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Today at Samsung’s CES 2017 press conference there were a number of announcements for their mobile PCs. At a high level, this includes the Notebook 9 refresh, a new Odyssey gaming laptop, and Chromebook Plus and Pro.

Starting with the Notebook 9, while this laptop already has existed in name, this represents an update to the latest Intel Kaby Lake processors and features like the thin bezel and fast charge carried forward as seen in the spec sheet below.
[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR="class: tlblue"]
[TD="width: 120"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]Samsung Notebook 9 15" EXT[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]Samsung Notebook 9 13.3"[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tlgrey"]Processor[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]Intel Core i7 7500U[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]Intel Core i5/i7 Kaby Lake[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tlgrey"]RAM[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]16GB DDR4 dual channel[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]8/16GB DDR4 (i5/i7)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tlgrey"]NAND[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]PCIe NVMe, 256GB SSD[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]SATA 3 SSD, up to 256GB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tlgrey"]Display[/TD]
[TD="width: 170, align: center"]15" 1080p, 350/500 nits
95% sRGB dE2000

We're here at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center covering Samsung's announcements for CES 2017.


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We're here at Intel for their CES Press Event.

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The competition for the mid-range smartphone market is fairly intense here at CES 2017. Right after the launch of Huawei's Honor 6X yesterday, ZTE is launching their direct competitor, the Blade V8 Pro, today. As you might guess, this device also has a dual camera system, a 5.5-inch FHD display, and dual SIM capabilities. In order to avoid stretching this out the usual spec table can be found below.

	Huawei Honor 6X	ZTE Blade V8 Pro
SoC	HiSilicon Kirin 655 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.1GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.7GHz Mali-T830MP2	Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz Adreno 506 @ 650 MHz
RAM	3GB / 4GB LPDDR3-1866	3GB
NAND	32GB / 64GB (eMMC 5.1) + microSD	32GB + microSD
Display	5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD	5.5-inch 1920x1080 IPS LCD
Dimensions	150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm 162 grams	156 x 77 x 9.1 mm 185 grams
Modem	HiSilicon Balong (Integrated) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE	Qualcomm X9 (Integrated) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Category 7/13)
SIM Size	2x NanoSIM	2x NanoSIM
Front Camera	8MP, 1/4" Sony IMX219 Exmor R, f/2.0	8MP
Rear Camera	Primary: 12MP, 1/2.9” Sony IMX386 Exmor RS, 1.25µm pixels, f/2.2, PDAF, HDR, LED flash Depth: 2MP, 1/5” OmniVision OV2680, 1.75µm pixels	2x 13MP, PDAF, Auto HDR, dual LED flash
Battery	3340 mAh non-replaceable	3140 mAh (12.09 WHr) non-replaceable
Connectivity	802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz), BT 4.1, GPS/GNSS, microUSB 2.0	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.2 NFC, GPS/GNSS, USB-C 2.0
Launch OS	Android 6.0 with EMUI 4.1	Android 6.0.1

As seen in the spec table above, the Blade V8 Pro is basically a direct competitor to the Honor 6X. Rather than a Kirin SoC, ZTE is shipping Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 which goes head to head with the Kirin 655. I wouldn’t say that these SoCs are guaranteed to be similar, though, because even if they are both on FinFET nodes and have eight A53 CPUs, there are a lot of engineering details that can cause significant differences in perf/W, modem performance, and a whole host of other features such as video encode performance, ISP performance, and things like low-power islands and DSP extensions.

When directly comparing the Blade V8 Pro to the Honor 6X, the things that stand out here are the use of USB Type-C for reversible cables, much better Wi-Fi with 802.11ac and 5GHz support, and dual 13MP rear cameras to improve the quality of depth sensing. The price is also slightly lower at 230 USD instead of 250 USD as seen on the Honor 6X. However, the Blade V8 Pro has a 6% smaller battery which could be a noticeable difference if power efficiency is identical between the two and the Blade V8 Pro is 23 grams heavier which is also a noticeable difference. The Blade V8 Pro’s design is also a more traditional plastic back with a metal midframe rather than the mostly aluminum unibody used in the Honor 6X.
Overall though the Blade V8 Pro is a fairly compelling competitor to the Honor 6X and it’ll be interesting to see how they compare as the obvious contenders for the midrange smartphone segment. The Blade V8 Pro will be available for pre-order today for 229.98 USD on Amazon, B&H, Newegg, and zteusa.com. The integrated Qualcomm X9 LTE modem supports the following frequency bands: FDD-LTE B2 / B4 / B5 / B7 / B12, WCDMA B1 / B2 / B5, and GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz.

Along with this announcement, ZTE also announced the name for the Project CSX phone which attempts to crowdsource a design for a phone, namely Hawkeye. The Hawkeye phone goes on preorder today for 199 USD at kickstarter.zteusa.com and will have eye-tracking and self-adhesive properties.



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Netgear's CES 2017 announcements include a trio of updates to their ReadyNAS network-attached storage lineup. Back in September 2016, Netgear announced one of the first NAS lineups based on Intel's Broadwell DE (Xeon D / Pentium D) platform. While the ReadyNAS 520 series used the dual-core Intel Pentium D-1508 SoC, the ReadyNAS 620 series used the quad-core Xeon D-1521 SoC. At the time of introduction, only 6-bay models were available in both the series. As part of the CES announcements, the ReadyNAS 520 series is expanding with 4- and 8-bay models. The ReadyNAS 620 series is getting a 8-bay model in addition to the existing 6-bay model. We will come back to the ReadyNAS 520 and 620 series later on in this piece.
The major new product announcement in the ReadyNAS lineup is the ReadyNAS 420 series, which comes in 2-bay (RN 422) and 4-bay (RN 424) variants. Both are based on the dual-core Intel Atom C3338 SoC. Based on the Goldmont Atom micro-architecture, Denverton shows that Intel is committed to a cost-effective server solution based on the Intel Atom platform, while retaining Xeon D and Pentium D for solutions offering better performance at a premium.

Note that the ReadyNAS 420 series comes with only Gigabit LAN ports, while the 520 and 620 series are equipped with 10GBASE-T ports. The specifications of the new members in the 520 and 620 series are provided below.

An interesting aspect is the Bluetooth dongle, which allows IT administrators to quickly check up on the status of the NAS unit from a mobile device.
Similar to the current ReadyNAS units, the new ones also deliver the advantages resulting from Netgear's adaptation of the btrfs file system along with a mdadm RAID management layer. Various backup and remote access strategies are supported with the ReadyDR and ReadyCLOUD packages. Despite the major focus on gearing up ReadyNAS solutions towards business use-cases, there is also support for prosumers interested in multimedia streaming - the ReadyNAS 620 series supports streaming and real-time transcoding of multiple 4K streams, while the 520 series supports streaming and real-time transcoding for multiple 1080p or a single 4K stream (based on the CPU capabilities).
The current pricing of the various ReadyNAS models are specificed in the table below.

Netgear ReadyNAS Pricing Table [ Q1 2017 ]
Model		MSRP
ReadyNAS 420 Series
RN 422		USD 450
RN 424		USD 650
ReadyNAS 520 Series
RN 524X		USD 900
RN 526X		USD 1200
RN 528X		USD 1600
ReadyNAS 620 Series
RN 626X		USD 1700
RN 628X		USD 2000

The RN 528X and RN 628X are available immediately, while the other new models (RN 524X, RN 422 and RN 424) are slated to become available later this quarter.

Gallery: Netgear Expands ReadyNAS Lineup with Intel Denverton Atom Platform

All models are backed up by a 5-year warranty, with multiple support options available (including next business-day parts replacement) - something attractive to IT administrators. In summary, Netgear has taken the lead in introducing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) NAS units based on the latest hardware platforms from Intel. The OS features and allied packages are very attractive to business users, despite other NAS vendors providing a OS with more features for prosumers.

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Western Digital has announced the WD Black PCIe SSD, their first PCIe SSD for the consumer market. While the WD Green and WD Blue SSDs introduced last fall were relatively minor updates to existing SanDisk products, the WD Black is an all-new product. The WD Black is aimed at the cheaper half of the M.2 PCIe SSD market rather than competing for the highest performance: it will be available in 256GB and 512GB capacities for $109 and $199.99 respectively, making it cheaper than any currently available M.2 PCIe SSD except the Intel 600p. The WD Black most likely uses the Marvell 88SS1093 controller and 15nm TLC NAND, a combination that will also be found in Plextor's upcoming M8Se (albeit with different firmware).
Write endurance ratings are 80 TB and 160 TB for the 256GB and 512GB models respectively, which are the lowest for this product class. On the other hand, the WD Black will carry a 5-year warranty and 1.75M hour MTTF rating.

WD Black PCIe SSD Series Specifications
Capacity		256GB	512GB
Form Factor		M.2 2280
Interface		PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe
Controller		Marvell 88SS1093 ?
NAND		SanDisk 15nm TLC ?
Sequential Read		2050 MB/s
Sequential Write		700 MB/s	800 MB/s
Random Read (4 KB) IOPS		170k	170k
Random Write (4 KB) IOPS		130k	134k
Power	Peak	8.25 W
Idle	5.5 mW
Endurance		80 TBW	160 TBW
Encryption		none
Warranty		5 years
Price		$109	$199.99

The WD Black does not appear to include any heatspreaders, but Western Digital's firmware includes advanced power and thermal management algorithms that WD claims will allow for consistent performance and low power consumption. The WD Black is rated for operating temperatures up to 70°C, so it may engage thermal throttling at a lower temperature than some other PCIe SSD. (For example, the OCZ RD400 throttles around 80°C.)
The WD Black PCIe SSD will be available in the first half of 2017. With this announcement, Micron's Crucial is now the only major consumer SSD brand that does not have any PCIe SSDs. Last summer Micron abandoned plans for a Balistix TX3 product based on their 3D TLC NAND and Silicon Motion's SM2260 controller.



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At the CES 2017 show today, AMD is lifting the lid on some of the upcoming AM4 motherboard designs coming to end users for Ryzen/Summit Ridge and Bristol Ridge. The sixteen boards being displayed come from the major manufacturers, and include overclocking and gaming oriented models. These boards will be the base for system integrator PC designs to come, with at least seventeen SIs coming on board for today’s announcement.

Motherboards for the 300-series chipsets, which includes A320, B350 and X370, will come in standard motherboard sizes (mITX, mATX and ATX), and the designs will feature technologies including dual channel DD4, support for NVMe drives via M.2/U.2 or PCIe, native support for USB 3.1 10 Gbps connectivity (as well as the new USB 3.1 front panel interface we’ve seen on some motherboards already), and PCIe 3.0 from the processor for external graphics or other PCIe co-processors.
Formally, the motherboards being announced are:

• ASRock X370 Taichi
• ASRock X370 Gaming K4
• ASRock AB350 Gaming K4
• ASRock A320M Pro 4
• ASUS B350M-C
• Biostar X370GT7
• Biostar X350GT5
• Biostar X350GT3
• GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming K5
• GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming 5
• GIGABYTE AB350-Gaming 3
• GIGABYTE A320M-HD3
• MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium
• MSI B350 Tomahawk
• MSI B350M Mortar
• MSI A320M Pro-VD

We’re waiting for more information before we can get into the meat of this announcement. At this point it indicates that AMD’s AM4 platform should be ready to go, and we’re eagerly awaiting the processors to also reach ready-to-retail status. A number of partners at CES are talking to us about Ryzen plans, so stay tuned as we’re able to report more.
Gallery: AMD Motherboards

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Extending the reach of Wi-Fi networks has become important with the rise in number and spread in usage location of Wi-Fi clients in a typical household. Typical range extenders sacrifice some performance by communicating with the main router using the same channel used for its clients. Late last year, we had evaluated various backhaul technologies being adopted in this space. Wi-Fi as a backhaul medium worked great in our particular evaluation location. However, there are scenarios in which Wi-Fi signals get attenuated very quickly (say, houses with thick brick or concrete walls). In those cases, powerline communication may present a better backhaul option.
At CES 2017, TRENDnet is launching the TPL-430AP wireless access point. They will be selling it under the 'WiFi Everywhere' tag. The product uses HomePlug AV2 technology. In particular, it adopts the Qualcomm Atheros QCA7500 chipset with V2 MIMO powerline operation in the 0 - 68 MHz band. The product also includes a built-in dual-band AC1200 access point (2x2:2 802.11ac/b/g/n, with 867 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 300 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band). It also has two Gigabit LAN ports.
An issue with some of the powerline Wi-Fi extenders in the market is the appearance of a whole new SSID and putting the onus on the customer to replicate the Wi-Fi settings from the main router (which could be from a different vendor). TRENDnet fortunately recognizes this issue and has a WPS-like setup to clone the Wi-Fi settings from the main router for simpler setup.
Consumers purchasing the TPL-430AP are already expected to have a HomePlug AV2 already in their network. Otherwise, TRENDnet also offers the access point as part of a kit - the TPL-430APK includes the TPL-430 as well as the TPL-421E (a HomePlug AV2 1200 powerline adapter that has a built-in passthrough outlet).
The wireless access point with powerline backhaul, as well as the kit, will be available in early Q2 2017. While the TPL-430AP will have a MSRP of $125, the kit will retail for $175.
In other TRENDnet CES news, a number of new USB-C adapters are also being launched - welcome news for the USB-C ecosystem.

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