MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, blasts into 2015 with an award winning lineup of gaming solutions, including the GT80 Titan SLI, the world's first gaming laptop with an integrated mechanical keyboard; CES Innovation award recipient GS30 Shadow with Gaming Dock, GT72 Dominator Pro, AG240 4K All-In-One gaming PC, and X99A GAMING 9 ACK motherboard; along with a new and redesigned GE62 Apache for the next generation of MSI's GE Series gaming laptops and others.

"PC gaming is constantly evolving and our new lineup of battle machines are ready to take on any challenge," says Andy Tung, President of MSI Pan America. "We've thrown down the gauntlet with a selection of outstanding choices for every type of gamer."

Apple's next entry to its pathbreaking ultra-portable notebook, the MacBook Air, will be a new 12-inch screen size version. As with every new MacBook Air release for the past two years, there's talk of a screen resolution jump to "Retina" standards. Apple is preparing other cutting-edge hardware updates.

To begin with, Apple will tap Intel's latest Core M "Broadwell-U" chip, an SoC that combines a dual-core "Broadwell" CPU with graphics, a dual-channel DDR3L IMC, and system agent onto a single chip, with an overall TDP of 15W. Apple is working on a new fanless cooling system for this chip. The other big feature-set upgrade is the USB 3.1 port, which Intel plans to launch with the system agent for its next processor platform. USB 3.1 doubles bandwidth to 10 Gbps, and steps up power-delivery, letting you charge your portable devices faster.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), working in liaison with the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, today announced the publication of the DisplayPort Alternate Mode ("Alt Mode") on USB Type-C Standard. Using the DisplayPort Alt Mode, a USB Type-C connector and cable can deliver full DisplayPort audio/video (A/V) performance, driving monitor resolutions of 4K and beyond, SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.1) data and up to 100 watts of power--over a single cable. The DisplayPort Alt Mode can also drive adaptors that support the huge installed base of existing DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and VGA displays.

VESA utilized the Alternate Mode functional extension of the USB Type-C specification in the development of this new Standard. The DisplayPort Alt Mode repurposes some or all of the four existing SuperSpeed USB lanes to deliver full DisplayPort performance, and uses other signaling available in the USB Type-C connector for DisplayPort's AUX channel and HPD (Hot Plug Detection) function. This enables computers, tablets, smartphones, displays, and docking stations to implement the new USB Type-C connector at both ends while using the DisplayPort Standard over USB Type-C to transmit high-resolution A/V along with USB data and power.

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today announced that it will exhibit and present the latest USB developments at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, September 9-11. At IDF, the USB-IF will host a Technology Community, present technical sessions on the new USB Type-C connector, and host press briefings featuring new technology demonstrations.

Just like its rival MSI, ASUS has decided to showcase a little USB advancement at Computex 2014. To do that the company put on display not one but two LGA1150 motherboards (probably Z97-based) featuring USB 3.1 support courtesy of an ASMedia controller.

The USB 3.1 ports on ASUS' boards - codenamed Quicksilver (ATX) and Shadowcat (mini ITX), offer maximum transfer rates of 10 Gbps and up to 100 W for connected devices. Shadowcat also packs two DDR3 memory slots, four SATA ports, one PCI-Express x16 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 5.1 channel audio, and D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.

In addition to the first motherboard with DDR4 memory support, MSI showed off the industry's first motherboard featuring 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports. The unnamed socket LGA1150 motherboard is based on Intel's Z97 Express chipset, and uses a third-party ASMedia ASM1142 controller to drive two USB 3.1 ports. The controller is wired to the PCH over PCI-Express 2.0 x2. The rest of the board's feature-set appears consistent with the Z97 Gaming 7.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced the release of the DockPort standard. Developed by several VESA member companies, DockPort is an optional extension of the DisplayPort standard that will allow USB 3.1 data and DC power for battery charging to be carried over a single DisplayPort connector and cable that also carries high-resolution audio/video (A/V) data. This new extension of the DisplayPort standard is fully backward compatible with all existing DisplayPort devices. When a DockPort-enabled DisplayPort source-such as a computer or tablet-is connected with a DockPort-enabled DisplayPort sink-such as a display monitor or docking station-A/V plus USB data and power will be transferred over a common cable through a single connector. If either the source or sink device is not a DockPort-enabled, then source and sink will recognize only the DisplayPort A/V data stream.

Intel is continuing on its mission to establish Thunderbolt as the next universal device interconnect standard, despite steep competition from the 5 Gb/s USB 3.0, the upcoming 10 Gb/s USB 3.1, and stringent validation and licensing barriers on its own end. To that effect, the company outlined its mainstream Thunderbolt controller, which it plans to launch some time in 2014. The company is planning two major introductions to the standard, to help it compete against USB - power delivery, and ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) networking.

The controller, Broadwell Thunderbolt-LP, isn't designed too differently from what's available in the market. It handles a 20 Gb/s Thunderbolt link by aggregating two 10 Gb/s channels, relays DisplayPort 1.2 from the system's graphics device, and connects to the rest of the system over PCIe 2.0 x2. The chip is built in the 8 x 8 mm package, and features operational and idle TDP ratings of 1.5W and 1mW, respectively. The changes Intel is making to the standard will enable power delivery of up to 53W over a standard tethered cable. That's enough power to run a drive dock with up to six 3.5-inch hard drives, or a small (<24-inch) flat-screen monitor. The other big feature is ad-hoc networking, which enables people to set up peer-to-peer 20 Gb/s connections between two PCs much in the same way they did with USB and RS232, back in the day. While it's no Ethernet replacement, it could prove useful in certain environments, such as content-creation. Intel is expected to make some Thunderbolt-related announcements at CES, next January.

Fresco Logic, a global fabless semiconductor company that develops and markets advanced connectivity solutions, demonstrated SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps (USB 3.1) data transfer on its hardware development platform at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). This demonstration marks the first public showing of a working SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps host and mass storage device transferring data. USB is the most successful standard in the history of computing, and in its newest revision, USB 3.1, the data transfer rate jumps to 10 Gb/s on a bi-directional link, more than double the effective bandwidth of the already fast SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) standard.

"The USB-IF is pleased to see Fresco Logic develop early implementations that showcase key features supported by the USB 3.1 specification," said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President & COO. "The Fresco Logic demonstration shows a significant performance increase that devices and hosts will support based on the USB 3.1 specification, and the demo shows the value that this performance increase brings to consumers."