LaCie, a French supplier of external HDD storages, RAID arrays and network storages, has started the sales of its new NAS storage with network connection. Codenamed 5big NAS Pro, this product is intended to fulfill a range of tasks, including a joint and remote access to files and data backup processes. The storage is estimated for five disk bays and can be best applied in corporate environment.



The new-comer features 173x220x196 mm dimensions and is delivered with a 3-year limited warranty. The users have got a chance to choose between the three variations of the NAS: just a casing without disks, a casing with five disks of 10TB capacity, and a casing with five disks of 20TB capacity. The price fluctuates correspondingly from $529 for just the casing and $2199 for 20TB capacity.


The heart of 5big NAS Pro is a two-core Intel Atom processor (64 bit). Its operational frequency approaches 2.14GHz and inventory involves 4GB of DDR3 RAM memory. It should be mentioned that this …

Gigabyte has released the first motherboard form factor microATX, equipped with two ports Thunderbolt — GA-Z77MX-D3H TH. Taking into account the availability of the precursor (Z77MX-D3H), it’s interesting to compare the design and price of these models. First, about the cost of the product. The novelty is estimated at € 150, and its «little sister» — at € 108,50. If to subtract 10 euros from each of two amounts, there will be the minimum for which the cards will be available soon.



Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H TH


What causes the difference in more than 40 euros? In general, the presence of two ports Intel Thunderbolt 10 Gb / s, which are implemented by the controller Intel DSL3510L. A high-speed connection can simultaneously serve several drives and a monitor. Minor changes were made to the design of the CPU power supply subsystem, which, nevertheless, remained a 6-channel. One of the long PCI Express slots was replaced by the second PCI-E 2.0 x1.


By and large, …

Over time, more and more manufacturers of computer equipment are connected to the production of solid-state drives. Conventional consumer SSD are fairly simple to manufacture and chip NAND flash memory and controllers are always available from proven companies. Of all the manufacturers of SSD for the mass market, Intel maybe has not best reputation, still quite high. Using this, the Corporation of Santa Clara sets high prices of their SSDs, not fearing for the sales.



However, as suggested by experts, the pressure from competitors will still force Intel company

to go for price concessions for customers. Reducing of prices on popular drives series SSD

320, SSD 330 and SSD 520 is expected in August this year. Top products will lose most of

all, but also drives of the entry level, in particular 330-series, will be much more accessible to

consumers.


Below are stated all prices and possible devaluation. Old price is indicated in parentheses.

Intel SSD 320 300 GB (OEM): …