HyperDrive brings back all the ports your MacBook Pro needed

Apple may not have heard users and released the new MacBook Pro without "old" ports, but there is a Kickstarter project that promises to fix the problem quickly and effectively: HyperDrive.

LaCie's 1TB Little Big Disk offers over 1GB/s in an external drive

Just the other day we saw some SSDs using the PCIe bus in order to escape the speed limits of the SATA interface. Now, I bring you a device that shows you can also achieve over 1GB/s transfers... using an external hard drive.

As you might imaging this Little Big Disk by LaCie isn't a common external USB hard drive. To achieve this kind of performance, this device uses the latest Thunderbolt 2 - while inside it you'll find a pair of 500GB SSD drives. That's the secret to achieve speeds of up to 1375MB/s allowing to zip through its 1TB of data in under 7 minutes - don't even dare trying to figure out how long it would take for that to happen in a regular USB external drive.

If that's not enough, you can always add a second hard drive and double that transfer rate (provided you have multiple Thunderbolt 2 ports - like in the new Mac Pro). And once you do that, you'll probably never want to look to a computer relying on a regular hard drive - or even a common SSD.

By now you're probably imagining what's the "catch"... and predictably so, it's its price. The Little Big Disk comes with a not so little $1300 price tag (so, roughly about $1 per MB/s transfer). Unless you do need a high-performance external drive, you might be better off paying roughly a third of that and getting two 1TB SSD and using them in RAID 0 for extra speed.

Drobo 5D and Mini with Thunderbolt

If you're looking for a simple way to expand your computer storage capacity, but want to add a bit more security in case of a hard drive failure - while at the same time having some room for future growth - you'll inevitably head towards the Drobos.

And now, we're getting some new Drobos that might get even more attention. For starters, we have the  new Drobo 5D, which as you could probably imply by its name, can carry up to 5 hard drives (3.5" hot-swappable) and comes with USB 3.0 and 2 Thunderbolt ports. You also get a nive little mSata SSD to act a disk accelerator cache to speed things up.

But if you're looking for something a little bit different... I urge you to take a look at this new: Drobo Mini.

Drobo seems to think that people might want to carry their data with them while on the road (and I believe some people do). So, this Drobo Mini is roughly the same size as an external hard drive case, but carries 4 2.5" drives inside, tucked away in spring loaded slots that make changing drives as easy as pushing SD cards into their slots. But don't let its size fool you: you get the same USB 3.0 and 2x Thunderbolt ports as you get in the 5D - and even the SSD cache accelerator! Looks like a winner...

... Now... all they need to be perfect is to have a Gigabit Ethernet port for network access without a computer... :)

[via engadget]

New MacBook Air, Mac Mini, OS X Lion and Thunderbolt Displays

Apple finally presented the new (and expected) MacBook Air, OS X Lion, Mac Mini, and... a Thunderbolt Display that replaces the precious Cinema Displays.


New MacBook Air

The new and improved MacBook Air starts at $999 and becomes the entry level Apple laptop (the white plastic MacBooks are now gone). But don't be fooled by its compact size, as the new Airs are more powerful than ever and now have Thunderbolt ports.

You now get Intel Core i5 CPUs as standard, and even the option to upgrade it to a Core i7. Also, you get OS X Lion, and... one of my favorites: backlit keyboards.

Models starts with a 1.6Ghz Core i5 with 2GB Ram and 64GB SSD, and 1366x768 screen (and 5h battery life); while 13" models get a 1.7Ghz i5, 4GB Ram and 128GB SSD, as well as a higher resolution 1440x900 display.


OS X Lion

With over 250 new features, changes and improvementes OS X Lion gets most of its inspiration from the mobile area (iOS) and will surely require an adjustment period for users and developers alike. It's available for download for $29.99 and will be available in a USB pen as well... for $69.99.

(There's also a new 64bits iTunes with fullscreen support.)


Mac Mini

Just like the new Airs, the new Mac Mini is now more powerful than ever, with Core i5 ou i7, Thunderbolt, AMD Radeon HD graphics, and Mac OS X Lion. Starting at $599 it comes with 2GB de RAM, 500GB harddrive, and a 2.3Ghz Core i5 - that can go up to 3,4Ghz thanks to Turbo Boost 2.0.

You also get Ethernet gigabit, FireWire 800, HDMI, SDXC, audio in/out, Thunderbolt (up to 6 devices), and four USB ports. You can get faster CPUs, 8GB RAM, and even - should you afford it - a 500GB SSD (2x 256GB).


Thunderbolt Displays

Last but not least, Apple pushes forward with the Thunderbolt revolution, and the once iconic Cinema Display now become the Thunderbolt Displays.

These 27" LED backlit LCDs (2560 x 1440) come with 2.1 speakers, MagSafe charger, 3 USB ports, 1 FireWire 800 port, 1 Gigabit Ethernet port and... a passthrough Thunderbolt port to connect up to 5 other Thunderbolt devices.

When you connect your Thunderbolt Mac to one of these displays, you're automatically connected to all these extra ports - making it the "perfect" docking station. And before you think of it... no, you cannot connect 6 such Displays in daisy chain mode - that would be awesome, I know - you're limited to connecting only two... at least for now.