What happened during CES 2016

Taking notice of product launches and trade shows is a big part of blogging about technology and the annual Consumer Electronics show is a dear part of me as I have been tuning in to all the announcements for a couple of years now and frankly speaking, everything feels a little boring now. As the years go by, I begin to look away from CES just because everything about has changed. Sure, the new products are exciting but all the major announcements or headlines are basically a little overkill. So, here I am writing about a recap of what I can remember most about CES 2016.

Not going to talk too much about the overkill stuff like the Samsung fridge with a gigantic tablet display. It is the future and all but at the moment it is impractical whatsoever due to it's relatively high price tag. But instead, I am going to focus on the mobile technology part of CES 2016. Maybe a little about the cars and home appliances but generally speaking, I am not an expert or advocate of either genres. So, it's just mostly about the new tablets, computers, laptops. Fitness trackers and mobile accessories.

Computex is no longer just for PC hardware

Give or take but product unveilings are the fun-er part of covering technology and trade shows are on top of everything. They're always filled up with basically anything and on the trade show floor, you can end up finding quite a lot of things. In the midst of all the developers conference from companies during the Summer, we have Computex which is notably the biggest electronics trade show in Asia. At it's 35th cycle this year, Computex is onto a whole new direction.

Like every other company, mobile computing is getting popular and that includes wearables and IoT devices which are meant to be placed just everywhere. That includes Computex which has seen a significant change in direction over the years and it's no longer just a show focused on unveiling new PC hardware but mobile devices like phones and wearables are also beginning to crop up each year.

Intel Broadwell Processors Might Be The First Generation To Come In The BGA Package, Upgrading Options Killed

Following the notice released earlier today, we have not abandoned computer hardware forever; so here it goes. The joy of felt by a computer enthusiasts is not using a high end computer but building one. When building a custom computer one of the key components is the processor which is often one of the most expensive part in the whole system. 
The two main CPU makers are intel and AMD, intel is mostly known for better processing power and mainstream usage; and AMD is known to make the best processors with integrated graphics namely their APU lineup. Intel however is doing better at selling processors and majority of PCs sold are using intel processors. Upgrading a component in a system is always a way to increase the life span of your system and thus wasting less money on buying a completely new one. RAM is normally upgraded and the CPU is next and the thing which makes CPU and RAM easily upgraded is the fact that it is not stuck in you motherboard but connects through a socket.
According to a report, intel's Broadwell architecture chips in 2014 will onlt be offered in the ball grid array (BGA) package and that means your processor and motherboard will come as a piece and thus killing future upgrade options. If this news is to believed then Haswell processors will be the last desktop class chips coming in the LGA package. This could be good news or turn out to be bad news but either way things are going to change. Broadwell chips are also going to sport integrated memory controllers, graphics cores and much more. This will also include the wildcat point I/O controlles and thus various thermal design power envelopes will be available. 

Source: Tweaktown 
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Acer Incorporated, Intel, Qualcomm Incorporated and SingTel-Optus Joins Futuremark To Develop A 3D Mark Benchmark For Android

PRESS RELEASE 

Futuremark is proud to announce that Acer Incorporated, Intel, Qualcomm Incorporated and SingTel-Optus have joined its Benchmark Development Program to create a new 3DMark gaming benchmark for Android-based tablets and smartphones. The Futuremark Benchmark Development Program gathers input and expertise from the world's best and most technologically advanced companies to create industry standard benchmarks for performance measurement. 3DMark for Android is expected to be released later this year.

Jukka Makinen, Futuremark CEO said, "For more than 10 years, we have worked with the world's leading PC hardware manufacturers to create 3DMark and PCMark. As a result, Futuremark benchmarks are the industry standard for PC performance measurement used by hundreds of press publications and millions of end-users. As we bring 3DMark to a new OS for the first time, we are excited to expand our cooperation to include Acer, Intel, Qualcomm and SingTel-Optus, technology leaders who will bring unparalleled insight, experience and vision to the development of 3DMark for Android."
Launching later this year, 3DMark for Android will measure gaming performance using graphics rendering, CPU and physics tests with stunning real-time graphics that will push OpenGL ES2.0 to the limit. The results from 3DMark for Android will be comparable to the results from the new 3DMark for Windows, also to be released later this year.

Wason Shyu, AVP, ADC BU, RD Center, Acer said, "As one of the top volume consumer electronics and notebook PC companies in the world, we use 3DMark to analyze performance in an objective and scientific manner. This assists in providing our customers with products of the very highest quality that are ready for the most demanding tasks, whether it is exacting physics computations or the purest video game experiences."

Shervin Kheradpir, General Manager of Intel’s Platform Evaluation & Analysis said, “Intel is committed to providing feedback and assistance in the development of tools that intend to evaluate user experience and performance of computing products. Whether we participate in a formal consortium or in the Futuremark Benchmark Development Program we are glad to be part of groups seeking to modernize measurement methods that can keep pace with the rapidly evolving computing industry. We are pleased to see Futuremark bring 3DMark to the Android operating system.”

Tim Leland, Director of Product Management at Qualcomm said, "As the leader in mobile GPU shipments last year with its Snapdragon processors, Qualcomm values impartial measurement of graphics performance. By joining the 3DMark for Android Benchmark Development Program, we’re glad to be working with Futuremark and the other members of the Program to help ensure that the resulting benchmarks are representative of future, real-world 3D graphics content for Android smartphones and tablets."

Futuremark's Benchmark Development Program is an initiative for building partnerships with leading hardware and technology manufacturers. Members include AMD, Imagination Technologies, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Samsung and many other world class companies. An open process of close co-operation helps Futuremark create high-quality, impartial benchmarks that set the industry standard for performance measurement. Find out more at http://www.futuremark.com/bdp/.

3DMark for Android is currently in development and is expected to be released later this year. Follow Futuremark on Facebook for the latest 3DMark news http://www.facebook.com/Futuremark or visit http://www.futuremark.com


Source: Techpowerup 

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Asus P8Z77-VPremium and P8Z77-VPro/Thunderbolt Motherboard Launched

PRESS RELEASE

Further demonstrating its market leading innovation, ASUS has announced the launch of its P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard - the flagship of the P8Z77 Series and the first Intel certified motherboard in the market to offer the latest Thunderbolt connection interface. The PREMIUM designation has been reserved for only the best motherboards with the latest technologies, and the P8Z77-V PREMIUM maintains this standard. In addition to the onboard Thunderbolt connection on the P8Z77-V PREMIUM, ASUS also offers the same technology on the P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT to give consumers a wider range of choices.


"Intel and Asus have worked closely on the implementation of Thunderbolt technology onto Asus motherboards," said Jason Ziller, Intel's Director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "The P8Z77-V PREMIUM is the first Thunderbolt certified motherboard in the industry, a testament to its solid design and compatibility."

Thunderbolt and the latest technologies on board
The ASUS P8Z77-V PREMIUM is the first Thunderbolt motherboard to be certified by Intel, showing its strength in the industry. Thunderbolt is a new, high-speed I/O technology designed for performance, simplicity and flexibility, with lightning fast transfer speeds that are twice that of USB 3.0 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. It offers simultaneous bi-directional, 10 Gbps transfer speeds over a single cable, with the flexibility to daisy-chain up to six Thunderbolt devices with a single connection for a clutter-free computing experience. Users can connect multiple Thunderbolt-enabled external storage drives to a Thunderbolt-enabled display and transfer files while watching HD movies, all without experiencing any lag.

Strength through cooperation
With its long history of working with high tech vendors, ASUS is able to show its strength and commitment to innovation with a close relationship to three of the leading brands currently producing products with Thunderbolt technology, Elgato, LaCie, and PROMISE.


"Elgato is delighted to work with ASUS to bring the world's first portable Thunderbolt drive to Windows," says Markus Fest, Elgato's CEO. "The powerful combination of ASUS' new PREMIUM board technology and the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD dramatically outperforms state-of-the-art portable USB 3.0 or eSATA drives."


"LaCie is pleased to work with ASUS to showcase the power of Thunderbolt technology in a Windows environment," said Erwan Girard, Business Unit Manager for Professional Solutions, LaCie. "Our solutions will deliver the unprecedented speeds and advantages of this technology to PC demanding users, especially those working in digital media applications who continually strive for more performance."


PROMISE is a leading supplier of sophisticated RAID storage solutions catering to customers from the enterprise to SMB, as well as SOHO and digital home applications. They currently offer the world's first Thunderbolt enabled RAID storage solutions and have previously worked 
with ASUS to develop a diversified portfolio to meet customer's requirements.


Premium features for a premium motherboard
The title of PREMIUM carries certain expectations, and as such, the P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard boasts several new features, such as true 4-way NVIDIA SLI and 4-way AMD CrossFireX on the latest PCIe Gen 3.0 slots for maximum graphics performance. Also introduced is advanced SSD Caching II, allowing users to cache additional frequently used programs and files using multiple SSDs to instantly upgrade system performance. A 32 GB mSATA based SSD is also onboard, enabling Intel Smart Response and Rapid Start Technology for super-fast boot up and resume times. Network traffic is expertly handled by a pair of Gigabit Intel LAN ports, ensuring lag free transfers and streaming entertainment.


Dedicated to providing the latest innovations, the P8Z77-V PREMIUM and P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT provides users with the best and most complete solutions available, such as DIP3 with SMART DIGI+ Power Control, Wi-Fi GO! and Fan Xpert 2.


Source: Techpowerup 
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Intel DZ77RE-75K with Thunderbolt Support

Intel is set to release their top of the line Z77 motherboard, the DZ77RE-75K. This motherboard from intel will support thunderbolt I/O which can handle up to 10Gb/s transfer speeds. This motherboard resembles its little brother the DZ77GA-70K, which the only difference between the both of them are the presence of thunderbolt on the 75K.  The thunderbolt I/O is powered by the DSL3310 Thunderbolt controller in tandem with Intel FDI. The DSL3310 unfortunately, is a slim variant in Intel's Thunderbolt controller lineup, which only takes advantage of PCI-Express gen 2.0 x2, so Thunderbolt might not perform to its fullest. This board is ready for launch early next week.

Source: Techpowerup via Vr-Zone and Techpowerup Forums
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Intel 910 series SSD

Intel today finally announced their SSD 910 "Ramsdale" PCI-Express SSD family. This is Intel's first SSD in the form of a PCI-Express add-on card. Like its 2.5" SSD 710 series, the SSD 910 utilizes HET-MLC NAND flash chips, arranged in four SSD subuits. SSD 910 design consists of three stacked PCBs, the one with the PCI-Express 2.0 x8 bus interface holds a PCI-Express to SAS bridge (essentially a RAID controller), and four SAS/NAND ASICs (SSD controllers). Each controller is wired out to its NAND flash memory chips, which are arranged in the other PCBs. The PCIe-SAS bridge is made by LSI. The SSD 910 series comes in two variants based on capacity which are 400 GB and 800 GB. The 400 GB version has just two SSD subunits, and hence provides transfer rates (according to an older article) of 1 GB/s reads and 750 MB/s writes, with 90,000 IOPS reads, with 38,000 IOPS writes; while the 800 GB variant, with its four subunits, provides 2 GB/s reads with 1 GB/s writes, and 180,000 IOPS reads, with 75,000 IOPS writes. The launch price of the SSD 910 400 GB variant is US $1,929; while the 800 GB variant is priced at US $3859, at launch.

Source: Techpowerup

Intel's Studybook Tablet

Intel has decided that it's time to expand its line of student friendly devices with the introduction of the Studybook tablet. This is a 7 inch tablet capable of running either android or windows. The tablet will sport a single core 1.2GHz Atom Z650 CPU which is paired up with the SM35 chipset, as well as a massive 1GB of DDR2 memory. Storage will come will be provided by an SSD ranging from 4GB to 32GB. The 7-inch display has a resolution of 1024x600 and feature wise there is a rear 2Megapixel camera as well as a front facing VGA resolution camera, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, optional Bluetooth and 3G connectivity, a single USB port, a microSD card slot, an optional mini HDMI port, TPM support, an accelerometer and an optional light sensor as well as a speaker and a microphone. This tablet is built to withstand drops of up to 70cm and it's also splash and dust proof. Intel is also providing software to make it suitable for integration in educational environments such as an eReader, a note taker and more importantly various management tools for the teachers so that they can control what the students are allowed to access with their tablets. lastly prices are not yet confirmed but but is expected to retail for as low as US$200 depending on which features are being included.


Source: Vr-Zone 

EVGA Z77 FTW

Evga introduced their Z77 FTW motherboard today. This board is geared up for third generation processors (AKA Ivy Bridge) on the LGA 1155. This board feature five of PCI express lanes which is capable of running 4 way SLI and CrossfireX, all of the PCI express lanes are PCIE 3.0 with exception of an Ivy Bridge CPU. This board has intergrated USB 3.0 and Sata 6GBps  by the intel Z77 chipset. This board also offers dual 8 pin CPU power connectors for maximum stability and extreme overclocking. There are also dual 6 pin power connectors for the PCI express slots, one power connector is used for multi-card stability whereas two power connectors are for extreme overclocking. A 7+1 Phase PWM, POSCAP Capacitors and a CPU socket with 300% increase in gold content deliver clean and stable power to your CPU. This board also supports oveclocks of memory up to 2133 MHz. This board is availible for pre-order at $329.99.

Source: Wccftech 

Wintel Tablets ?

Wintel tablets are basically windows+Intel, pricing of these tablets will start at $599 and will go up to $799. which launches along with Microsoft's latest Windows 8 operating system, which grab a greater market-share than WoA (Windows on ARM) tablets by the end of 2012, DigiTimes research predicts. PC majors such as HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, ASUStek and Toshiba, have all pledged 1-3 models of Wintel tablets by the end of 2012. Although still an emerging market-segment, tablets will see a clash between x86 and ARM architectures, as they are wooing for the same exact class of devices for the first time in computing history. Intel has made a lot of progress in miniaturizing the Atom processor, while led by the likes of Qualcomm and NVIDIA, ARM processors are getting stronger. 


Source: Techpowerup, Digitimes, PCLaunches

Asus Z77

the Usual style of the back of the asus motherboards box. there are many info about this board in this picture. one of the key things are they still retain their sandy bridge motherboard look

Chinese online marketplace site Taobao has listings of two yet-to-launch motherboards based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, the Wibtek Z77 Hacker (we earlier covered news of that listing  and now, the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe. This will be among ASUS' premium LGA1155 motherboards based on the new chipset. It is priced at (US $396), which seems to be at the price of a low end X79 motherboard.The P8Z77-V Deluxe supports DDR3-2800 MHz with overclocking. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), wired to the CPU, supporting NVIDIA SLI, AMD CrossFire and Lucid VirtuMVP; one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH); and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots. Good riddance to legacy PCI. Display connectivity lacks archaic connectors such as DVI and D-Sub, includes HDMI and DisplayPort, instead. Storage connectivity consists of four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from a third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and two eSATA 6 Gb/s. Other connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (one driven by Intel 82579V, one by Realtek RTL8111F PHY); Wireless b/g/n (quad-band); Bluetooth 3.0; 8+2 channel HD audio (Realtek ALC898 HDA CODEC); 8 USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two via front-panel header); and 8 USB 2.0 ports. There are several ASUS-exclusives to be had, such as its UEFI BIOS with EZMode, EPU, TurboV Processing Unit (TPU), and others. all this info brings to a conclusion, the ivy bridge platfor is about to be released.


Source: Techpowerup, Tweaktown

Intel Haswell

More new about Hashwell , one of the main news about it is that Hashwell will support DirectX 11.1 (also means support for next windows OS). it will also support OpenCL 1.2, which speeds up certain GPGPU-optimized applications. More importantly, the iGPU will be designed around a new stereoscopic 3D standard called Auto-Stereoscopic 3D (AS3D), which will take the likes of Blu-ray 3D acceleration, stereo 3D photos, etc., to the masses. Currently, it takes at least an entry-level GeForce or Radeon GPU to for acceptable performance with stereo 3D.

Source: Techpowerup