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Great laptop cooler/stand for notebook computers

We received the USB 3.0 version of the CM Storm Strike Force SF-19 laptop cooler…
Until it’s removed from the box, it’s not apparent how sturdy it is!  Made of plastic, metal mesh, and thick rubber…I expect this can take a beating.
Notebook computers of up to 19-inch notebook can fit on it.  The SF-19 is 1 foot 7 inches wide at its top.  On the left side is a “LED ON/OFF” switch, a “MULTI-LIGHT SHADER” switch…and a speed control for the fans, which can also turn them off.  On the right side is:  the 12 volt power socket, four USB ports, and a port for the the UBS 3.0 cable.  The USB 3.0 cable is supplied to connect the cooler to a computer.  The cable is 3.5 inches long, has a Type A plug at one end, and a Micro-B plug at the other.
Installed in the unit are two 140 mm fans, which can be replaced with 120 mm fans.  Air is blown upwards towards the computer.  To access the fans, turn the SF-19 upside-down and open the access door located on the bottom.  Inside are four power connections for fans, two on each side.
An AC-to-12 volt power adapter is included.
The “MULTI-LIGHT SHADER” switch allows for the activation of seven LED colors that illumate at four locations on the bottom. (Not being an art student I can only identify:  red, green, blue, purple, and what appears to be aqua).
The rubber components of the SF-19 keep computers from slipping off, absorbs shock to protect it from damage, and are designed to assist with cable management.
Often I have complained about how flimsy other laptop platforms for notebook computers are.  The SF-19 is the ultimate solution.
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USB 3.0 Flash Drives exist, Kingston Technology has them…

Photo of the Kingston Data Traveler USB 3.0
Kingston USB DTU 3.0 Flash Drive

It was a few weeks ago that TechtalkRadio recieved some USB 3.0 adapters from our friends at TrendNet so we could test out and experience the glory that would be USB 3.0. Seriously, the idea of transfering large files to external drives,  flash drives or even broadcasting or playing back video in HD is possible with the sysem specs of USB 3.0

Andy Taylor of TechtalkRadio made a few calls and reached out to manufacturers for external USB devices and connected with Kingston Technologies. The Fountain Valley California sent us a DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0.

To give you an idea why we were so excited with the concept, The specification for USB 3.0 with the data traverller from Kingston allows for data transfers as fast as 80 MB per second when being read from the drive, and up to 60 MB per second when being written to the drive…up to ten times the rate as USB 2.0 (which is 30 MB per second to read from, and 30 MB per second to write to, those types of drives).

To transfer a 265,441 MB file via a USB 3.0 connection to the drive took about 10 seconds.  Tranferring the same file via USB 2.0 to the drive took about 15 seconds. On the Kingston website it was noted  “During internal testing, a 1 hour 44 minute movie (3.9GB) was written to the drive in 1 minute 13 seconds. Similarly, a 2 hour 23 minute DVD (4.4GB) transferred to the drive at a fast 1 minute 23 seconds.”

I took the Beefy USB DataTraveler out of the packaging and began with the idea of formatting the FAT32 device to NTFS. I then tried a write of a  4.05 GB file:  it needed about two minutes via USB 3.0.  At USB 2.0 it took nearly 4 minutes to complete. Happy indeed was I and I could imagine how time saving this would be moving large amounts of small files.  The product we looked at was the 32GB Model.

The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities.  For use with some USB 2.0 ports, a Y-cable…that has two Type A plugs, and one Type A receptacle…is included.

Slick

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Kingston Technology 32GB USB 3.0

DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 USB 3.0
Kingston DTU30 USB 3.0

We received the Kingston Technology 32GB DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Drive today. For those that aren’t to familiar to what USB 3.0 is all about, best explanation would be speed. Technology companies are always looking at ways to make data transfer  faster, more efficiently and with less chances for errors. If you were to take a look at even USB 1.1 vs the older standard of saving and transferring files, 1.44 Floppy Disk – USB 1.1 offered not only faster speeds but also saving with less errors, unless of course you pulled out the USB Stick before the writing was completed.

To explain where USB 3.0 is taking us, it is the next major revision to the Universal Serial Bus which offers Plug and Play as with previous incarnations but also with an estimated 10X performance gain over the still “happy with” USB 2.0. Users will also find a performance increase through SuperSpeed technology which allows for multiple streams of Data Transfer.

We also like the fact that USB 3.0 Devices such as this 32GB Data Traveler are compatible with USB 2.0. The DTU30 is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacity and will find support in Windows XP (SP3), Vista (SP1 and SP2) and Windows 7. We will test this out and give your our results with Windows 7 64.  Kingston Technology is packaging a Y Cable for USB 2.0 Ports to adequately power this device which is a little thicker then usual USB Flash drives due to the extra chip technology currently needed within the device.

In test from Kingston Technology, During internal testing, a 1 hour 44 minute movie (3.9GB) was written to the drive in 1 minute 13 seconds. Similarly, a 2 hour 23 minute DVD (4.4GB) transferred to the drive at a fast 1 minute 23 seconds. This can be great for working with HD Video and transferring files, AutoCad or even large audio files for presentations. With the proper USB 3.0 Connection,  According to Kingston Technology, The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 has a read speed of 80MB/sec. and a write speed of 60MB/sec. We’ll let you know what we come up with

For More Information, Take a look at http://www.kingston.com