If you're like me, you've probably been waiting in anticipation for the release of Samsung's new 960 PRO SSD. While we haven't gotten our hands on this V-NAND based, M.2 form factor SSD (yet), a number of other websites posted reviews of the 2TB version this morning. The price is quite high ($1300!!) as you can imagine, but with sequential read/write speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s and 2,100 MB/s, the 960 PRO looks like it will be the drive of choice for those requiring the best performance possible.

In the world of gaming, time is literally a matter of win or loss. In less than a second, a game’s performance is determined. Boost your PC with Apacer’s AS682 ARMOR+ solid state drive and get ahead of your opponent in every move! Equipped with SATA III interface, AS682 ARMOR+ operates read/write speed at 540/475MB per second with 95,000 IOPs. Available in 250GB and 500GB, this SSD is advantaged in many ways, including high performance, low power consumption, high durability, excellent value for money, and multiprocessing architecture.

Effectively Boost Your Gaming Skill with Apacer AS682 ARMOR+ SSD
The first generation of ARMOR was born out of Apacer’s dedication in perfecting SSD for better gaming experience. The latest release, AS682 ARMOR+ is even more advanced in processing speeds, with 540MB/s (read) and 475MB/s (write). The 95,000 IOPS makes one thing clear: from scene changes, battles, to fast moves, the smooth fluidity is unparalleled even with most complicated in-game actions. Compatible with most of the PCs and motherboards, the SATA III interface delivers a blazing fast performance, making it an ideal must for enhancement.

Gear-like Emblem : a Symbol of Victory
The design on the shell of AS682 ARMOR+ is inspired by the iron core often seen on comic book superheroes. The noticeable gear-like emblem is symbolic of its ceaseless read/write capability and superb speed. The metal shell is textured to present an extremely fine touch, simulating the advanced equipment worn by a hero on a mission. What’s more, the metal has effective heat reduction capability. Whether you are utility-driven or aesthetic-oriented, AS682 ARMOR+ is here to complement both your PC and your win.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today released the powerful enterprise-class TES-x85U NAS series, including the 18-bay TES-1885U and the 30-bay TES-3085U. Both models are powered by a high-performance yet energy-saving Intel® Xeon® D processor, and provides the choice of dual OS inside a single rackmount NAS. Users can choose to install the business storage QES operating system or the app-centric QTS operating system based on their needs. The TES-x85U series with QES is the perfect backup storage for the dual-controller Enterprise ZFS NAS (ES1640dc).

The 12Gb/s SAS-enabled TES-1885U and TES-3085U adopt an advanced 14nm Intel® Xeon® D 64-bit SoC processor with an integrated PCH (6-core and 8-core respectively). Both models have two built-in 10GbE SFP+ ports to natively support 10GbE network environments, and can further boost system performance with PCIe Gen.3 expansion for additional 10GbE/40GbE adapters and PCIe NVMe SSD. The high-density TES-3085U is especially useful for providing an ultra-fast all-flash storage solution that offers up to 24 drive bays and 6 dedicated SDDs bays for caching.

Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital”) today announced WD Blue and WD Green solid state drives (SSDs), the first WD-branded SATA client SSDs. The new SSDs complement the company’s industry leading family of hard drives for PCs and workstations, providing a full portfolio of WD storage devices for virtually any application.

The ultimate solution for building DIY PCs, extending the life of current PCs or upgrading existing storage, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs boast near-maximum speed of SATA drives, best-in-class endurance and MTTF and WD Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T.) Lab certification, resulting in quick boot times and increased program responsiveness. Consumers benefit from the combination of reliable storage with an industry-leading 1.75M hours MTTF, coupled with reduced power and less heat when compared to HDDs. Both include free, downloadable, WD SSD Dashboard software, which allows continuous performance and capacity monitoring. For consumers who are looking for instant-on responsiveness, durability, low power consumption, and ultra-thin, ultramobile form factors, the WD Blue and WD Green SSDs are the perfect options.

Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital”), today introduced modern and innovative redesigns of its My Passport, My Passport for Mac, and My Book hard drive lines, which have been highly recognized leading sellers for more than a decade. In partnership with fuseproject, an award-winning industrial design and branding firm, the reimagined products were built with the customer in mind. Developed to help make a connection between the device and user, the new drives also include password protection and hardware encryption so customers will love their hard drive as much as they cherish the content stored on it.

“As the storage landscape continues to rapidly evolve, and the bars for design and user-experience have increased, the team focused on the design and user experience to catapult My Passport and My Book to the next level,” said Jim Welsh, senior vice president, Content Solutions Business Unit, Western Digital. “Through the reimagined design language, we want to engage consumers in a conversation about how storage is core to their lives and how they feel more empowered by the real benefits of capturing, protecting and enjoying life’s precious memories.”

Today, CDRLabs brings you a review of Crucial's new MX300 M.2 SSD. Designed for tablets and ultrabooks, this new addition to the MX300 line isn't much larger than a stick of gum. The drive is powered by Marvell's 88SS1074B1 controller and is available with up to 1050GB of Micron's 3D TLC NAND. The MX300 M.2 also shares many of the same features as its full size counterpart. In addition to Crucial's Dynamic Write Acceleration technology, it offers AES 256-bit encryption, thermal and power loss protection, TRIM support and active garbage collection. The MX300 M.2 also uses technologies like Data Defense and Redundant Array of Independent NAND (RAIN) to increase security and protection of data to a level that’s not typically found in consumer-class SSDs.

Launching today is the latest version of Nero 2017, the successful multimedia software for burning, copying, creating, editing, ripping, converting, playing and streaming media content.

This latest edition sees significant improvements such as ease of use, playback, video editing, transcoding and burning, as well as sharing videos, photos and music in the highest quality. Nero is positioning itself as users ‘best-friend’ for day-to-day digital life. For example, through support for the HEVC (H.265) format, SecurDisc 4.0 for the highest security standard for burned discs and the Nero KnowHow App, which enables users to get the best out of their Nero software.

Nero users have thousands of photos, videos and other multimedia files stored on lots of different devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs, laptops and desktops. Looking for a specific file can often be like searching for a needle in a haystack with users trying to remember where they saved it. The Classic and Platinum versions of Nero 2017 put an end to this by allowing users to search via timeline, faces, places and tags. While the Nero 2017 Classic multimedia suite includes extensive functions for mastering the day-to-day digital life, Nero 2017 Platinum delivers especially high-quality results thanks to cutting-edge technology (HEVC/H.265) and advanced functions.