CF Question

[MK]

I know this is a commercial question, but its not an advert.

If you could get CF 25% cheaper - (i.e. a 32mb card retailing at £39exc.)
would you take a hit on read speed?

Our current 4x Lexar cards read at 13.02mb/s and write at 1.89mb/s.

We are testing a new alternative brand which reads at 10.87mb/s and writes
at 1.60mb/s. These cards are slower but does 25% off the price make up for
it?

The larger cards we've tested like the 128mb are reading at 9.80mb/s and
writing at 0.68mb/s, but they will be priced at £160exc.

Any comments welcome, either here or by email.

Matt.
www.expansys.com

[Alan Smith]

Yes. In the real world it won't make a difference for most uses.

eg Probably the largest file I have is the London street planner map on
Palmtops excellent Street Planner. It's 2696Kb, or 2.63Mb.
-At the fast rate loading time is 0.2022 seconds
-At the slower read speed it is 0.2422 seconds
I know this doesn't take account of access times, file fragmentation etc,
but this would be similar for both cards (?) so can probably be discounted
for this rough calculation.

So, what are access times? Is current drain similar for standby, read and
write cycles? Are they dual voltage (for compatability)?

If the above is OK I'm interested- I will be wanting a card in a month. I
was going to get a 12 or 16 purely to back up my 5mx on so if my Psion gets
lost, stolen, broken etc. to have a quick and easy way to restore my data on
a replacement machine, and a way to easily backup when away from home (and
PC) when it is more likely to suffer one of these disasters. I just have to
keep the card separate and safe!

*******This bit is off thread a bit, so feel free to ignore.*******
I also have an 80Mb card that I currently back up onto, which is fine for
damages, but it goes with the Psion if stolen or lost. All data/programs on
there would be replaceable. From a security point of view I will stop
backing up to the 80Mb as these files would be accessible to anyone who puts
the card into the hard reset machine, or other Psion. (Why don't Psion give
the option of password protecting all files? I know about the available
utilities, but including this as standard options on Agenda, Data etc. would
make sense and easier use. It probably wouldn't stop a determined hacker but
is adequate for most uses. *I do have an encryption program for sensitive
data*

Alan

"MK" <news...@expansys.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bzGk4.107$W3....@newsr2.u-net.net...

[Rolf Brunsting]

Matt,

<< If you could get CF 25% cheaper - (i.e. a 32mb card retailing at £
39exc.) would you take a hit on read speed? >>

Using the specifications you mentioned I calculate there's a 20% read
speed and 18% write speed difference between the cards. As the capacity
of the cards is the same a 25% price difference is therefore
justifiable.

Question is how the consumer will look at a 20% speed difference. My
impression is that the difference isn't sufficient to give the consumer
the feeling that the one is 'faster' than the other. Price will then be
the decider and the consumer will go for the cheaper card.

--
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Delft - Netherlands

[MK]

Thanks, (Alan as well)

These are my feelings. I think the price justifies the slower speed.

We will still stock the other cards, and give customers the option.

It is my opinion that CF speed is vitually irrelevant when used in a Psion.
I notice the speed when downloading pictures from cameras, but most files
used by the Psions are too small as to make a difference.

matt.
www.expansys.com

"Rolf Brunsting" <rbrun...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
news:879l2f$bk8$3...@ssauraaa-i-1.production.compuserve.com...