Plugable's new 480GB external NVME SSD drive hits performance levels not possible before Thunderbolt 3. Connect the drive to a Thunderbolt 3 port to gain 480GB of extra storage with amazing speeds of up to 2400+ MB/sec read and 1200+ MB/sec write, all without the need for an external power connection. These speeds make this external drive a no-compromise performance solution for video editing, backup, and any tasks which demand maximum disk performance. "Thunderbolt 3 is a revolutionary technology," said Bernie Thompson, CEO of Plugable Technologies. "We've created our line of high-end docks, adapters, and drives to show it off."

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin (2018), a versatile notebook that provides consumers with the accessibility needed to remain productive in today's digital world. Designed for working professionals, students and those looking for entertainment, the Notebook 7 Spin (2018) offers modern features including a 360-degree touchscreen for added convenience; an Active Pen (sold separately) for quick and easy note-taking; as well as the power and performance for more efficient multi-tasking.

"Our customers wanted a functional, intuitive device that includes a wide range of their favorite features, and that's what we've delivered with the Notebook 7 Spin (2018)," said YoungGyoo Choi, Senior Vice President of the PC Business Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. "This device meets the needs of today's digital lifestyle, combining work and play with a smart, seamless and personalized experience that connects users with their other devices."

Toshiba Memory America, Inc. (TMA), the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, will be highlighting the use of its industry-leading BiCS FLASH 3D memory in several applications - including its new lineup of NVMe SSDs, the RC100 Series.

At CES, TMA is collaborating with its customers and technology partners to take on the future - together. Toshiba was the first company in the world[1] to announce 3D flash memory technology, which effectively addresses the processing, storage and management of the growing volume of data generated worldwide. Recent announcements see the company continuing to lead the industry forward, including the introduction of a 96-layer 512Gb die; the debut of the industry's first[2] flash memory device with quadruple-level cell (QLC) technology; and the addition of Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology. Already enabling the enterprise, data center, PC and mobile applications of today, TMA's BiCS FLASH has paved the way for the applications of tomorrow. In everything from artificial intelligence and virtual reality to a growing number of automotive applications (such as infotainment), high performance computing and the ever-expanding "internet of things," storage density needs will climb higher and higher - and BiCS FLASH was designed with this in mind.

Cost effectiveness is a key factor that drove many successes in a well established company. With ICY DOCK's ToughArmor series removable 2.5" SSD / HDD enclosures, we are introducing a different kind of cost effectiveness or we called it "space efficiency" by creating flexible configurations for data drives in a standard drive bay as seen in many HP and DELL workstations or servers. Whether you need to add 8 x 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD in a single 5.25" bay of your HP workstation, or replace the slim optical disk drive with hot-swappable 2.5" HDD/SSD bay, the ToughArmor got you covered!

• Key features of ICY DOCK ToughArmor series:
• Ruggedized Full Metal Construction
• Heavy Duty Removable Drive Caddy
• High Storage Density Design for Space Saving
• Approved and Used by First Tier Company such as HP and GE
• Complimentary Technical Support with 3-Year Warranty

Transcend Information Inc., a leading manufacturer of storage and multimedia products, is proud to announce the release of JetDrive 825 Thunderbolt PCIe portable solid-state drive (SSD) for Mac computers. The drive utilizes the powerful JetDrive 820 PCIe SSD as its storage media featuring 3D NAND flash and a PCIe Gen3 x2 interface. The JetDrive 825 offers lightning-fast transfer speeds and large capacities, making it the perfect storage upgrade for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and Mac Pro.

Thunderbolt technology in a sleek case
Transcend's JetDrive 825 features a 10Gb/s Thunderbolt interface, capable of blazing-fast file transfers. The drive is housed in sleek, aluminum alloy enclosure which was designed to tastefully complement your Mac's simple, clean design. In addition, the inner SSD is removable for greater ease of use based on users' preferences.

PLEXTOR, a leading manufacturer of award-winning solid-state drives (SSDs) and other high-performance digital storage devices for consumers, today announced the launch of its newest NVMe PCIe SSD the M9Pe Series. The new M9Pe SSD Series has adopted advanced 64-layer 3D NAND and flagship controller along with exclusive PlexNitro, smart cache technology, delivering unprecedented sequential read/write up to 3,200/2,100 MB/s and random read/write up to 400,000/300,000 IOPS. The M9Pe puts improved performance and durability in its crosshairs.

Aimed at high-level PC gaming such as eSports, the M9Pe boasts of its superior components to deliver less lags and 20% faster boot up times compared to a typical SATA drive. The new M9Pe (HHHL/AIC version only) also sports a new eye-catching design with its programmable 3-mode RGB LED lights for the perfect visual appeal on any desktop gaming setup. Similar to its predecessors, the new M9Pe features a high-performing thermal heatsink (M9PeY and M9PeG only) to help regulate SSD temperatures during prolonged gaming sessions resulting to stabilized performance.

Silicon Motion announced their ultra-high speed SM226x PCIe NVMe SSD controllers back in August. The family consists of four controllers (SM2262EN, SM2262, SM2263, and SM2263XT) that are aimed at different segments. Taipower's new Mirage NP900 NVMe SSD is the first consumer product to utilize one of Silicon Motion's latest controllers. We don't expect the SSD to be available in large numbers outside the Asian continent. Nevertheless, the Mirage NP900 grants us a glimpse of the SM2262 controller's performance. The drive registers sequential read speeds of 2685 MB/s and write speeds of 1695 MB/s in the AS SSD benchmark. With CES 2018 almost upon us, we are positive that Silicon Motion partners like Adata, Intel, Micron/Crucial, and SanDisk/Western Digital are surely going to present their new Silicon Motion powered NVMe SSDs soon.

SilverStone rolled out the TP02-M2, a heatsink for 80 mm-long M.2 SSDs (M.2-2280). This chunky aluminium heatsink is 1 cm tall, and weighs a little over 16 g. In addition to a 3 g-ish adhesive thermal pad, it would have added close to 20 g of weight onto the various soldered components of your drive; but SilverStone is clever enough to include two silicone bands that strap the heatsink onto the drive, offloading some of that weight. The heatsink was tested by its designers to significantly lower temperatures of NAND flash chips and controllers, which pose performance penalties on faster NVMe SSDs. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Corsair rolled out the range-topping 1,600 GB variant of the Neutron NX500 PCI-Express SSD series, which made its debut in August 2017 (variant SKU: CSSD-N1600GBNX500). The drive is priced at 1,770€ (including taxes). The half-height, single-slot add-on card features PCI-Express 3.0 x4 bus interface, and takes advantage of the NVMe 1.2 protocol. The drives combine Phison PS5007-E7 controllers with Toshiba-made 15 nm MLC NAND flash memory.

It has a rated sequential performance of up to 3,000 MB/s reads, with up to 2,300 MB/s writes when tested with ATTO; up to 2,800 MB/s reads with up to 1,600 MB/s writes when tested with CrystalDiskMark; and random-access performance of up to 300,000 IOPS 4K reads, with up to 270,000 IOPS 4K writes, when tested with IOMeter. Its endurance is rated at 2,793 TBW, and is backed by a 5-year warranty.

Intel seems to be looking to further expand its lineup of the 900P SSD, according to an official Intel document the folks at myce.com got access to. The file, a Product Change Notification (PCN), is usually used by Intel to denote revisions or new products for their manufacturing facilities. And the PCN 115990 - 00 lists increased capacities of 960 GB and 1,5 TB for their 900P SSD.

The newly listed products aren't the only things of note here, though. There have also been some label changes, and reduced voltages across the board. The retail box label will now also include the firmware version the unit ships with, which will definitely come in handy in case there is a known bad batch in these SSDs (as unlikely as that is to be).

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass production of the industry's first 512-gigabyte (GB) embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for use in next-generation mobile devices. Utilizing Samsung's latest 64-layer 512-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND chips, the new 512GB eUFS package provides unparalleled storage capacity and outstanding performance for upcoming flagship smartphones and tablets.

"The new Samsung 512GB eUFS provides the best embedded storage solution for next-generation premium smartphones by overcoming potential limitations in system performance that can occur with the use of micro SD cards," said Jaesoo Han, executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "By assuring an early, stable supply of this advanced embedded storage, Samsung is taking a big step forward in contributing to timely launches of next-generation mobile devices by mobile manufacturers around the world."

Apacer knows it best when it comes to speed and uncompromised gaming performance. Z280, the latest answer to advanced SSDs, supports PCIe Gen 3 x4 and is compliant with NVMe 1.2 in a M.2 form factor. The blazing speed will boost the game status without getting too costly. With sustained read/write performance at 2750MB/s and 1500MB/s, the compact M.2-2280 keeps everything efficient at a massive capacity of 480GB. Want to be one step ahead of others? Look no further than Z280, the high-performing SSD that is compatible with mini PCs and laptops.

Rapidity & Jumbo Storage
Built with upscale SSD technologies that Apacer is synonymous for and excellent quality MLC, the cutting-edge Z280 is compliant with NVMe 1.2 standard and features the latest PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface to provide up to 4 times of bandwidth. The expert team at Apacer raised the bar of the industry by creating a blistering transmission at 2750/MB & 1500MB per second. Offering a massive memory capacity of 480GB, Z280 has a random write of 175,000 IOPs to ensure all actions in each gaming scene is smoothly processed, fluid and sharp, efficiently boosting a gamer's status.

Toshiba Memory Corporation, the world leader in memory solutions, has enhanced its line-up of client SSDs with the launch of premium models in its XG5-P series. The new NVM Express (NVMe) client SSDs improve on the performance of the current XG5 series models and double the maximum capacity to 2 TB. Sample shipments to OEM customers start today in limited quantities, and Toshiba Memory Corporation will gradually increase shipments from the first calendar quarter of 2018.

The XG5-P series also utilizes a PCI Express (PCIe) Gen3 x4 lane and NVM Express Revision 1.2.1 interface, and delivers performance of up to 3000 MB/s sequential read and 2200 MB/s sequential write, and up to 320,000 IOPS random read and 265,000 IOPS random write. Its random read/write performance in full access range is approximately 55% better than that of standard XG5 series products. At the same time, low power consumption is maintained at less than 60 mW during operation.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing new passive heatsinks for M.2 NVMe Next Generation Form Factor SSDs in multiple color options! The popularity of the existing Black and Nickel plated M.2 NVMe heatsinks clearly indicated the need for more color options, so here they are! It is not a secret that M.2 NVMe SSDs can overheat very easily and be affected by thermal throttling, thus losing performance. The EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink can lower the SSDs operating temperature by 7 to 30°C.

The design of the heatsink ensures that it is easy to install, it is low profile, easily reusable and aesthetically non-intrusive. Simple clips ensure that the heatsink is very easy to install and to re-use if the SSD is upgraded. The ribbed surface of the heatsink acts as a very effective passive cooler, as well as aesthetic cover. Its simple design ensures a sleek, non-intrusive look that can be easily combined with any aesthetical requirement of the user. The compact design makes it highly compatible so that it does not interfere with other components. EK Water Blocks are offering the new EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink in red, blue, green and purple variants. The gold variant will be available within two weeks of time.

Users of Samsung's 960 Pro SSD's that have updated to the latest firmware version (3B6QCXP7) have been reporting far, wide, and through a variety of outlets, the existence of problems that lead to application instability and OS freezes lasting for several seconds before the system resumes normal functions. Apparently, there's no hard-crashing involved as of yet, though the issue seems to be widespread enough that it's generating discussion in Samsung's forums, our own, and some other tech publication's. It seems the 960 Pro is getting stuck with 100% activity reports in the task manager with read and write speeds of 0. At the same time, some users are reporting performance degradation by sometimes up to 1,400 MB/s in read speeds when benchmarking the drives, which also doesn't bode well for the firmware's pedigree.

The issue has been replicated by users running Perfect Disk while running SSD Optimization modes. A Samsung representative in the Forums seems to be on top of the issue, asking users for information on their systems and configuration before escalating the situation and reporting, though so far, it seems that the problem is being dismissed as being not widespread enough to be considered a cause for alarm. Samsung''s 960 Pro firmware can't be rolled back by users to a previous version, though, so take this post as a heads-up and maybe wait for a newer firmware revision, just to play it safe. A statement from Samsung follows after the break.

LiteOn today introduced the MUX line of "entry-level" M.2 PCI-Express SSDs in the M.2-2280 form-factor. Available in 128 GB and 256 GB capacities, the drives feature PCI-Express 3.0 x2 host interface, and take advantage of the NVMe protocol. They combine Phison PS5008-E8 controllers with Toshiba BiCS3 3D-TLC NAND flash memory.

The 128 GB variant offers sequential transfer rates of up to 1500 MB/s reads, with up to 450 MB/s writes; up to 91,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 110,000 IOPS 4K random writes; while the 256 GB variant is slightly faster, offering up to 1600 MB/s sequential reads, up to 850 MB/s sequential writes, up to 145,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 140,000 IOPS 4K random writes. Both variants are backed by 3-year warranties.

LiteOn today introduced the EPX series enterprise-grade, high-performance SSDs in the M.2-22110 (110 mm long) form-factor, featuring PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, and taking advantage of the NVMe 1.2 protocol. The drive comes in 960 GB and 1920 GB capacities, and features an active power-loss protection mechanism. A bank of capacitors on the drive holds just enough charge for the drive to "park" by completing outstanding write operations, and turning off the drive, to mitigate data-loss.

The 960 GB variant offers sequential transfer rates of up to 1700 MB/s reads, with up to 670 MB/s writes; and random access throughput of up to 300,000 IOPS reads, with up to 30,000 IOPS writes. The 1920 GB variant, on the other hand, puts out sequential transfers of up to 1800 MB/s reads, with up to 800 MB/s writes, up to 330,000 IOPS random reads, and up to 30,000 IOPS random writes. Both drives are rated for 2 million hours MTBF, and 1 DWPD for 3 years. The drives are backed by 3-year warranties.

Black Friday is indisputably the best time of the year for any computer enthusiasts because we can get new toys for cheaper prices. Whether it be computer hardware or consumer electronics, Newegg has become the preferred place for many enthusiasts. We here at TechPowerUp have put together a list of the amazing deals currently available at the online retailer. The promotions are grouped into different categories for your viewing convenience. If you've been eyeing a particular piece of hardware or gadget, come take a look at our list. Who knows? Maybe you can save yourself a few hard-earned dollars. Don't forget to come back periodically to check for new deals!

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions, is thrilled to announce the release of a new series of SSD from COLORFUL: the new PLUS Series SSD. Available in capacities up to 640GB, the COLORFUL PLUS Series SSD offers the latest in 3D TLC NAND Flash technology along with a new SMI SM2258XT controller offering a new NAND Flash configuration while still offering competitive endurance, capacity and price.

The COLORFUL Plus Series SSD are expected to ship to distributor by November and will be available in three capacities: 160GB(SL300 Plus 160G), 320GB (SL500 Plus 320G) and 640GB (SL500 Plus 640G).

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the XPG STORM heatsink add-on for M.2 2280 drives. STORM features an aluminum heatsink and with a fan. It can be easily affixed to any compatible SSD to provide powerful cooling. Lower SSD temperatures promote more stable storage and system performance, in addition to the XPG-styled STORM heatsink with its colorful RGB lighting contributing to attractive, gaming-themed PC setups.

Lower temperatures complement high speeds
While M.2 2280 PCIe SSDs are currently the fastest on the market, their high data rates also mean considerable heat buildup. Without a heatsink, accumulating heat can compromise performance and accelerate SSD aging. STORM includes an aluminum heatsink that fits on any M.2 SSD without causing overhead issues. Together with the heatsink, STORM uses a fan to circulate cool air and reduces temperature by at least 25% when compared with bare M.2 SSDs.

Intel has reportedly slated launch of its Optane DIMM for the second half of 2018. The Optane DIMM marks the biggest change in computer memory in over two decades, and heralds the era of "persistent memory," which combines the best characteristics of DRAM and NAND flash, in that it has the speed and low-latency of DRAM, but the persistence (ability to store data in the absence of power) of NAND flash. Combining the two will be made possible with improvements to the speed and latency of 3D XPoint memory. Intel is currently selling consumer SSDs based on the technology, and has increased production of 3D XPoint chips.

Intel presented the Optane DIMM at the 2017 USB Global Technology Conference. It described Optane DIMM as a primary storage device that will function as a memory-mapped device, but with much higher storage densities than what's possible with current DDR4 DRAM. The enterprise segment, as usual, will have the first take of the technology, with Intel targeting the exascale computing (supercomputers nearing ExaFLOP/s compute throughput) industry, trickling down to other enterprise segments, before finally making its way to the client/consumer segments. This development is also a polite nudge to the DRAM industry to get its act together, and either bring down prices or scale up densities, or miss the bus of change.

Do your hard drives become idle when you upgraded your computer? Instead of having them retired, with Apacer AD100 and AD300 external enclosures, they can serve new purposes! Equipped with SATA III and USB 3.1 Gen 1 high speed interface with UASP, both models come with enhanced transmission speeds that are up to 400 MB per second. AD100 is built with high-strength steel and plastic for better protection. AD300, on the other hand, is crafted with aluminum alloy, complete with especially designed cooling holes for better heat dissipation. Both enclosures are built with tool-free designs for fast installation, easily turning the unused hard drives into external storage solutions.

The brand new AD100 and AD300 external enclosures are designed especially for 9.5mm and 7mm 2.5-inch HDD/SSD. The SATA III and USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface with UASP significantly improve the transmission performance which is test proven to reach 400 MB/s when operating with a SSD, representing a 73% increase in read speed compared to an enclosure without UASP. Also, the read speed can reach 100 MB/s when operated with a conventional hard drive. AD100 and AD300 make your unused hard drives become high-speed portable storage solutions.

MyDigitalSSD today announces the SBX-series, the consumer grade MyDigitalSSD Super Boot eXpress (SBX) PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe SSDs featuring the Phison E8 (PS5008-E8) controller. The follow-up to MyDigitalSSD's award-winning enterprise BPX series, SBX NVMe SSDs offer a cost-competitive upgrade option to SATA SSDs with max sequential speeds of 1.60 GB/s read and 1.30 GB/s write.

Designed with best-in-class price, performance, and endurance in mind, SBX pairs Toshiba TLC 3D NAND with NVMe technology to maximize bandwidth while lowering latency for guaranteed peak performance under heavy workloads for near-instant responsiveness when used as either a boot or storage device in Z97 / X99 / X199 / X299 / Z170 based motherboards and more.

Samsung managed to snag 36 CES 2018 Design and Innovation awards, and the company took to a press release to acknowledge the honors, and shed some light on some of its upcoming products and technologies. Of particular interest to us enthusiasts is the presence of GDDR6 memory, which Samsung says is "(...) The fastest and lowest-power DRAM for next generation, graphics-intensive applications." this new memory is expected to process images and video at 16 Gbps with 64GB/s data I/O bandwidth, which is capable of up to 5 GB/s speeds. Additionally, Samsung said the new DRAM can operate at 1.35 V, offering increased power efficiency over today's graphics memory (which typically requires 1.5 V).

Samsung also announced a NGSFF (Next-Generation Form-Factor) SSD solution, which "dramatically improves the storage capacity and performance of 1U rack servers," which allows for I/O speeds at 0.5 petabytes per second. Measuring only 30.5mm x 110mm x 4.38mm, the drive also improves space utilization and scaling options in hyper-scale datacenter servers.

The first product based on Intel's ambitious "Kaby Lake-G" multi-chip module, which combines a quad-core "Kaby Lake-H" die with a graphics die based on AMD "Vega" architecture, will be a NUC (next unit of computing), and likely the spiritual successor to Intel's "Skull Canyon" NUC. The first picture of the motherboard of this NUC was leaked to the web, revealing a board that's only slightly smaller than the mini-ITX form-factor.

The board draws power from an external power brick, and appears to feature two distinct VRM areas for the CPU and GPU components of the "Kaby Lake-G" MCM SoC. The board feature two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots which are populated with dual-channel memory, and an M.2 NVMe slot, holding an SSD. There are two additional SATA 6 Gb/s ports, besides a plethora of other connectivity options.