Super Talent unveils SandForce-based TeraNova SSD

Super Talent is taking aim at the enthusiast solid-state drive market this week with the announcement of its new TeraNova SSD. Powered by the SandForce SF-2281 controller and 'optimized' SandForce firmware, the new drives can reportedly hit up to 540MB/s and 520MB/s sequential read and write speeds, respectively.

Super Talent's TeraNova SSD will be available in capacities ranging from 64GB to 480GB. Write speeds vary slightly depending on the size of the drive -- the 64GB is rated at 490MB/s, the 120GB at 510MB/s, the 240GB at 520MB/s, and the 480GB model at 480MB/s -- but read speeds on all of them can reach up to 540MB/s.

The 2.5-inch drive uses the newer SATA III 6Gbps interface and, as you'd expect, it includes common functions such as wear leveling and error correction to ensure reliability as well as data protection in case of sudden power loss. The TeraNova SSD is also backed by a two-year limited warranty.

Super Talent says the new drive will begin shipping today, and though there's no mention of price in the press release Engadget says they'll set you back $109, $179, $365 or a whopping $920 depending on capacity.

LG unveils Xnote Z330 ultrabook in South Korea

LG has officially joined the Ultrabook fray with the unveiling of its Xnote Z330 in South Korea. Like most laptops in this category, the Z330 features a 13.3-inch display wit a standard 1366×768 resolution. However, using its own Shuriken display technology, LG's Ultrabook differentiates itself from the crowd with a narrow 8mm bezel that allows it to fit into a chassis that would normally house a 12.1-inch system.

The Xnote Z330 measures 0.6 inches (14.7mm) thick and weighs about 2.7 pounds (1.21kg). In terms of specs, customers can go for either an Intel Core i5-2467M or Core i7-2637M processor, paired with 4GB of RAM and a choice of 120GB SATA 6Gbps SSD or a 256GB SATA 3Gbps SSD. Graphics are handled by the integrated GPU on Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, while connectivity features include 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 3.0, and Intel's WiDi wireless display technology.

LG says the Z330 will run for more than six hours on a single charge. There's no word on when or if we'll see LG's Ultrabook hit the U.S. market, but the Xnote Z330 is launching in the company's home country this month with prices starting at about $1500.The top model is set to sell for ₩2.6 million, or around $2,300.

HP unveils plans for low-power, ARM-based servers

Computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard has announced plans to build servers utilizing low-energy processors licensed by ARM, making the servers cheaper to run than current alternatives.

The new chips, produced by Calxeda using its energycore system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, draw as little as 1.5-watts, or around one-tenth the power consumption of even the most efficient server processors currently in use. A complete server node with 4GB RAM and an SSD consumes as little as 5-watts, and because this equals less heat, HP can use more of them in a single enclosure.

Each complete system will house 2,800 servers in one single rack, enabling them to provide massively parallel throughput. The Redstone platform itself is based on a 4-U rack-mount server chassis, with 72 server boards inside, each running four of Calxeda's 1.4GHz processors, as well as 4GB of RAM and 4MB of L2 ECC cache.

“A single rack of HP’s Calxeda servers delivers the throughput of some 700 traditional servers and dramatically simplifies the infrastructure needed to hook them all together and manage the cluster,” said Barry Evans, CEO of Calxeda.

"There is always a trade off, you have less electrical draw but you have less processing power," David Calmers, HP UK's chief technology officer for servers, storage and networking, told the BBC. He also announced plans to offer Intel's Atom-based processors as an energy-efficient alternative to ARM processors in upcoming server models as well.

HP was keen to point out that ARM-based chips should be considered an alternative rather than a replacement to Intel's highly regarded and more powerful products. The ARM-based chips will be ideal for delivering static web pages but not tasks involving heavy number crunching which are more suited to Intel's product offerings.

"We commend HP's innovation in this space and the investment being made to accelerate the development of a new class of compelling, energy-efficient servers," said Lance Howarth, ARM's executive vice president of marketing. "We believe that ARM low-power technology and broad partner ecosystem will provide the ideal foundation for HP to drive a new wave of innovation in the server market."

ARM announced its upcoming ARMv8 64-bit architecture earlier this week, and recently reported outstanding third-quarter results despite a market slowdown across the entire industry.

ARM unveils super efficient Cortex A7, will be paired with A15

ARM has unveiled a new chip that will enable more efficient and affordable mobile processors. Based on the company's 28nm fabrication, the Cortex A7 reportedly consumes five times less power and measures one-fifth the size of the 45nm Cortex A8, which is used inside the Apple A4, Samsung Hummingbird and Texas Instruments OMAP3. ARM will compliment that efficiency by pairing the Cortex A7 with quicker, more power hungry processing cores.

Additionally, the A7 will make it easier to produce sub-$100 smartphones, which will boost adoption rates in developing regions. "We can see the developed world moving on and mobile being the nexus for all sort of consumer electronics. In the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) we are seeing catch-up," ARM CEO Warren East told the BBC. "As we look forward these smartphones are going to be totally ubiquitous and in the much less developed areas..."

The company's heterogeneous "Big.LITTLE" design concept will see the Cortex A7 packaged with the upcoming Cortex A15 as a system-on-a-chip that will allocate tasks to the best available core. The A7 will compute lighter loads while the A15 will tackle requests that are more intensive. It's worth noting that the efficiency gains mentioned above are specifically limited to the A7 so it's unclear what you can expect from this package as a whole, but it should be awesome.

The A15 was announced last September and is expected to ship sometime in early 2012. It will be offered in various flavors with clock speeds up to 2.5GHz and it's said to deliver 40% more performance than the A9. Several licensees have already announced next-generation SoCs based on the A15, including Nvidia's fourth-gen Tegra "Wayne," Texas Instruments' OMAP 5 and ST-Ericsson's Nova A9600. Samsung, LG, Apple and others will undoubtedly utilize A15 cores as well.

SanDisk unveils Ultra SSD range for notebooks and desktops

SanDisk has launched a new range of solid-state drives, which the company is specifically marketing as a cost effective solution for users on a budget who would be better off upgrading their current machine than purchasing a new one. The SanDisk Ultra SSD family is available in 60GB, 120GB and 240GB sizes with MSRPs of $130, $220 and $450, respectively.

With those prices SanDisk isn't really breaking any affordability records, but Newegg.com is already selling the 120GB variant some $40 cheaper than its suggested retail price, making it a more competitive alternative next to the likes of OCZ's last-generation Vertex 2 and Agility 2. In terms of performance SanDisk promises 280MB/s reads coupled with 270MB/s write speeds over the SATA II (3Gbps) interface.

The Ultra SSD is based on multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory and has a mean time between failure (MTBF) rate of up to one million hours. SanDisk is also touting the drive's low power consumption, though they didn't share any specifics, nor do they mention which SSD controller is powering these devices.

In any case, although the Ultra SSD is certainly not the fastest solid-state drive out there and it doesn't carry the latest SATA III (6Gbps) interface, it could be worthy contender in the budget segment if SanDisk can keep the prices down.