Intel unveils ‘world’s fastest’ Thunderbolt thumb drive at Computex

By Russ Boswell June 6, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Transferring data for on-the-go use is about to get a whole lot faster according to Intel executives. Intel unveiled what its touting as the “world’s fastest thumb drive,” at this year’s Computex. The product in question is a key-shaped 128GB portable thumb drive that plugs directly into a Thunderbolt port, rather than a traditional USB slot. According to Intel, this will allow you to transfer data at a much faster rate than is possible with traditional flash drives. Currently, the thumb drive supports a speed of 10Gbps, which is the max allowance for Thunderbolt technology. For reference, USB 3.0 runs at a speed that is around half of the capabilities of Thunderbolt. According to PCWorld, the drive appears to be similar in size to most flash drives currently on the market.

Intel’s drive doesn’t require any cables to operate, either. This is welcome news considering that most Thunderbolt-based peripherals and hook-ups can run at rather high prices. A traditional two-meter-long Thunderbolt cable can be had from the Apple store, but it’ll cost you around $40. Intel’s new creation uses an internal SSD to store your transferred data. Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt thumb drive shown is simply a prototype and we haven’t received any information from the company concerning a price point or a potential release date.

There is a strong possibility that these 10Gbps speeds could increase in the near future too, perhaps before the thumb drive even hits the market. Intel just recently released information regarding Thunderbolt 2, an upgraded version of its popular port. The company stated that Thunderbolt 2 ports will find their way into PC’s by the end of the current year and will increase data speeds to 20Gbps, which is double the current rate.

Photo via ComputerWorld

Topics

Intel

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Russ Boswell is an aspiring video game and technology journalist from Colorado. He's been an avid gamer since he was old…

Computing

Get up to $900 off the Dell XPS 15 and Dell XPS 17 today

A Dell XPS 15 laptop on an office desk next to a monitor.

It’s all change at Dell this year with the Dell XPS 16 replacing the Dell XPS 17 and the Dell XPS 15 gradually seeing fewer updates. That means if you’re still keen to snag a Dell XPS 15 or 17, your chance to do so is running out. That’s why it’s great to see some excellent laptop deals for both models with up to $900 to be saved at the moment. If you’re looking for a new laptop, read on while we guide you through what each laptop has to offer.
Dell XPS 17 -- $1,949, was $2,849

The Dell XPS 17 remains a good option for anyone seeking a powerful laptop that works well as a desktop replacement. It has a 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13700H processor with a massive 32GB of memory so it’s ideal for all kinds of productivity-based tasks such as if you need to manage many spreadsheets at once or if you just prefer to have a lot of windows open at once. It also has 1TB of SSD storage while it can handle plenty of gaming too thanks to its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. Its display is a 17-inch full HD+ model with 1920 x 1200 resolution, anti-glare properties, and 500 nits of brightness so it looks great. Other quality of life improvements include plenty of USB-C ports, up to 14 hours of battery life, a great cooling system, and a form factor that means it squeezes a 17-inch display into a 15-inch form size. It also has a large edge-to-edge backlit keyboard, comfortable touchpad, and large keycaps so it feels good to work on as you’d expect from the makers of some of the best laptops.

Computing

This Dell gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 is discounted to $700

Dell G15 gaming laptop on a table.

You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to be able to get a decent gaming laptop, as there are budget-friendly options like the Dell G15 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. It's currently even cheaper at just $700, following a $200 discount on its original price of $900. We're not sure how much time is remaining on this offer though, so if you think this is the perfect gaming laptop for you, stop hesitating and proceed with the purchase immediately to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.

Why you should buy the Dell G15 gaming laptop
The Dell G15 is highlighted in our list of the best gaming laptops as the best budget gaming laptop under $1,000, as it provides dependable performance while staying affordable for most gamers. It's equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card, which is perfect for budget gaming, and pairs it with the 13th-generation Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. These specifications are more than enough to be able to play the best PC games, though you may have to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.

Computing

Intel’s big bet on efficient GPUs might actually work

An Intel Meteor Lake processor socketed in a motherboard.

Intel has a lot riding on its next-gen Battlemage graphics architecture, and a very early benchmark shows some promising signs for performance. An Intel Lunar Lake CPU packing a low-power integrated Battlemage GPU was reportedly spotted in the SiSoftware benchmark database. It boasts not only higher performance than Intel's Meteor Lake chips, but also much better efficiency.

User @miktdt on X (formerly Twitter) spotted the result, which appears to come from an early qualification sample of the HP Spectre x360 14. The benchmark picked up that the laptop was using a Lunar Lake CPU, which is said to come with the Xe2-LPG architecture, a lower-power version of Battlemage.