The CompactFlash Association announced a new media card format last month, and now Sony and Nikon have introduced the first media and digital cameras, respectively. But what exactly is an XQD memory card? Read on for the details.
CalDigit Brings Both eSATA and USB 3 to the Mac Pro
May 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I remain impressed by CalDigit’s USB 3.0 products. My own tests show that these cards are fast and compatible, and I was pleased to see that CalDigit recently updated their driver for Mac OS 10.6.7, which changed some of the core features used by the previous driver. This is the kind of commitment I expect, both in terms of interoperability and support.
Will The First Thunderbolt Peripheral Be The iMac?
April 20, 2011 By 3 Comments
Apple and Intel introduced the impressive new Thunderbolt interconnect last month on the MacBook Pro line, but folks like me who bought one have nothing to connect to yet. It was exciting to see the wide variety of Thunderbolt peripherals on display at the NAB show in Las Vegas last week, but none of these will ship to end-users before the middle of the summer. But evidence is mounting that Apple will be the first out of the gate with a Thunderbolt peripheral, it just won’t be the sort of peripheral you might expect. I am hearing rumors that the new iMac, to be introduced this month, will be both a Thunderbolt host and peripheral in one! Read on for what this means in the real world.
Why the iPad 2 Won’t Include Thunderbolt
February 24, 2011 By 2 Comments
Today is the big “coming out” day for Thunderbolt (nee Light Peak), courtesy of Intel and Apple’s new lineup of MacBook Pros. Next week is the introduction of another “Magical and Revolutionary” Apple product, the iPad 2. Inevitably, pundits are putting 2 and 2 together and deducing that the future iPad will include this new I/O port. But this makes little sense. The iPad 2 won’t include Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt = Light Peak = Mini DisplayPort + PCI Express
February 24, 2011 By 8 Comments
Apple unveiled their new line of MacBook Pro laptops today, complete with “Thunderbolt”, the trade name for a production packaging of Light Peak and Mini DisplayPort. After much speculation, we finally have some concrete information about Light Peak, and perhaps a peek into the next generation of I/O technologies!
USB 3.0 For Mac Is Here!
February 23, 2011 By 2 Comments
My experience using USB 3.0 on a Mac has been wonderful. It’s so well-integrated you might not notice it except for the performance. At over 200 MB/s, it blows FireWire out of the water and is even faster than nearly any device you’re likely to throw at it. CalDigit sent me their Mac OS X-compatible USB 3.0 PCI Express card for evaluation, and I’m pleased as punch with the card.
The Four Horsemen of Storage System Performance: I/O As a Chain of Bottlenecks
October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
It is tempting to think of storage as a game of hard disk drives, and consider only The Rule of Spindles. But RAM cache can compensate for the mechanical limitations of hard disk drives, and Moore’s Law continues to allow for ever-greater RAM-based storage, including cache, DRAM, and flash. But storage does not exist in a vacuum. All that data must go somewhere, and this is the job of the I/O channel.
Apple’s Unconventional New MacBook Air SSD
October 22, 2010 By 1 Comment
Apple updated the ultra-slim don’t-call-it-a-netbook MacBook Air this week. Along with a wimpy out-of-date CPU, the new Air features all-SSD storage of an entirely new and apparently proprietary type. Let’s take a look and see what we can see.
Unconventional SSDs: PCI Express Mini Card (Mini PCI-E)
October 20, 2010 By 2 Comments
With Apple almost certain to introduce a new MacBook Air, questions have turned to the specifics of the hardware to be used. A leaked pre-production photo features an odd memory configuration (not to mention four batteries), a device I immediately recognized as an SSD-on-a-stick. With this high-profile introduction of a new SSD stick form, I thought it was time to cover these unconventional new storage formats.
ExpressCard: A Sure Thing That Failed
September 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
PCMCIA and CardBus slots were universal and popular a decade ago, but the advent of PCI Express meant reengineering the old standby. The result was ExpressCard, a never-popular compromise that mixes PCI Express and USB into a confusing and little-used mashup. With few modern laptops including an ExpressCard slot and fewer users, a fair question to ask is “where did it all go wrong?”
