will be launching the M2A-VM HDMI motherboard based upon the upcoming AMD 690G chipset in the near future. The board features integrated Radeon X1250 graphics capability featuring HDMI output with full HDCP support, two IEEE-1394 ports, ten USB 2.0 ports, Realtek ALC884 HD audio, and 8GB memory support.
The ASUS P5N32-E SLI is under going an update to the Plus version that features revised electrical components, BIOS changes, and new accessory items. We expect to have a review sample shortly.
One of our favorite P965 motherboards has been the ASUS P5B-Deluxe and it will be joined by a major revision in the near future. The new board will be called the P5B-Premium and features improved electrical layout, all solid capacitor design, and a new premium suite package that includes several firsts for ASUS. The main design change on the motherboard is the inclusion of a flash memory module that features full support for Vista's ReadyBoost function to dramatically improve boot time from hibernation mode and for improving the response of application launches. The Premium suite will also ship with the new ScreenDUO module pictured above that displays information from the BIOS, websites, RSS feeds, schedules, or other information even if the PC is in sleep mode. The kit also includes the new AI Remote controller that allows you turn the PC on or off, launch specific applications via hot keys, or control features such as your system fans. Another feature that can be included is a Trusted Platform Module that fully supports Vista's BitLocker drive encryption capability.
ASUS is aggressively pursuing the consumer network market and just recently released the WL-700gE multifunctional broadrange wireless router. The unit designed to be a wireless router, media server, and NAS product. There is a built-in 250GB SATA drive and three USB 2.0 ports. Support ranges from DDNS/DHCP/Web server, UPnP AV and WMM, to 64/128bit WEP and WPA/WPA2 capability. The wireless capability features 802.11g and 802.11b support along with MAC address filtering, and SPI/NAT firewalls. The included Download Master software allows the user to setup seven BitTorrent streams at once or up to ten FTP/HTTP downloads. The unit is priced around $250 at this time.
We have already covered some of the ASUS's new notebook products but were able to use the new G2 Extreme Gaming notebook before we left the show. The notebook features the Intel Centrino 2 Duo processor lineup, ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 graphics, DDR2-667 with 2GB support, five USB 2.0 ports, D-Sub and DVI-D output, five in one card reader, Gigabit LAN, and a built-in 1.3 Megapixel webcam. The notebook also features a color hints on heavily used gaming keys and ASUS' new Direct Messenger program that provides real-time monitoring of MSN, e-mail, and other programs within their game system control panel.
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yyrkoon - Saturday, January 13, 2007 - link
I know technically that Solid State includes Flash or NAND type memory, but do these devices use Flash, or SDRAM ? Normally, at least around here, we do not call Flash drives "SSD'.mlambert890 - Saturday, January 13, 2007 - link
These are not the SDRAM variety, they are flash. SSD drives (even the ones based on volatile memory) often use flash and the term is pretty much interchangeable. I mean they're all "solid state disks" yes?yyrkoon - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
Technically, yes, they are all solid state. However SDRAM drives offer better performance, and don't suffer from the "10,000 writes, and you're out syndrome". The only real drawback, is that if the drive ever loses power, the data would be lost forever. I think we all could figure out work arounds for this (such as RAID1 accross a SDRAM device, to a real HDD, etc), so for most of us casual users (and perhaps some in enterprise solutions), this isnt really an issue.chucky2 - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
Thanks!Chuck
DigitalFreak - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
You guys @ Anandtech think you could get a hold of one of the new Ritek SSD drives mentioned http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/riteks-16gb-and...">here for your test?Prices seem to be quite a bit cheaper than the Sandisk, so I'm wondering what the "catch" is.
PandaBear - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
Not only that. MLC has much lower duty cycle (erase cycle) before die. I have seen data on MLC life and SanDisk/Toshiba can get about 1000-2000 cycles erase, while Samsung can only do 500-1000 right now. I am not sure if I want a drive that can write only 500 cycles, even with wear leveling, on a 32gb drive, for windows.michal1980 - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
heres hoping to smart drivers/o.s. with a hybrid drives.everyfile that just needs to be read, and very rarely modified should go on the flash porition for fast reading.
everytemp file/ swap file on a harddrive.
my concern would still be writes from stupid things. a file gets access the access data gets modified for example.
Gary Key - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
The price difference is due to the lower end drives using MLC NAND instead of SLC NAND Flash. We do not recommend using MLC NAND Flash drives as a desktop/laptop replacement due to the performance differences in write speeds. We will be comparing the two formats once the sample drives arrive in a few weeks.michal1980 - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
seems like every other year the psu needs a new cable. and now its for video cards.Bhhaaa. Why why, why why.
semo - Friday, January 12, 2007 - link
it seemed not so long ago that the psu was one of the most mundane and long living components of a pc. now it is becoming more like any other component with stray standards appearing from nowhere for no reason other than profits.i suspect cases are to follow suit. i'm not sure how they can pull it off but i'm sure we can rely on case makers to think of something.