Sun Microsystems and Samsung developed a solid-state drive (SSD) NAND Flash chip (the chips that go into making a SSD) which is based on the single-level cell NAND Flash design (better performance than MLC). Compared to other brands' memory, this part claims to provide a five-fold increase in write-and-erase data cycles, up to 5-10 million read-write-cycles. This makes the device an enterprise-friendly, ready for use in servers-grade SSDs. Samsung claims that this component provides 100-fold increases over conventional hard drives, in terms of the number of data transfers (input/output per second or I/OPS) per watt (Price / Performance, in other words). The new memory could be used for video streaming, high-transaction data processing, search engine operations and other high-speed server functions.

Following the delayed introduction of the Intel Centrino 2 "Montevina" mobile computing platform, several manufacturers are preparing their line-ups on this platform. Among all, Samsung prepares three notebooks: the R510 "Aura", R710 "Eclipse", and two variants of the model Q210 and Q310 with 12.1 and 13.3 inch screen sizes respectively.

The R510 (first picture) will have a 15.4 inch screen, Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 processor at 2.53 GHz, integrated X4500 graphics, 4 GB of memory, DVD Writer, and 320GB HDD. It weighs about 2.3 kg.

The R710 (second picture) will feature a 17 inch screen, the same Core 2 Duo T9400 processor, and other features common to the R510 except that it features a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M 512 MB graphics processor.

And finally, the Q210 and Q310 have common looks and features albeit aforementioned screen-sizes. Features common to them include: Intel Core 2 Duo P8200 which runs at 2.26 GHz in the Q210 and 2.40 GHz in the Q310, 4 GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9200M 256 MB graphics processor.

The Korean semiconductor giant says that it will begin mass-producing 1.8" and 2.5" Solid-state drives (SSDs) for use by the mobile-computing industry. With the scale at which Samsung claim they're producing these parts, they hope to sell the parts at very competitive prices. This indicates a full-on reach of the SSD into consumer strata and of SSD becomming mainstream.

The Multi-Level Cell (MLC) drives slated for production feature 70 MB/s of write and 90 MB/s of read speeds, that's below what a single level cell (SLC) drive can offer, read speeds of 130 MB/s, an important specification to look out for when in the market for an SSD.

Samsung claims that the 128 GB SSD, which is built from 64 MLC NAND flash memory chips of 16 Gb (2 GB) each, is energy efficient at 0.2 W in standby mode and 0.5 W in active mode. Samsung claims the drive's expected life to be over 20 times that of conventional drives....80~100 years if a conventional drive lasts 5 years.

With many economies under inflation and other factors influencing a weak demand, these are perhaps the worst days for several companies involved in manufacture, marketing and distribution of DRAM and related products. While on the surface, all the consumer can see is a falling market price, in reality it is a composed chaos.

DigiTimes reports a falling demand for DRAM in the Asia-Pacific region as the Chinese government cracks down on users of contraband DRAM products brought in from manufacturing states. The government crackdown began with the thousands of internet-shacks and the components (both hardware and software) they used. All this comes ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a 'purge drive'. As a result, thousands of internet-shacks have been closed, bans have been imposed on the use of contraband hardware, most of which consist of DRAM related hardware. China also brought about changes in their customs routines and procedures making it extremely complicated for importers, stepping up waiting queues, affecting markets and more importantly, dampening demand.

Samsung late on Sunday announced definite plans to launch a breathtakingly fast flash memory-based solid-state disk that's also world's first to boast a 256GB capacity. Samsung's multi-level cell (MLC) based SSD, which was unveiled in prototype form during the company's fifth annual Mobile Solution Forum event in Taipei, has a 2.5-inch form factor and SATA 3.0 Gbps interface. It is only 9.5 mm thick, and measures 100.3x69.85 mm. Sequential read/write speeds for this drive are also something that's worth noting: 200MB/s read and 160MB/s write, or roughly 2.4 times faster than a typical HDD. In addition, the drive offers a sophisticated data encryption process that prevents data stored on the SSD from being accessed in an unauthorized manner, even after the SSD is removed from the PC. Samples of the drive will be available to customers from September with mass production due by the end of the year. A smaller 1.8-inch version of the 256GB SSD is also expected to be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

Maybe not as portable as the WD Mac-formatted My Passport Studio portables, Samsung is also adding a new offer to its hard disk line-up. Offered both as an external hard drive or an internal drive for desktop PCs, Samsung's new 3.5-inch 1TB EcoGreen F1 hard drive is said to provide a 15 percent power savings compared to other low-powered one terabyte capacity hard drives and a 50 percent power reduction against traditional one terabyte hard drives. The EcoGreen F1 hard drive also offers the highest capacity per disk for one terabyte hard drives, at 334GB per platter. Moreover it utilizes low noise operation technologies such as SilentSeek and NoiseGuard. All Eco drives come with 3.0Gbps SATA interface, native command queuing features along with a 32MB buffer memory. Sounds almost perfect, but these drives have one major downstream, they incorporate 5400 rpm rotational speeds, not 7200 or even 10k rpm like today's modern drives. The EcoGreen F1 will launch in the second quarter of 2008.

Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics and TSMC have reached agreement on the need for industry-wide collaboration to target a transition to larger, 450mm-sized wafers starting in 2012. The transition to larger wafers will enable continued growth of the semiconductor industry and helps maintain a reasonable cost structure for future integrated circuit manufacturing and applications.

Samsung Electronics America announced today the launch of its "Touch Of Color" (TOC) line of desktop monitors: the T190, T220, T240 and T260. Delivering industry-leading performance to design-conscious markets, these ultra-sleek monitors advance Samsung's signature style with a unique edge, uncluttered minimalist design and a deep ruby red infusion that complements its piano-black, glossy finish giving it a blown glass look.

VR-Zone has learned that NVIDIA is planning to add Hynix as a second memory supplier for GeForce 9800 GTX. All current GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards including the overclocked models are equipped with Samsung K4J52324QE 0.8ns GDDR3 memory chips. A second batch of 9800 GTX cards is now being reported to enter the market with Hynix HY5RS123235BFP 0.8ns GDDR3 parts and different BIOS version.

Samsung Electronics America announced today at the spring Press and Reseller Summit in New York City its newest models of high-end contemporary monitors, the SyncMaster 953BW, 2053BW, 2253LW, and 2253BW. Delivering industry-leading performance to design-conscious markets, these full-featured, ultra-sleek monitors advance Samsung's signature style with a unique "crystal" edge, piano-black glossy finish and uncluttered minimalist design.

Samsung Electronics could deliver 256GB solid-state drives next year, quadrupling the capacity of SSDs it is currently shipping to PC makers, the company informed. Now Samsung is only producing 64GB SATA 3.0 Gbps 2.5" SSD drives, but the company is planning on releasing samples of 128GB SSDs in the middle of this year. A spokesman also commented that Samsung is trying to double SSD capacity every 12 months, leading to information that 256GB SSDs may become widely available sometime in 2009. The current price of a 64GB single-level SSD is around $600. SSD drives have no moving parts. They're more power-efficient, lighter and up to two times faster than today's conventional mobile hard drives.

To meet the growing storage needs of laptop users, Samsung Electronics on Tuesday introduced a 500GB hard drive that could provide a notebook PC with as much as 1TB of storage. The Spinpoint M6 is a 2.5-inch hard drive fitted with three 167GB platters spinning at 5,400 rpm. Priced at $299, it will ship to PC makers and retail stores later this month. Samsung also announced the Spinpoint MP2 hard drive, a 2.5-inch drive with 250GB of storage. Aimed at desktop replacement notebooks, workstations, and blade servers, it provides quicker read and write speeds than the M6 because of its 7,200 rpm rotation speed and extra-large 16MB cache. With the MP2, the company also provides an optional chip that protects a hard drive from vibrations caused by other hardware components. The Spinpoint MP2 is priced at $299 too and will be available through retailers soon. An 80GB version of the hard drive is also available, according to the company. Both drives come with an optional free-fall sensor, which parks the head and turns the hard drive off in the event of a fall, protecting the data on it.

Samsung Electronics America, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, today announced its new series of high-performance monitors ranging from 17 to 22-inches - the SyncMaster 743BX, 943BX, 943BWX, 2043BWX and 2243BWX - designed to help enterprise users drive productivity in even the most demanding work environments.

Samsung Electronics announced today shipment of the industry's fastest DVD burner the new Super-WriteMaster SH-S223. The SH-S223 drive offers a powerful over-speed performance features that enable consumers to burn data at high speeds - even on low speed media. With over-speed recording, users can write at 22x speeds on 16x media and 12x speeds on 8x media. The SH-S223 drive provides fast recording speeds across a gamut of different data media types including: 22x DVD±R recording, 12x DVD-RAM recording, 16x DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 12x DVD-R Dual Layer recording, 8x DVD+RW recording and 6x DVD-RW recording. The drive will be offered with SATA interface and Samsung's live firmware update program for quick firmware upgrades over the Internet. As with Samsung's complete WriteMaster optical disc drive lineup, the SH-S223 also features specific technology that ensures best-of-breed performance including SAT (Speed Adjustment Technology), TAC (Tilt Actuator Compensation) and Double OPC (Optimum Power Control). The SH-S223 is also eco-friendly designed and is RoHS compliant.

Samsung Electronics will concentrate its ongoing efforts to strengthen Blu-ray products since Toshiba virtually pulled the plug on its HD DVD products.

Samsung is expected to show more interests in Blu-ray products than rival HD DVDs

the company said on Sunday. Samsung officials have declined to further comment. The Korean electronics firm has currently been developing dual-format Blu-ray and HD DVD movie players such as the UP5000, but according to experts it will now focus on Blu-ray only with no plans to phase out any combo players.

Samsung, which has been adopting a dual-strategy for both Blu-ray and HD DVD products, is likely to cut the HD DVD portion because of aggressive marketing and closer industry connections over the technology

a market expert said.

Samsung Electronics announced today that it has begun mass producing of 64GB solid state drives (SSDs) utilizing the SATA 3Gb/s data interface. Some of you may be more familiar with the word SATA II, but SATA II and SATA 3Gb/s are two different terms and I prefer to stick with the right one - SATA 3Gb/s. Back on the story, Samsung said its 64GB SATA 3Gb/s SSD, which began shipping in limited quantities earlier this month, will be available as an option within the next few weeks in selected Dell and Alienware notebooks. Able to read data at 100MB per second and write data at 80MB per second, Samsung's new SSD is up to 60% faster than SATA I (1.5Gb/s) drives and performs two to five times faster than conventional hard disk drives (HDDs), according to the company. It also consumes nearly 75% less power than typical HDDs (1.45W compared to 2.1W) and at 73 grams, SSDs are much lighter than HDDs. The SATA II SSD is comprised primarily of single-level-cell NAND flash memory.

Samsung's slate of Blu-ray players have been plagued with issues essentially from day one, and while it has released a flurry of firmware updates over the years in an attempt to mend a variety of incompatibility issues, even its recent BD-UP5000 hybrid player is being axed early on after giving owners all sorts of fits. Apparently, one particular buyer isn't taking things lying down, and has decided to file suit against the mega-corp alleging that it has sold "defective Blu-ray players" to consumers. According to the suit, Sammy was "fully aware of the defective nature of the player [BD-P1200, in particular] at the time of manufacture and sale," and it also claims that the firm has "failed to provide a remedy consistent with the products' intended and represented uses." More specifically, the verbiage picks on the units' inability to play back select BD titles, and while some fixes have indeed been doled out, we still get the feeling many consumers have been left dissatisfied. Needless to say, this outcome should be interesting.

LaCie has gotten hold of Samsung's 1.3" HDDs, and by adding a rather convenient USB interface, they have created a truly pocket size HDD capable of storing up to 40GB of data. The LaCie Little Disk is available in both 30 and 40GB versions, costing $130 and $160 respectively, and comes with a 2 year guarantee.The second Spinpoint A1-boasting product from LaCie is the USB Key Max, which is even smaller and more portable. These advantages do come at a cost though, as it is slower. The 30GB Orange Key Max costs $120 while the 40GB Black version has a price tag of $150.

Samsung unveiled its new line of LCD monitors this week at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco. The SyncMaster 2493HM and SyncMaster 2693HM are both 1920x1200 resolution displays with 4-way adjustable stands, built-in speakers and a 5ms GTG response time. The SyncMaster 2493HM is a 24-inch display which features 10,000:1 (dynamic) contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness, 160-degree viewing angles and DVI/HDMI inputs. The 25.5-inch 2693HM shares the same above specs, but with lower dynamic contrast ratio down to 3,000:1. Both monitors are available at this moment for $599 and $699, respectively.

Samsung has announced that it has paved the way for laptops to come with upto 1TB hard drives following an announcement at CES in Las Vegas. The South Korean company has announced the development of its new Spinpoint M6 500GB hard drive, the world's first 500GB 2.5-inch hard drive that fits in the industry's standard 9.5mm height dimension of laptops. The announcement comes just a few days after Hitachi Ltd. announced it will be introducing a 500 GB laptop hard drive in February. Samsung's new Spinpoint M6 500GB consists of three 166GB platters spinning at 5400rpm. The M6 drives will feature 8MB cache, and 3.0Gbps SATA interface. Samsung's Spinpoint M6 500 GB hard drive is scheduled to launch in March this year.

Samsung Electronics also announced today its new F1 RAID Class 3.5" SATA hard drive featuring 1TB of capacity specifically designed and manufactured for enterprise storage and surveillance applications. Offering the world's highest recording density using only three platters and running at 7,200rpm, the F1R drive is designed for demanding applications such as database, email servers, web servers, super computing, software development, data warehousing, surveillance, call center and nearline/backup storage systems.

Two months after Samsung announced its new SATA II-based 64GB solid-state disk (SSD), the firm is now doubling the capacity of its latest SATA II SSD offering to 128GB. The newly developed multi-level cell (MLC) flash-based 128 Gigabyte (GB) solid state drive (SSD) will hit mass production this year in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch versions for notebook and desktop PCs, as well as other mobile applications. The new drive offers a data reading speed of 100MB/s and writing speed of 70MB/s, the industry's highest for MLC-based SSDs. Samsung's 128GB SSD will be demonstrated in a notebook PC at CES 2008. The complete suite of Samsung SSDs will also be displayed at Samsung Electronics' Booth 11033, in the LVCC's Central Hall. Information regarding this product and other Samsung news at CES is available online here.

Samsung Electronics said on Friday it had agreed with Hitachi Ltd's data storage business unit to a license deal over hard disk drive (HDD) patents. Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, said in a filing with the Korea Exchange that the agreement with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc covers HDD patents by International Business Machines Corp (IBM) and Hitachi. Japanese electronics conglomerate Hitachi bought IBM's disk drive operations in 2002 for $2 billion. Samsung did not provide details of the licensed patents. Along with the agreement, Samsung and Hitachi would drop patent suits they have filed against each other, Samsung said. Hitachi had sued Samsung in December 2006 and Samsung filed a countersuit in March 2007, a Samsung spokesman said.

The new Spinpoint M6 HM320JI is the highest capacity 2.5-inch hard drive in Samsung's laptop storage products, offering 320GB of data space. The M6 features Free-Fall Sensor that protects data from accidental drops and includes an optional Rotary Vibration Controller that minimizes the influence of external vibration. The disk has 5,400rpm spindle speed, 1.5Gbps SATA interface and 8MB data buffer. The Spinpoint M6 HM320JI is available now, with a MSRP of $249.

Samsung Electronics is unloading its graphics memory inventory by offering prices that are much lower than competitors' production costs for the segment. DigiTimes claims that Samsung 256Mb (16Mbx16) DDR2 is selling for only US$0.50. Other DRAM makers think that the price is unbelievably low, as typical costs for this type of DDR2 graphics memory chip, from the wafer to back-end production, would usually run about US$1.40. Samsung's low-price move for graphics memory comes as a further blow to Taiwan's DRAM makers, which are already suffering from plunging prices in the commodity DRAM market. Graphics memory provides higher margins than commodity DRAM, but Samsung's move may now trigger a free fall for graphics memory prices. Samsung did not comment on the story.