NZCity NewsLinks -

All Links

11 Jan 2025

Search

LaCie debuts rugged Thunderbolt 5 portable SSDs
Fast or tough? You can’t always have both, especially when you’re talking about electronics where “ruggedized” versions often come with compromises. But Seagate’s LaCie brand is aiming to offer both with its upcoming Rugged SSD Pro5 models, announced at CES 2025. According to the press release and the initial retail listing, these 2TB and 4TB portable drives in LaCie’s familiar rugged, impact-resistant exteriors offers read speeds up to 6,700MB/s and write speeds up to 5,300MB/s. That’s assuming you’re using it with a compatible Thunderbolt 5 device, of course. And while it isn’t the fastest drive in the world, it’s probably the fastest you can get in a drive that’s designed to bounce off a hinterland Jeep without complaint. LaCie says the design is “resistant to drops from up to three meters and is IP68-rated dust and waterproof.” And LaCie ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie, as my grandfather might have put it: these drives come with a five-year limited warranty and include Rescue Data Recovery Services (not available in all countries) in case of catastrophic data loss. LaCie says the drives are ideal for “filmmakers, photographers, and audio specialists” who operate in the toughest environments. The Rugged SSD Pro5 is scheduled to go on sale later in January, for $400 at the 2TB capacity and $600 at the 4TB capacity.

Raspberry Pi 5 gets a superpowered 16GB model for the first time
How much RAM do you need? It’s a common question, but one that doesn’t always have a straightforward answer. The Raspberry Pi, a cheap all-in-one system-on-a-chip for hobbyists, typically makes do with less RAM than conventional PCs, but a new 16GB version of the Pi 5 has come to give it a serious memory upgrade. The Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of onboard DDR4 RAM is $120, more than double the price of the base 2GB model. (It’s also available in the original 4GB configuration for $60 and 8GB for $80.) But though that may sound pricey for a Raspberry Pi with no extra hardware, it’s reasonable considering the components. If we assume a $20 jump for every 4GB of memory, it lines right up. The new 16GB version is on sale right now at PiShop.us and other vendors. But 16 gigs is a lot for a Raspberry Pi, more than any other existing model produced thus far — and at $120, it now sits within striking distance of at least some mini PC models, which, unlike the Pi, come with storage and an operating system out of the box. So, what’s the reasoning behind the upgrade? According to Raspberry Pi CEO Ebon Upton, it’s to make room in the memory for “heavyweight distributions like Ubuntu” and more demanding applications such as computational fluid dynamics and (sigh) large language AI models. Micron was able to supply the Raspberry Pi company with the necessary components, and here we are. It’s worth pointing out that it’s very possible to run an Arm-based version of Windows on a Raspberry Pi, even the rather heavy Windows 11 — and if you’re going to do that, my personal take is that 16GB should be the minimum for the latest versions of the OS. That makes the new 16GB version of the Pi an easy pick if you’re trying to build a Windows PC that’s as tiny and efficient as possible on a budget.

Tech Life: A glimpse into the future of tech
Tech Life is at CES in Las Vegas, one of the world’s biggest consumer tech shows.

Do I need a gaming mouse with a 4K polling rate?
Gaming mice with 4K polling rates became the norm this year. In fact, we saw hardly any mice with 1,000Hz and 2,000Hz polling rates being released — period. These new-generation gaming mice weren’t hard to spot thanks to manufacturers using higher polling rates a bit like DPI values have been used in the past — to plaster the fact on marketing materials in an effort to entice players wanting to buy only the fastest mice available. But the truth is, you really don’t need a mouse with a 4K polling rate, and here’s why… The truth about mice with 4K polling rates A mouse’s polling rate is the number of times per second it reports its position to the computer. That being so, a mouse with a 4K polling rate reports to the computer 4,000 times per second, a 2,000Hz mouse reports 2,000 times per second and so on… A mouse with a 4K polling rate, therefore, should be a lot quicker than one with a 2,000Hz polling rate or 1,000Hz polling rate, and in theory, it is. But that speed advantage doesn’t necessarily equate to better performance in games. That’s mostly due to the limits of human perception and our reaction speeds — but it can also be because of the type of game you’re playing, or the hardware you’re using. Further reading: The best PC gaming mice What polling rate tests show You just have to look at polling rate performance tests to see why you don’t need a mouse with a 4K polling rate. In one such test that compared tracking, polling stability, and motion delay latency in a gaming mouse with a 4K polling rate and another with a 2,000Hz polling rate, the 4K mouse tracked 0.1ms quicker with MotionSync off, and on average 0.5ms with MotionSync on. That, mind you, was in the lab. When the author tested the 4K mouse versus a 1,000Hz mouse in a bunch of games, they failed to notice any difference in latency. Based on those tests they surmised: “Saturating the full 4,000Hz polling rate takes quite a bit of mouse movement, and thus isn’t typically reached all the time anyway, so most of the time, the benefit in terms of latency compared to 1,000Hz is around 0.5ms, which is well below the sensory capabilities of the average human.” That doesn’t mean there is absolutely no advantage to having a 4,000Hz polling rate, just that it’s almost imperceptible from that of a 1,000Hz polling rate for many players. What’s more, the latency advantage is so small that it’s not going to have much of an impact on performance. Many new gaming mice released this year, especially those made for first-person shooters, come with a 4K polling rate. Razer What players will notice in a mouse with a 4K polling rate is likely to be more of a subjective experience. For example, they might feel that it has better precision, or slightly smoother tracking. To actually capitalize on the tiny 0.5ms latency advantage you get in a mouse with 4K polling would require a very specific set of conditions. In a best-case scenario, you’d need to be playing a game where rapid precision firing is the main objective — so a first-person shooter rather than another type of game like an RTS or RPG. Then still, it would have to be one that supports sub-frame rate input, like Overwatch. You’d also need a very powerful CPU because of the higher CPU cost of using a 4K polling rate. A high refresh rate monitor is also advisable (either one with 240Hz or 340Hz). Even with all these factors ticked off, it’s still doubtful that you could click fast enough to turn 0.5ms latency into more frags. The takeaway is, when it comes to gaming performance, a 4K polling rate is a lot less important than you might think. In fact, you’re better off focusing your attention on honing your gaming techniques or memorizing maps for any kind of performance boost. This fact comes with one big benefit, though: You can save yourself a ton of cash and buy a mouse with a 1,000Hz polling rate — it’ll do just fine.