At present many companies produce VR-compatible portable PCs performed in the shape of a backpack. Most of them are designed for gaming purposes; however, HP developers believe these systems can be also useful in professional spheres.



At the SIGGRAPH 2017 conference, HP presented its wearable HP Z VR Backpack workstation, resembling a backpack. The manufacturer claims it to be the most effective among similar devices due to the 4-core Intel Core i7-7820HQ mobile CPU, operating at the 2.9–3.9 GHz frequency, and the high-end mobile NVIDIA Quadro P5200 video card, based on the Pascal GP104 graphics processor with 2,048 CUDAs and the 16 GB GDDR5 memory. Storage capability is ensured by the 32 GB DDR4-2400 RAM and up to 1 TB SSD.


A couple of hot swap 55 watt-hour batteries enables HP Z VR Backpack wireless productivity. This HP specialty can operate as a desktop system while connected to a special docking station.


The novelty values at $3,299, weighs 4.65 kg and has the …

Zalman, a renowned South Korean designer of various hardware solutions, has recently introduced its latest CPU passive cooler, entitled FX70. The new-entry features 110x140x158 mm dimensions and comes without any fans. However, if there is a need to cool down CPUs with the TDP level higher than 80 W, the customer is free to enhance the facilities by adding two 120 mm fans. The latter are fixed to the heatsink by means of four brackets.



Zalman FX70 is an optimal choice for the following platforms: Intel LGA 2011/1366/115x/775 and AMD FM2/FM1/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+. This cooler fits in any mid-tower ATX and larger PC chassis. The cooler’s framework consists of a copper base, pierced by six nickel-plated heatpipes, and of fifteen heatsink plates with an offbeat design, codenamed Twist; they are called to dramatically improve the process of heat management.


Fanless framework is regarded to be an advantage due to three reasons. First of all, pure heatsink provides absolutely no …

Seagate has expanded its lineup of hybrid drives with the 5th-generation FireCuda SSHD. The greenhorns are based on shingled magnetic recording technology (SMR), rather than perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR). The SMR enables the partial superposition of data tracks; it ensures the ultimate record density. The models are backed by a 5-year’s limited warranty.



Seagate FireCuda series is introduced by 5 models, developed in 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch formats. Their capacity varies from 500 GB to 2 TB. The drives employ MLC flash memory (8 GB) as well as SATA 6 Gb/sec external interface. The spindle rotates at 5400 RPM.


The average data read speed makes up 140 MB/sec with 2.5-inch models & 156 MB/sec with 3.5-inch items. The latter offer also up to 190 MB/sec of the average read speed from flash memory; besides, it takes only 8.5-9.5 ms for the chips to search for the needed data on Read/Write operations. To add, the new FireCuda is thought to consume between 1.7-6.7 W power.