Lexar Shipping 4GB CF Card

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.lexarmedia.com/dynamic-frameset_newsroom.html?http://www.lexarmedia.com/newsroom/press/press_08_04_03.html">http://www.lexarmedia.com/dynamic-frameset_newsroom.html?http://www.lexarmedia.com/newsroom/press/press_08_04_03.html</a><br /><br />"Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading designer, developer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today announced that the company is shipping the world's first and only 4GB CompactFlash memory card. Specifically designed for professional photographers shooting hi-resolution images, the 4GB card stores about 600 images captured in RAW mode using a 6-megapixel professional camera. Amateur photographers shooting with lower resolution cameras could expect to capture as many as 45,000 JPEG images using the high capacity memory card. The actual number of images a 4GB card can store depends on the camera quality, resolution and image file selection mode."<br /><br />:drool: 4GB! Forget images. Look at all the music you can put on your Pocket PC. :D It is a CF-II card, so it unfortunately won't work on the HP Jornada series. It can be yours today for the incredibly low price of $1,499. 8O If you plan on using it in your camera, be sure it supports FAT32.

[aroma]

:jawdrop: :drool:

[Evee Ev]

uh....overkill?

[SHoTTa35]

uh....overkill?

shoot i'd sy so but i know some people here would love one of those.... and are def gonna buy it too. Dunno when i'd need that much storage and if i did on a PPC then i'd say someone needs a dayjob! LOL.... That's just my opinion tho... i have 256MB SD now and i don't even use all of that...

for $1500 i could buy 3 Ipods or screw that... just get phat laptop instead!!! prolly get a 60GB HD and 15" screen and wi-fi and bluetooth built in as well as dvd/cdrw combo!

[jet8810]

When the price comes down to $300 I will buy it... :mrgreen:

[mlp]

Is there any problem with fat 32 and WM 2003? I read somewhere that formatting with fat32 would be slower than fat 16...

[entropy1980]

Is there any problem with fat 32 and WM 2003? I read somewhere that formatting with fat32 would be slower than fat 16...
Good question!!

[Alicatt]

I am looking for a new digi camera and have come down to the Fuji S2Pro now this has given me another question to ask..... 8O

[Ed Hansberry]

Is there any problem with fat 32 and WM 2003? I read somewhere that formatting with fat32 would be slower than fat 16...
Good question!!
No idea. Don't think you have an option though. According to http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm 2GB is the limit of a FAT16 drive. I understand Windows XP and Windows 2000 with the latest service pack supports 4GB on a FAT16 drive. I doubt anyone cared to put that into CE 4.2 and seriously doubt that even if they did (and why would they?) CE 3.0 based PPC 2000 and 2002 wouldn't support it.

[David Prahl]

How about some screenshots? I've never seen a "Storage Card Memory" screenshot of anything above 512 MB.

How about a contest? See who can attach or insert the most memory to their Pocket PC! :D

Let's see...
120 GB External USB drive through CF slot...
1 GB SD card...
84.78 on Axim board...

IS 121,084.78 MB the most storage you can get on a Pocket PC?

[ricksfiona]

When the price comes down to $300 I will buy it... :mrgreen:
Me too. Even 1GB is not that much space when you start synchronizing with your business data you need. Plus, I would really want to carry a good deal of MP3. Let's not even talk about video.

I'll be a happy camper when 1GB SD cards around under $200, but that's at least a year away.

You can never have too much storage space.

[racerx]

The important aspect of this product is that it will drive prices for smaller cards down even lower. Where 2GB used to be prohibitively expensive, now it will become affordable.

When they come out with a 2-4GB SD card, I'll be all over that! :D

[GoldKey]

I've got a 5 GB PCMCIA hard drive hooked up through a CF/PCMCIA converter to my Axim and PPC 2002 seems to have not problems reading from it. Boy does it chew up the battery though!

[Alicatt]

Is there any problem with fat 32 and WM 2003? I read somewhere that formatting with fat32 would be slower than fat 16...
if you read the white paper on the Lexar site about the 4GB/ Fat32 card it says:-
Be aware of the FAT32 bottleneck Because of the manner in which many digital cameras update the
file system as they write photos to the card, writing to a FAT32-formatted card generally takes a little
longer than writing to a FAT16-formatted card with similar performance capabilities.
http://www.digitalfilm.com/pdf/Lexar_4GB_Fat32.pdf

[Prevost]

When the price comes down to $300 I will buy it... :mrgreen: :lol: actually.

Its 4 times the hard disk I have into my desktop...and cost more than my whole desktop system.

We should have PocketPCs with outbound connections for keyboard, monitor and printer, so this card would double as the hard disk and make the big CPU box dissapear...make all connections infrared so to take it with you and set it back home or office without any cables... :drinking: too much? Not at all! Makes me :drool:

[bkerrins]

Sorry, wrong price point for my blood. I would much rather get a Tablet PC (with more storage built in), a full XP operating system and wifi for the same price.

[Excalliber]

So if the 4 gb microdrive is supposed to be cheaper, how expensive is that going to be? $1498.99? :lol:

[Bob12]

From a photography point of view, the 4 GB card would not be overkill for me and would be enticing if it was MUCH cheaper. I currently use a pair of 1GB cards (one MicroDrive, one solid state) for my 6.3MP Canon D60 and, at the highest jpeg setting, they'll hold about 400 shots each. The article mentioned a 600 shot capacity which, according to Digital Photography Review ( www.dpreview.com ) is for users who save their pictures in RAW format. DPReview's article also mentions Lexar's Write Acceleration technology to speed up writes.

[beq]

Yeah but even FAT32's limited to 4gig for a single file!

Oh wait, the whole card is 4gig, never mind :)

(Had bought a 300GB HDD for $240 net a couple of weeks back)

[bmhome1]

Couldn't one be formatted with two FAT16 partitions 2 GB each and be PPC readable as two cards?

[ctmagnus]

Couldn't one be formatted with two FAT16 partitions 2 GB each and be PPC readable as two cards?

I'd imagine you'd need a certain card reader to do that. I've heard of it happening but there are apparently only certain brands/models of card readers that are capable of such a thing.

[maximus]

Imagine spending $1500 to purchase a 4 GB CF card, got a 2 years warranty, and the CF card dies on the day the warranty expired.

No thanks. I'll stick to my old 1GB CF for my camera.

[maximus]

I've got a 5 GB PCMCIA hard drive hooked up through a CF/PCMCIA converter to my Axim and PPC 2002 seems to have not problems reading from it. Boy does it chew up the battery though!

And that PCMCIA HDD is considered as 'low power' already. Imagine those ipaq-connected 20GB-regular-HDD. :|

[SassKwatch]

When the price comes down to $300 I will buy it...
Even at that price it's outrageously expensive in comparison to a desktop hdd.

[Ed Hansberry]

Couldn't one be formatted with two FAT16 partitions 2 GB each and be PPC readable as two cards?
I don't think you can partition it. Your PC might be able to, but reading multiple partitions from a single "Storage Card" slot on your PC? :idontthinkso: Plus, no other device could, like a camera.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

uh....overkill?
It depends on what you need the space for. For me, I could probably justify a 4GB storage card in a hundred different ways.

Aside from the bounds of music I could store, I could also store several full-length movies encoded with in DivX.

As it is, I have two 512MB SD cards in my 2215 (one using the Panasonic SD-to-CF adapter) and both cards are maxed out.

Right now, I can store two full-length films on one 512MB card, but I have to cut corners on the bitrate and resolution. With a 4GB card, I can go for full screen resolution with generous bitrates and full-blown-with-no-compromise sound quality.

...and then the ability to store loads of 4-megapixel digital images without having to always crop/resize all of them to fit into my cards... it's all good with 4GB!!

[Janak Parekh]

When the price comes down to $300 I will buy it...
Even at that price it's outrageously expensive in comparison to a desktop hdd.
But that's an apples-to-bananas comparison. By that measure, you shouldn't buy any flash memory, because the cost per MB is going to be higher than desktop storage. We're talking different technologies here, and more importantly, different applications.

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Even at that price it's outrageously expensive in comparison to a desktop hdd.
But that's an apples-to-bananas comparison. By that measure, you shouldn't buy any flash memory, because the cost per MB is going to be higher than desktop storage. We're talking different technologies here, and more importantly, different applications.
Yeah. If you only use your PPC at home (where you probably also have a desktop), then such a comparison would be quite valid.

However, for a person like me, who seemingly spends half his life on airplanes and ultimately relies on his PPC for portable entertainment, comparing flash memory to a desktop HDD wouldn't be valid. There's not a whole lot I can do with a desktop HDD on a long flight...

[beq]

Sure you can, buy a huge 3.5" enclosure for your HDD, w/ a PC Card interface, and snap on the PC Card sleeve to your sleevable iPAQ. Make sure to bring a UPS box to power the drive portably...

[Bruno Figueiredo]

You think that card is expensive?

Don't you remember? A month ago Pretec launched a 6GB CF card at the affordable price of roughly $7500. That's right! Hey, I can buy a Smart (small car) for that price!

[Prevost]

Not too long ago I read SD is the rising media and is taking CF's place.

But seeing this capacities it looks the contrary.

[maximus]

It will take CF's place alright. But not in the near future. Perhaps when people start utilizing the 'secure' characteristic of the SD card. Or perhaps when the technology permits ultra miniaturization of memory chips, so that size doesnt matter anymore.

[jake080]

hey, where can i find one of these CF - usb converters or something that will allow me to take any HD and plug it into a ppc?!?
i dont care too much about power consumption, the only time id have it running is while running off of AC power!


[soon to have the best Dell Axim that will release later this year]