thunderbolt News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 22, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro – A Thunderbolt 5 fanless SSD enclosure with 80Gbps bandwidth, 7GB/s practical performance

TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro connected to MAC Mini

TerraMaster has recently launched the D1 SSD Pro Thunderbolt 5 fanless enclosure, an update to the previous Thunderbolt 4-based TerraMaster D1 SSD Plus. The new version features an 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 port, supports M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs with up to 8TB capacity, and has been tested at up to 7,061MB/s read and 6,816MB/s write speeds, nearly doubling Thunderbolt 4 performance. The enclosure uses a fanless, CNC-machined aluminum design that enables silent operation through passive heat dissipation. It also features smart LED indicators for connection speed, and offers compatibility with Thunderbolt 5/4/3, USB4, and USB 3.2 across Windows, macOS, and Linux, including boot support on macOS. With various protection features (short-circuit, surge, ESD) and a compact, rugged design, it is suited for 8K/4K video editors, power MacBook users, gamers who need real-time editing, ultra-fast transfers, and reliable external boot or workspace storage. TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro specifications Performance (claimed) – Up […]

January 9, 2026January 9, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

SECO’s COM Express Type 6 module features Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Panther Lake-H processor with up to 180 TOPS

SECO SOM COMe BT6 PTL COM Express Type 6 module

We have just covered Vecow’s new TGS-2000 series of Edge AI computers built around Intel’s new Panther Lake-H SoCs, and now SECO has announced the SOM-COMe-BT6-PTL, a COM Express Type 6 Basic module which supports the higher-end 16-core Core Ultra X9 series processors and can deliver up to 180 TOPS of AI performance. The module follows the COM Express Release 3.1 Type 6 Basic form factor (125 × 95 mm), supports up to 128GB DDR5 memory via dual SO-DIMM slots, offers high-speed expansion through PCIe Gen4/Gen5, USB 4.0/Thunderbolt, and 2.5Gbps Ethernet, and provides multiple display interfaces including eDP, DP++, and HDMI. It is available with an optional industrial temperature range and is designed for rugged and mission-critical applications. SECO SOM-COMe-BT6-PTL Specifications: Panther Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra X9 388H – 16-core (4P + 8E + 4LPE) processor up to 1.6 GHz / 5.1 GHz (Turbo), 18MB cache, […]

January 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

6-core Intel Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 CPUs to succeed Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake families

When I wrote the Year 2025 in review post, I expected an announcement for the Wildcat Lake CPUs at CES 2026, but instead, Intel initially introduced the high-end Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” family. I assumed the Wildcat Lake announcement was postponed, but some users’ reports on X indicate the company did demonstrate the new Core Series 3 (no “Ultra” there) “Wildcat Lake” processors as lower-end Core Series 3 “Panther Lake” SKUs. Intel has yet to disclose part names, and there’s nothing about the Wildcat Lake on Intel Ark at the time of writing. However, some information was shared through slides and X users. Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” key features and specifications: CPU – Hexa-core processor with 2x Cougar Cover P-cores (Performance cores), 4x Darkmont LPE-cores (Low-Power Efficient cores) GPU – 2x Xe-core Intel Xe3 graphics (no ray tracing, not designed for gaming) AI accelerator – Intel […]

January 25, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Intel floats Modular PC design proposal for repairable laptops and mini PCs

Intel has published an article proposing a modular PC design that would improve the repairability/right-to-repair of laptops and mini PCs and reduce e-waste through the replacement of motherboard, display, and M.2 or FPC add-on modules for the user-facing ports. Making repairable, modular electronic devices is not a new idea, and the Framework laptops are probably the best-known option now, but they do come at a premium. But most projects are limited success, for instance, Project Ara modular smartphone from Google eventually died off. We’ve also covered modular or open-source hardware solutions from smaller companies over the years such as Firefly Station P3D modular Arm mini PC with swappable cards, or Olimex Teres-I DIY and open-source hardware laptop. It’s good news that a large company like Intel is taking the repairable, modular PC topic seriously, but as we’ll see below it’s currently a high-level proposal with few technical details. Most laptops […]

January 23, 2025January 23, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MAIWO K2024 USB4 M.2 enclosure takes up to four M.2 NVMe SSD, serves as a 1-to-3 SSD duplicator

There are many M.2 USB4 or Thunderbolt enclosures on the market, but the MAIWO K2024 USB4 enclosure is a little different as it takes up to four M.2 NVMe 2230 to 2280 SSDs and features a button to use the device as 1-to-3 SSD duplicator. Based on the ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4 controller, the MAIWO K2024 is suitable for people needing lots of NVMe SSD storage with high-performance random I/Os, for instance for video editing, and users needing to duplicate SSDs quickly and easily, e.g. to duplicate a Raspberry Pi OS installation on several SSDs. MAIWO K2024 key features: Chipset – ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4/Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe/NVMe controller with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 backward compatibility Storage Up to 4x M.2 NVMe M-Key SSDs 2230/2242/2260/2280 sizes supported Up to 32TB storage when using 4x 8TB SSDs Transfer rate of 16 Gbps with one SSD (PCIe Gen4 x1), 10 Gbps each with […]

January 7, 2025January 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ASROCK Industrial launches NUC(S) Ultra 200 (Intel Arrow Lake-H) and 4X4 AI300 (AMD Ryzen 300 AI) motherboards and BOX PCs

ASROCK Industrial NUC Ultra 200 BOX PC Motherboard

Following new SoC announcements by Intel and AMD at CES 2025, ASRock Industrial has launched the NUC(S) Ultra 200 BOX Series and NUC Ultra 200 Motherboard Series powered by Intel Core Ultra 200H Arrow Lake-H processors with of to 99 TOPS of AI inferencing power, and the 4X4 BOX AI300 Series and 4X4 AI300 Motherboard Series based on AMD Ryzen AI 300 processors with up to 50 TOPS of NPU performance. ASROCK NUC(S) Ultra 200 BOX PCs & NUC ULTRA 200 motherboards NUC(S) Ultra 200 specifications: Arrow Lake-H/U SoC (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra 7 255H (6P+8E) processor up to 5.1 GHz with 24MB cache, Intel Arc 140T GPU (74 TOPS), and Intel AI Boost (13 TOPS); PBP: 28 Watts Intel Core Ultra 5 225H (4P+8E) processor up to 4.9 GHz with 18MB cache, Intel Arc 130T GPU (63 TOPS), and Intel AI Boost (13 TOPS); PBP: 28 […]

December 13, 2024February 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit – An Intel Core Ultra 7 258V “Lunar Lake” mini PC for developers

Khadas recently announced the Mind 2 mini PC with an Intel Core 5 or 7 “Meteor Lake” mini PC. But the company is prepping the launch of another similar device called the “Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit Dev Workstation” or “Intel Core Ultra Processor (Series 2) AI PC Dev Kit” with a 15th Gen Intel Core Ultra 7 258V “Lunar Lake” processor offering up to 115 TOPS of AI performance. I’ll just call it “Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit” for shorts. The system ships with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, and Khadas says the new system is designed specifically for developers working on AI PC applications, but apart from the faster SoC, it comes with similar features as the Mind 2. This includes HDMI 2.0 video output, two 40Gbps USB4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, as well as two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports […]

December 1, 2024December 2, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

ORICO COM2-T3 review – A 40Gbps SSD enclosure tested with a 7000MB/s M.2 NVMe SSD

ORICO COM2-T3 40Gbps SSD enclosure review

ORICO sent me a COM2-T3 SSD enclosure capable of 40 Gbps speeds for review along with the company’s 1TB O7000 NVMe SSD rated at up to 7000MB/s read speed which converts to about 56 Gbps and should be plenty enough to test 40 Gbps SSD enclosure. Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 are not always equivalent But before going into the review itself, here’s some background information. When I test the USB-A and USB-C ports in mini PC reviews, I rely on an ORICO M234C3-U4 NVMe SSD enclosure with an Apacer SSD. That enclosure was falsely advertised as a “USB4″ enclosure but still works at 40Gbps with an Intel JH7440 Thunderbolt 3 chip that works with 40 Gbps USB Type-C ports and a JMS583 “USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe NVMe Gen3” bridge for USB 3.0 ports up to 10 Gbps. I always assumed a 40Gbps USB-C peripheral would always work with […]