Kingston Launches New Line of "SD Ultimate" Cards with 133x Write Speeds

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.kingston.com/press/2005/digitalmedia/05a.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.kingston.com/press/2005/...almedia/05a.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Kingston Technology Company, Inc. today announced the further expansion of its Secure Digital (SD) Card product line with the release of new ultra-performing 'Ultimate' SD cards, initially shipping in 512-MB and 1-GB capacities. The new SD Ultimate cards offer significant performance benefits over the current Standard and Elite Pro lines of SD cards, including 133X super-fast transfer rates of larger size files-ideal for the shooting demands of professional digital photographers...Many current devices are sold with an 'X' speed rating, much like CD-ROM drives, to give users a performance indicator of how fast the card can transfer (read and/or write) images. Some manufacturers use 'X' to indicate read or write speeds; others use both as 'data transfer' and a few manufacturers do not define their cards' speed at all. Kingston® X-speed ratings are based on 'write' speed and X-speed performance is a function of MegaBytes per second (MB/sec) of write speed. Higher X-speed ratings equal faster cards. "</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/kingston-sdultimate.gif" /><br /><br />Kingston sent me one of these to test, so expect to see a Quick Look article posted soon!

[Phronetix]

Cool, Jason.

I'm assuming that since you're posting this in PPCT then that means you will comment specifically on the performance in a PPC running apps off the card?

Phro

[Jason Dunn]

I'm assuming that since you're posting this in PPCT then that means you will comment specifically on the performance in a PPC running apps off the card?

I'm going to try. :-)

[beq]

Wow, I'm still waiting for the continously delayed SanDisk Ultra II 2GB SD card to arrive in stock (since this is the only brand I've found so far -- please let me know if there are any other 2GB card brands already available). If I recall correctly it's rated at the usual 9-10MB/sec write/read, which should translate into 60x - 66x rating.

So Kingston's 133x rating should equate to around 20MB/sec write speed! Do you think I should still wait for the 10MB/sec 2GB card or wait instead for this 20MB/sec 1GB card??


Of course, at this point I'd rather get a 20MB/sec 2GB microSD/TransFlash card for the utmost versatility/compatibility (or barring that, a miniSD format) :mrgreen: Coupled with an ultra-small keychain microSD (or miniSD) reader that can act like a USB memory stick.

[ctmagnus]

8)

I've standardised on the SD format (and any other format that will fit in an SD slot with or without an adapter).

[jlp]

Panasonic already has on the market such 20Mbps (is it really MBps or just Mbps?!). Anyway I've seen these in a local shop at lease one month ago. At least 512MB, it might have been 1GB too, I'm not sure.

I'd be much more impressed to see 2 and 4GB SD cards; we've had 1 GB SD cards since about 2 years now. And since 1 GB miniSD cards are here now we have to see SD cards with higher capacities!!

PQI already displays pix of a 2 GB SD card!!

[stevelam]

Yeh looks good but can the PDA actually read/write that fast anyway (or have I got it all wrong and it is the card that makes all of the differance).

[Jonathon Watkins]

Impressive, most impressive. Looking forward to the review.