PC Perspective tested one of OCZ's 256GB Colossus drives and found "read and write speeds are about as fast as SATA 3Gb/sec will go!" It's nuts that our drives are finally catching up with the plentiful, SATA pipelines, even if OCZ has hacked speeds a bit by essentially building one giant drive out of four smaller SSDs.

Whatever works. Now to sell a spare kidney for the $3300, 1TB configuration. Read the full testing results at: [PC Perspective]

For comparison, ThinkGeek sells the Optimus Maximus, the great grandpappy of the OLED-in-a-key concept, for a staggering $1600. Obviously, the OCZ doesn't match up to Art Lebedev's Cheeto-resistant masterpeice—fewer keys, limited colors, plainer styling—but come on, is it really 8.5% the keyboard the Optimus is?

The item isn't listed as shipping yet, though OCZ says they're on their way to retailers. [ZipZoomFly—Thanks, Justin!]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The first thing you'll notice is that only a small cluster of the Sabre's keys—the numpad, specifically—are given the OLED treatment; the second, that the keys don't display color. OCZ tries to make up for the diminished key count and monochrome color scheme with a clever layered shortcut system and blue LED sidelighting, but there's no use denying it: the Sabre is no Optimus Maximus. Given that the Optimus is incredibly huge and oddly difficult to actually type on, though, this could be a good thing.

Another, better way that the Sabre doesn't measure up to the Optimus? Price. They haven't announced specifics yet, but OCZ says the Sabre, which is ready to ship to retailers, will be "affordable." Of course, compared to the Optimus's $1600 price, that could mean pretty much anything. $200, please? [OCZvia Electric Pig]

Interestingly, the physically largest drives—the OCZ Throttle (which also has eSATA) and Patriot Xporter—are the absolute fastest, but Ars recommends Super Talent's Pico B in terms of bang-for-buck. (The Pico C is cheap too, 4GB for $12 and well-reviewed on Newegg). Kingston's DataTraveler seems like the pokiest of the bunch. But overall, the current gen of flash drives are good enough across the board, no matter what you get, it's gonna be decent.

It's worth poking through the entire rundown, if only to appreciate how much care went into the divining the best piece of something that's almost the definition of disposal tech. [Ars]

On paper, the Neutrino is like virtually every other 10-incher on the market, with a 1.6GHz Atom, Intel integrated graphics, 1.3MP webcam, standard port set and b/g Wi-Fi. The rest—that is, memory, HDD/SDD, and a card reader—is up to you. It could be a fun project for the hands-on type, and will additionally give you more future control over your purchase as opposed to other low-end netbooks, the innards of which are often soldered and riveted into permanence for no apparent reason.

The cost of denying an OCZ assembly line employee his livelihood in these trying times is a mere $279. [OCZ]

The test is by no means exhaustive, as there are many hundreds—if not thousands—of USB drives on the market today. The test did include popular sticks from recognizable brands, as well as some budget and novelty pieces that you might be likely to pick up. The results were somewhat predictable: sticks from reputable companies like OCZ, Lexar and Sandisk offer greater read/write speeds, and sticks in the 4GB range perform consistently well.

There were some surprises, namely the standout performance from OCZ units and the plodding, about-as-fast-as-it-would-be-if-it-stored-data-on-actual-wood Brando Wood drive. And results aside, I've derived some comfort from the fact that out there somewhere, there exists a man named Kristofer Brozio who is willing to actually run a dozen time-consuming benchmarks on over 20 USB keys. Check out the full results at the source link. [Test Freaks via Engadget]

Challenged with a potential userbase made up of two effectively different standards—powered and unpowered eSATA—OCZ found a way to cater to everyone by tacking on an extra USB connector to power the stick when connected to older hardware, or to connect to computers without eSATA ports.

Aside from the nifty design, the OCZ will come in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities and claims 90MB/s read speeds and 30MB/s write speeds, putting the Throttle head and shoulders above most USB 2.0 drives on the market. Now word yet on price or release date, but "not too high" and "soon" are reasonable expectations. [OCZ via HotHardware]

The CrossOver by OCZ is a simple but clever design for a flash dongle. Coming in 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB sizes, the aluminum-constructed CrossOver works fine as a standard USB drive, but it's also expandable with a built-in microSD/SDHC card reader should you need the extra storage (or just want a convenient way to load your microSD with music and stuff).

No info on the CrossOver's price or availability. [OCZ via TechFresh]

Jul 01, 2008 04:00

OCZ Technology Announces Core Series SATA II 2.5 Solid State Drive Delivering the World's First Truly Affordable High-Performance SSD for Consumers at Price Points Less Than 50% of Comparable High Performance SSDs

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —(Business Wire)— Jul. 1, 2008 OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (LSE:OCZ), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs). OCZ has gained momentum in this pioneering technology, which uses NAND flash instead of rotating platters as the storage medium, and is a high-performance, highly reliable and energy-efficient alternative to conventional hard disc drives.







The OCZ Core Series delivers the performance and reliability of the latest SSDs at a 50% less price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. For the first time, OCZ is putting SSD technology within reach of the average consumer, and delivering on the promise of SSDs as an alternative to traditional hard drives in consumer targeted mobile applications.

"SSDs offer higher performance, reliability, and energy efficiency than conventional HDDs but the cost variance has limited adoption of vastly superior SSD technology, until now," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "It is our mission to deliver the highest performance products to consumers at reasonable prices, and with the release of the Core Series SSDs we have done exactly that."

OCZ Core Series Solid State Drives enable enhanced productivity in everyday computing and intensive multi-tasking applications. Perfect for notebooks, the Core Series is ideal for energy-efficient mobile computing to extend battery life, increase access time, and provide a durable alternative to conventional hard disc drives with superior shock resistance. High capacities and low power consuming NAND flash technology provide the necessary performance and battery life boosts generated by the proliferation of mobile gaming and new ultra-thin laptops. With fast access and seek times combined with excellent reliability, the OCZ Core Series SSDs are the answer for consumers demanding this latest storage technology.

The drives feature a durable yet lightweight alloy housing, and because OCZ SSDs have no moving parts, the drives are not prone to damage from common mishandling. Designed for ultimate reliability, these SSDs have an excellent 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) ensuring peace of mind over the long term. All Core Series SSD drives come backed a two year warranty and OCZ's legendary service and support.

Core series SSD drives are available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB and deliver incredible 120-143Mbs/ 80-93Mbs read/write speeds and seek times of less than 0.35ms, making the Core series up to 10x as fast on a seek-time basis and up to 40% faster on a R/W basis that the best performing 2.5" HDDs on the market, all while consuming 50% less power. MSRPs at time of launch are USD $169, $259 and $479 for 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models respectively.

At its heart, you are really getting a MicroSD card with SD and USB adapters. But since technically it's also a SD card reader (in addition to a USB storage device) it's more accurately a quadfecta. So that would be like a hot dog, Italian sausage, bratwurst and kielbasa all rolled into one.

No word on pricing yet, but it smells fantastic. – Mark Wilson

OCZ Enhances... [via everythingusb]

Check out the post-jump video to see the device in action.

– Louis Ramirez
OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator [Legit Reviews via Fayer Wayer]

Besides those techno-features, we're also liking its aggressive cobalt blue color and ergonomic shape. You can get it in two sizes, one for the desktop and one to take with you on the road. No pricing was announced yet. – Charlie White

Product Page [OCZ Technology, via Coolest Gadgets]

OCZ [Press Release]

OCZ releases super small USB key [The Inquirer]