We're happy to share that Framework Laptop 16's are now in customer hands. It's been an excellent journey over the last two years designing and building an ultra-upgradeable, high-performance machine, and we're excited to see the early feedback. As always with Framework products, the first shipment is just the beginning, and we're looking forward to continuing to deliver on longevity, upgradeability, and repairability as we go. We've seen more press reviews go live as well, including by far the most thorough one, a deep dive from Jarrod's Tech that includes both a broad range of benchmarks and subjective evaluation of the overall experience. Framework Laptop 16 pre-orders are still open as we continue to manufacture our way through the pre-order batches. Most of our factory capacity, which we doubled last year, is now allocated to getting you Framework Laptop 16's as quickly as we can.

We recently uploaded the first set of developer documentation around Framework Laptop 16 internals on GitHub, adding to the existing material we have for the Expansion Bay and Input Module systems. The new release includes drawings and connector part numbers for the Mainboard to enable re-use. We'll continue to build out this documentation over time, like we have for Framework Laptop 13.

Seizing the Edge: Cervoz Adapts to Shifting Data Landscape—The rapid emergence of technologies like AIoT and 5G and their demand for high-speed data processing has accelerated the data transition from the cloud to the edge. This shift exposes data to unpredictable environments with extreme temperature variations, vibrations, and space constraints, making it critical for edge devices to thrive in these settings. Cervoz strategically targets the blooming edge computing sector by introducing an extensive array of compact product lines, enhancing its existing SSDs, DRAM, and Modular Expansion Cards to meet the unique needs of edge computing.

Cervoz Reveals NVMe M.2 SSDs and Connectivity Solutions to Power the Edge
Cervoz introduces its latest compact PCIe Gen. 3x2 SSD offerings, the T421 M.2 2242 (B+M key) and T425 M.2 2230 (A+E key). These space-efficient design and low power consumption feature offer exceptional performance, catering to the storage needs of fanless embedded PCs and motherboards for purpose-built edge applications. Cervoz is also leading the way in developing connectivity solutions, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Serial, USB, and CAN Bus all available in M.2 2230 (A+E key) and M.2 2242/2260/2280 (B+M) form factors. The M.2 (B+M key) 2242/2260/2280 card is a versatile three-in-one solution designed for maximum adaptability. While it initially comes in a 2280 form factor, it can be easily adjusted to fit 2260 or 2242 sizes. It offers an effortless upgrade of existing systems without sacrificing connection capability, especially in edge devices.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today introduced the new dual-port QXG-25G2SF-E810 25GbE SFP28 network expansion card. Equipped with the Intel Ethernet Controller E810-XXVAM2, the QXG-25G2SF-E810 supports PCIe Gen 4 (backwards compatible with PCIe Gen 3) and can be installed in QNAP NAS and Window /Linux workstations/servers. It fulfills the demand for upgrading to low-latency enterprise-level 25GbE networks, and is ideal for server rooms, virtualization applications, media streaming/real-time editing, and data backup/restore.

"Virtualization, 4K/8K video editing, and other data-intense applications have accelerated the adoption of 25GbE networks by enterprises and creative industries," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "25GbE is agile, scalable, and provides an easy upgrade path to 100GbE. The QXG-25G2SF-E810 adapter provides these advantages and enables future-proofed bandwidth-efficient workflows for organizations."

In keeping with Framework's philosophy, the Framework Laptop 16 has socketed memory and storage, making it easy for you to choose what you need on day one and upgrade to more any time later. Our pre-built configurations have set combinations of memory and storage, while on DIY Edition, you can choose any of the modules we offer in the Marketplace or bring your own if you prefer. We've taken both memory and storage to the next level on Framework Laptop 16. For memory, we've created new semi-custom Framework-branded DDR5-5600 modules. For storage, we have two M.2 slots, as well as the ability to add two more in the Expansion Bay for colossal storage capacity.

One core challenge we aimed to solve for memory on the Framework Laptop 16 was being able to offer the same modules for pre-built systems, DIY Edition, and the Framework Marketplace. Historically, we needed to source separate "OEM" modules from Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron for use in our factory, and "Retail" modules from Crucial to offer in DIY Edition and the Marketplace. Instead, we worked with memory maker ADATA to create custom-label modules that we can use across all areas. Currently, we're leveraging SK Hynix DDR5-5600 memory chips for these modules, but may use other chips that meet the performance bar in the future as well.

Western Digital has officially unveiled its WD_BLACK C50 expansion card lineup for Microsoft's current generation Xbox Series X and S consoles, to not much surprise given that one of these products was leaked back in Spring of this year. Best Buy preempted Western Digital's announcement just over two months ago when a listing for the WD_BLACK C50 1 TB model appeared on their store site. Seagate has been the official partner (with Microsoft) for the manufacture and distribution of Xbox Series console storage expansion cards since launch time (November 2020), and has recently adjusted their pricing - possibly in anticipation of Western Digital's cheaper third party alternatives.

Xbox Series console owners have often complained about the system's expensive proprietary storage expansion ecosystem (relative to Sony's PlayStation 5 utilizing industry standard M.2 SSDs), so new competition in this highly controlled market segment is welcome. Two WD_BLACK C50 expansion cards are now available from today - in the shape of 1T B ($149.99) and 500 GB ($79.99) models. Susan Park, vice president, global strategic partnerships at Western Digital has introduced these new offerings: "Xbox consoles have been a much beloved gaming staple in households around the globe for decades. With the introduction of the WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card for Xbox, gamers can continue to enjoy their favorite games with more flexibility so they can focus on accomplishing their next mission or defeating their final boss." Western Digital specifies that these units come with a five-year long warranty, and a further incentive for purchase is an included one-month trial of Game Pass Ultimate.

Microsoft's official Xbox Twitter account has today announced that its official range of Xbox Series console storage expansion cards has been reduced in price: "Think of all the new games you'll be able to download and play now 👀. The Seagate Storage Expansion Card is now available starting at a lower price: xbx.lv/41e8t57." It is slightly odd that Seagate itself has not announced this lowering of gaming product MSRPs, but today's changes only affect the US market - European and UK listings feature the old prices (at the time of writing). It is not clear whether this discount is a permanent or temporary thing, but the latter is a more likely situation given rumors from last month.

It is very possible that Seagate is reacting to new competition - last month a Best Buy listing revealed that Western Digital is lining up to provide third party storage expansion cards for Xbox Series console owners. The leak of WD's incoming offerings indicated that it would be undercutting its arch rival in terms of pricing, at least with the single model that leaked (1 TB at $179.99) - Seagate has a timed exclusive agreement with Microsoft/Xbox for the licensed production/selling of proprietary cards. The officially sanctioned price drop brings the cards to more reasonable value levels, but Xbox owners have largely agreed that MSRPs were inflated from the beginning. The entry-level 512 GB Seagate model now costs $89.99 (a $50 reduction), the 1 TB model is now available at $149.99 (a $70 reduction) and the top-end 2 TB model gets the largest price slash (of $120) which brings it down to $279.99. Seagate appears to be undercutting WD's BLACK C50 1 TB model (if the Best Buy info leak price was accurate) by $30 with the official 1 TB storage expansion card.

It appears that Western Digital is readying its own line of Xbox Series X|S Storage Expansion cards, and undercutting its big rival - Seagate - in a currently exclusive storage solution market. Word spread across several gaming communities over the past weekend about a new listing on Best Buy, now removed as of late April 2, for a 1 TB capacity WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card with an asking price of $179.99. WD has offered official external storage solutions for the current generation of Xbox home games consoles, under its WD_BLACK range, but Microsoft granted exclusive manufacturing rights to Seagate for the proprietary Xbox Series X|S storage expansion card system. According to official site information and documentation, these expansion cards are effective in "delivering additional external memory while maintaining the same peak speed and performance as the console's internal SSD".

The Seagate range could have been a timed exclusive, and based on the now deleted Best Buy listing, Microsoft seems to have handed a license to WD. The 1 TB WD_BLACK C50 Expansion Card's pricing was a big talking point, due to it being substantially cheaper than the equivalent capacity Seagate model ($219.99) - a saving of forty dollars, which is an encouraging sign for gamers who have long complained that the Xbox proprietary expansion card offers bad value for money. Seagate's current crop of cards start at $139.99 (512 GB) and go up to $399.99 (2 TB).

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, introduced new QM2 PCIe Gen 3 expansion cards: the QM2-2P-344A and QM2-2P-384A. QM2 cards can be installed in compatible QNAP NAS or Windows /Linux PCs/workstations to add M.2 NVMe SSD slots (M.2 SSD sold separately) for boosting system performance and increasing storage capacity.

"The QM2-2P-344A and QM2-2P-384A are a budget-friendly expansion solution for both QNAP NAS and PC/workstations, providing flexible M.2 NVMe SSD configuration with easy-to-use tool-free installation," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "Compared with SATA-based SSDs, the QM2's PCIe interface provides higher bandwidth to deliver faster transfer speed and data access."

QNAP Systems, today launched the QXG-100G2SF-CX6 dual-port 100GbE PCIe 4.0 expansion card. Featuring an NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx controller, the QXG-100G2SF-CX6 can be installed in a QNAP all-flash NAS or Windows /Linux workstations/servers to provide up to 200 Gbps total throughput. The QXG-100G2SF-CX6 is suited for overcoming performance bottlenecks with incredibly low-latency in bandwidth-demanding applications including data centers, virtualization, multimedia streaming/transfer, and mission-critical backup/restore tasks.

"Server efficiency and virtualization density drive the growing demands for higher bandwidth, and the QXG-100G2SF-CX6 network expansion card provides an accessible solution for upgrading to 100 GbE network environments to boost performance and reduce latency," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "The QXG-100G2SF-CX6 is a feature-rich networking solution with advanced technologies for lowering CPU workloads, making it ideal for I/O-intensive, latency-sensitive virtualization and enterprise-class storage applications."

Transcend, a leading brand of digital storage and multimedia products, released a 1 TB JetDrive Lite 330 expansion card which is exclusively designed for MacBook Pro 2021. Its tiny design and high capacity expands the storage space of the MacBook Pro in a snap, increasing users' efficiency by backing up digital files.

The latest MacBook Pro models released in 2021 are equipped with an SD card slot, fulfilling the wishes of consumers out there. Transcend's JetDrive Lite 330 expansion card seamlessly integrates with the MacBook, offering consumers another affordable option to expand their Mac internal storage capacity. Built with high-quality NAND flash, the JetDrive Lite 330 delivers impeccable R/W speeds of up to 95/75 MB/s. Multiple capacities from 128 GB to 1 TB are available for consumers to choose from based on their needs, ideal for Time Machine backups and iTunes libraries. More space can be saved from the internal drive to allow 3D rendering, graphic design, or software development.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the new QXP-1600eS-A1164 quad-port external SATA expansion card. Designed for QNAP TL series SATA JBOD, the QXP-1600eS-A1164 is compatible with QNAP NAS, Windows /Ubuntu PCs and servers with a PCIe port. Each SATA lane directly connects to a single SATA drive to deliver excellent transfer performance.

"The new QXP-1600eS-A1164 SATA expansion card doesn't need any drivers and provides a more convenient solution than its previous generation. It can be used with a QNAP TL SATA JBOD for expanding the capacity of NAS or PCs to provide future-proof scalability." said Candice Chiang, Product Manager of QNAP. The QXP-1600eS-A1164 can be used with QNAP SATA JBOD (supported from QTS 4.5.4 or QuTS hero h4.5.4), including setting RAID parameters and creating a storage pool using the Storage and Snapshots app. When the QXP-1600eS-A1164 is installed in a Windows or Ubuntu device, the QNAP JBOD Manager desktop utility can be used to quickly obtain and view information about the JBOD status, health, fan speed, and check for firmware updates.

ASUS this week rolled out the IPMI Expansion Card, an add-on card that lends your PC or workstation remote-management capabilities on par with servers or HPC units in a data-center. The half-height add-on card is essentially an ASPEED AST2600A3-GP multi-function remote-management chip on a stick. On the I/O side, it puts out a 1 GbE remote-management network interface, and a VGA connector for some very basic display.

It connects to your machine over a PCI-Express 3.0 x1 host interface, along a BMC, PM-bus, and SPI headers. and relies on a 6-pin PCIe power connector for its power needs. Quite a few of ASUS's workstation-class motherboards feature these headers. It also puts out eight 4-pin PWM fan headers. The card lets you perform remote management, including remote BMC firmware updates, over a web-browser based control panel. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information.

More than ever, today's Xbox fans needs more storage space to keep their console games easily accessible without sacrificing performance. Today, Seagate Technology plc, officially added 512 GB and 2 TB capacity options to its Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S line up. Just in time for the holidays, players can now choose from 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB external storage capacities for a streamlined gaming experience replicating the speed and performance of their Xbox Series X|S console's internal storage.

With a sleek design exclusively designed for Xbox, the Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is the only external storage device that enables users to leverage the full performance of the Xbox Velocity Architecture when playing games that have been optimized for the next generation of Xbox consoles. With the added capacities, more Xbox fans can collect and play new and legacy games directly from the storage card without sacrificing graphics, speed, load times, or frame rates. The Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is backwards compatible with games from all four generations of Xbox, including Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox. It includes a three-year limited warranty, so players have peace of mind knowing their games and data are safe.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, launched its first dual-port 100 GbE network expansion card - the QXG-100G2SF-E810. Featuring an Intel Ethernet Controller E810 and PCIe 4.0, the QXG-100G2SF-E810 provides up to 100 Gbps bandwidth for QNAP NAS or Windows /Linux devices to attain optimal performance in a wide range of applications and services. It is a perfect match for unleashing the full potential of QNAP's TS-h2490FU NVMe all-flash storage that can be paired with high-speed switches for high-performance, low-latency data centers.

"The QXG-100G2SF-E810 redefines ultra-high-speed networking with 100 Gbps connectivity," said Stanley Huang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "Users can also configure network redundancy to achieve network failover via the switch for continuous service and high availability." The QXG-100G2SF-E810 is ideal for I/O-intensive and latency-sensitive virtualization and data centers, and boosts network efficiency with the support of iWARP/RDMA and SR-IOV (coming soon). When used in a server or workstation, it supports Windows Server (2016 or 2019) and Linux platforms (Drivers required).

QNAP Systems, Inc., today launched the QM2-2P2G2T PCIe card which adds M.2 SSD slots and 2.5 GbE connectivity to a QNAP NAS or PC/server/workstation. NAS users can benefit from 2.5 GbE connectivity, improve overall NAS performance by enabling SSD caching, and upgrade NAS storage capacity without occupying any 3.5-inch drive bays. PC/server/workstation users can increase their storage capacity while also boosting overall IOPS performance by offloading bandwidth-demanding tasks to SSDs to minimize application loading times.

The QM2-2P2G2T features dual 2.5GBASE-T Multi-Gigabit (2.5G/1G/100M/10M) network ports to boost bandwidth-demanding tasks. M.2 SSD thermal sensors allow real-time temperature monitoring, with a quiet cooling module (heatsink and smart fan) to keep the SSDs running within optimal temperatures.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the QXP-1620S and QXP-820S SAS storage expansion card. By installing the cards into a QNAP NAS, users can connect it to TL SAS JBOD storage enclosures and REXP expansion units to expand their total storage capacity. Multiple expansion units can be daisy-chained via high-speed mini SAS HD cables to expand the total storage capacity up to 4.6PB.

"SAS-based storage solutions provide low-latency, power-efficiency, and IOPS-optimized storage capabilities and are ideal for creating highly-reliable IT environments for virtualization, surveillance, Big Data, video editing, and TV broadcast storage. By installing a QXP-1620S or QXP-820S in your NAS, you can upgrade your IT environment to take advantage of the high-performance, high-availability and high-reliability of SAS." said Stanley Huang, Product Manager of QNAP.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the QXP-T32P Thunderbolt 3 expansion card. Providing dual-port Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, the QXP-T32P is a PCIe Gen 3 x4 card that can be installed in the TVS-h1288X and TVS-h1688X. By installing a QXP-T32P in a NAS, video editing studios in particular can greatly benefit from the increased bandwidth and connectivity to smoothly transfer, display and edit 4K videos in real-time.

"Many video editing studios use QNAP products, providing us with greater understanding of their needs and requirements. We understand that not many of them have dedicated IT staff to handle upgrading and installing hardware, so we aim to provide easy solutions for adding additional connectivity and bandwidth" said Stanley Huang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "the easy-to-install Thunderbolt 3 expansion card provides the ability to greatly boost teamwork between Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro users. With SMB protocol support, Final Cut Pro users can create a library on a NAS volume and use it as if it were a local storage device."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the QXP-10G2U3A - a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Dual-port PCIe Expansion Card which provides speeds of up to 10 Gbps. QNAP USB 3.2 Gen 2 Expansion Cards can be installed in QNAP NAS with a PCIe slot, or Windows /Linux desktops/servers to enable faster connections to modern USB devices.

The QXP-10G2U3A includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, with each port providing up to 10 Gbps data transfer speeds. It supports the USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP) to facilitate fast file-sharing data transfers, uses advanced low-power processes, and follows standard PCIe/USB bus Power Management to optimize power consumption. The QXP-10G2U3A also supports overcurrent detection and short circuit protection.

ASRock is looking to launch a PCIe expansion card for all of your M.2 needs. Should you find your current motherboard is already full to the gills with M.2 SSDs, ASRock's Hyper Quad M.2 PCIe expansion card will allow you to increase M.2 vacancy by up to four additional slots (there's an on-off toggle for you to move in the PCB to select the active M.2 SSDs). The card uses the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface to sufficiently feed the four M.2 SSDs (which typically use the PCIe 4x NVMe protocol) with data.

This is a top notch expansion card design, featuring an aluminium cover and a 50 mm fan to cool down all those SSDs' controllers. The cover features 4x 110 mm thermal pads which align with the M.2 mounts on the PCB, thus allowing the aluminium cover to serve as a veritable heatsink and improve operating temperatures. The expansion card is fed by a single 6-pin power connector, and there is an activity LED for quality of life improvements. No word on pricing just yet.

Gigabyte has announced and released a new PCIe Expansion card which will allow users to add a 20 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (such a mouthful) connector to their PC. This solution lacks any sort of hub, and it's a single-connector affair, which limits its usefulness by a fair share. According to Gigabyte, this solution has been thought-up for users who are satisfied with their current systems but were left in the cold when it comes to supporting the latest standard - eliminating the need to upgrade their motherboard before its time. Users will have to sacrifice a PCIe x4 slot for this expansion, though. No pricing is available at time of writing.