News Bits: USB 3.0 and 512GB SSD Coming in 2009, OLPC Laptop Production Delays

OLPC laptop faces production delays

The non-profit One Laptop Per Child group stated that a production delay would cause a shortage of the XO computers available in the US and Canada for the holiday giving program. Production was supposed to start in October but has been pushed back to November 12. According to the chief technology officer for OLPC, Mary Lou Jepsen, "We had some last-minute bugs. We resolved them." She says that a total of 100,000 laptops are expected to be produced this year.

Read More (Yahoo.com)

USB 3.0 coming in 2009 will offer 10x performance of USB 2.0

In a blog post on Intel's website an interview is conducted with Jeff Ravencraft, Chairman and President of the USB Implementers Forum. The interview revolves around talk of the new USB 3.0 standard that is being developed and also the USB 1.1 wireless standard. In the interview Ravencraft states that:

"The primary objective with USB 3.0 is a proposed performance increase to over 10x of Hi-Speed USB which today is 480 Mbps. This is a significant enhancement for consumers who are working more and more with ever expanding file sizes such as movies. For example, a 25 GB HD Movie would take only 70 seconds to transfer between devices. Studies show that a consumer’s patience on waiting time is about 1.5 minutes and after 5 minutes they abort what they were doing. That same file transferred over High-speed USB would take 13.9 minutes – an unacceptable wait time for most people."

He goes on to state that power efficiency is also an important factor due to the huge increase of USB in mobile devices such as laptops. If the USB 3.0 specs are completed in 2008 as expected, the first USB 3.0 equipped goods should be on the market by 2009 and then USB 3.0 compatible accessories would show up in late 2009 or early 2010.

Read More (Intel)


New 30nm SSDs could store 512GB of data

Samsung announced that it has developed the first 30nm flash chip with 64 Gigabits of capacity. Samsung claims its latest 30nm chips are the first multi-level cell 64 Gbit NAND flash chips; one chip can store 8GB, and an SD card or similar with 16 of them can store 128GB of data. A 1.8-inch Solid State Disk (SSD) could store up to 512GB.

Samsung plans to put the 64 Gbit chips into mass production in 2009.

Read More (TGDaily.com)


Epson introduces Endeavor NJ3000 notebook

(view large image)

Image courtesy AkihabaraNews

Epson introduced their new Endeavor NJ3000 notebook on Oct. 23, which is aimed at the corporate market and is built to order. 15.4-inch displays are offered in WXGA or WXGA+ resolutions, and processor choices include the Core 2 Duo from the 2.0GHz T7250 to the 2.6GHz T7800. Four different size hard drives are offered as well.

Read More (AkihabaraNews.com)


All-in-one Dell XPS A2010 leaked

Image courtesy Engadget (view large image)

Dell's upcoming all-in-one XPS A2010 has been leaked via an FCC site. It will have a 22-inch widescreen display with a WSXGA+ resolution and will be available with a desktop Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of RAM, a Blu-ray drive, webcam, integrated or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 graphics, Windows Vista, Bluetooth, and wireless Internet. A wireless keyboard and mouse are also included. Current pricing estimates place it around $2,000.

Read More (Engadget.com)