OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Model D975XBX_
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11 GenuineIntel ~2430 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. BX97510J.86A.1487.2007.0902.1724, 9/2/2007
Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
I/O Port 0×000003C0-0×000003DF NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512
Model INTEL SSDSA2MH080G1GC

I think I’ve found two things that helped:

1. Not running Mozy Backup
2. Turning off virtual memory page files on non-SSD drives
3. Move Google Chrome’s profile to a hard disk

If anyone has other tips on getting rid of SSD stutters, let me know.

And now they’ve upped the ante with the Drobo Pro, an 8-bay enterprise version of the Drobo.

There’s a new “Dual Disk Redundancy” option will spread the data out such that the Drobo Pro array can suffer two simultaneous drive failures without any loss of data or interrupted service. You can even toggle this option on and off without having to rebuild the array. There’s also new connectivity via gigabit ethernet (iSCSI) as well as the older FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports. Linux, Windows, and Mac are supported, on NTFS, HFS Plus, EXT3 and FAT32. For more details, check out the data sheet.

You can buy one now for $1,300 from the Drobo store, or $900 if you exchange two old drobos for the new shiny model, something I’m horribly tempted to do right now.

Intel X25-M 80GB MLC Solid State Drive (SSD)

This is the result of benchmarking the Intel X-25M SSD with HD Tach. Notice that the sequential read speed is 220 MB/s, and that random reads take just 0.1ms.

This is the result of benchmarking the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s, an older 7200 rpm drive. It only attains 65MB/s sustained read, and 13.4ms random reads. The Intel SSD can read small bits of data over 100x faster than a spinning hard drive, and sustain a constant read rate over 3x the seagate. It’s those small reads & writes are what typically slow down home computers, as they need to constantly write small file for the operating system, file system, virtual memory, etc. With a hard disk, those writes impact the reading of other files, as the disk heads have to seek back and forth across the surface of the disk. With an SSD, there is no physical movement, and reads and writes don’t interfere in the same way.

If you’re interested in reading more, The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ not just compares all the SSDs on the market, but also goes into some detail about the underlying technology powering SSDs. They conclude that Intel’s SSDs, which offer incredibly low-latency random writes, offer the best value.

You can buy the Intel SSDSA2MH080G1C5 X25-M 80GB MLC 2.5-Inch 9.5mm Solid State Drive on Amazon for just $343!

Update: If you don’t understand how much better the Intel X25-M is than the competition, carefully looking at this just off the press benchmark against the new Corsair model should tell you. Why do you buy SSD? For fast random writes. Something the other SSD manufactors just do not get.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Apple Computer\Installer Cache
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Apple\Installer Cache

If you needed another reason to hate the Apple installer, after they tried to push their crapware Safari browser to all windows users, now you have one–it’s bloated and wastes valuable hard disk space by keeping copies of every version of every Apple update you ever download.

Update: I found another 900mb of iPhone software updates being cached here:

C:\Documents and Settings\Elliott Back\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

What TechCrunch is trying to do is create a 4x larger version of the iPhone centered around the browsing experience. To do this they need three things: a good price point, intuitive user interface, and beautiful industrial design. They’ve made good progress, but they are clearly not there yet; $299 is extremely close to the full-featured HP 2133-KX869AT 8.9-inch Mini-Note PC (C7-M 1.2 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, Linux) for $350. Consumers would probably rather buy a netbook–miniature notebook–than a browser-tablet at the $300 price point.

To improve their price, the TechCrunch team needs to throw away all components adding cost–the external ports, the webcam, and anything else that gets in the way. They’ll have to aggressively negotiate manufacturing contracts. But, if they can hit their original $200 target, they’ll have a winner.

The next ingredient is the killer UI. That’s what made the iPhone into an overnight hit, something Gizmodo reader KVirtanen noted:

Simply think through everything. Make it look and work like it’s worth over 300$ and people will be all over it. Listen to your potential customers when making decisions. Make it so that it almost slips on to your hands and your fingers just automatically finds the on-screen buttons (and maybe also some physical ones). Let people with good eye comment on the design.

This way it’ll be a long-lasting tool, not something you’ll end up replacing after you get fed up with the way it works or after it breaks.

Finally, the design of the case in prototype B sucks. It’s thick and unwieldy. Mike says that “It’s about twice as thick as is needs to be without further engineering – we just built in a safety thickness in case of heat or other issues.” Getting it down to .7″ thick and removing much of the unnecessary border around the screen will go a long way to making it consumer friendly. From the screens, it also looks like the bezel rides quite a bit higher than the screen surface. The iPhone face is one smooth surface, something that make it feel like a quality product a person would want to own.

If prototype C can be profitable at $200, throws away all the components not central to the TC Tablet’s mission, has a great user interface, and looks 100000x sexier than prototype B, I’ll be willing to revisit this headline. Otherwise, competing with the netbooks, it’s doomed.