Cheapest USB-attached memory sticks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lem
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Lem

I am sorely tempted to get a memory stick which I can attach to a
USB port and which gives the system access to the memory on the
drive. I have seen 512MB sticks and that seems nice.

The price of these devices seems to be constantly changing, so I
don't want to buy too early in a faling market unless there is a
real bargain to be had.

WHat good UK prices are avaialable for good deals on these devices?
 
Lem said:
I am sorely tempted to get a memory stick which I can attach to a
USB port and which gives the system access to the memory on the
drive. I have seen 512MB sticks and that seems nice.

The price of these devices seems to be constantly changing, so I
don't want to buy too early in a faling market unless there is a
real bargain to be had.

WHat good UK prices are avaialable for good deals on these devices?
Click to expand...


Lem,

As with most technology things, there are "price points". Specifically, wrt
these memory dongles, I've found that at any given time, prices for certain
sizes are really good, and other sizes not so good.

In my case, I wanted to get one for awhile, and waited till the prices of
128MB dongles were (to me) good, and I bought one. A couple of months
later, the 128MB dongles were half what i paid, then they kind of levelled
off.

I think you wait until the size that will be most useful to you gets
relatively cheap, and then you get one :).

Even with the price drops after I bought mine, I found that I used it a lot
more than I thought that I would, for moving files, etc., so I'm glad I did
get it, even though the same 128MB dongle is cheaper now.

JMHO....

Jim
 
Ohaya said:
As with most technology things, there are "price points".
Specifically, wrt these memory dongles, I've found that at any
given time, prices for certain sizes are really good, and
other sizes not so good.

In my case, I wanted to get one for awhile, and waited till
the prices of 128MB dongles were (to me) good, and I bought
one. A couple of months later, the 128MB dongles were half
what i paid, then they kind of levelled off.

I think you wait until the size that will be most useful to
you gets relatively cheap, and then you get one :).

Even with the price drops after I bought mine, I found that I
used it a lot more than I thought that I would, for moving
files, etc., so I'm glad I did get it, even though the same
128MB dongle is cheaper now.
Click to expand...


Good points. The thing in the back of my mind is that mainboard
memory has in the past gone up and down. Although the trend is
downward it seems that there are some pretty big swings either way
and these swings can last for something 6 months or so.

So I am not clear what to go for and when.

Does anyone have a better picture of the market than I do and who
can advise?
 
Lem said:
Good points. The thing in the back of my mind is that mainboard
memory has in the past gone up and down. Although the trend is
downward it seems that there are some pretty big swings either way
and these swings can last for something 6 months or so.

So I am not clear what to go for and when.

Does anyone have a better picture of the market than I do and who
can advise?
Click to expand...



http://www.dabs.com/uk/templates/Ch...518-C250A5DDF68F}&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&catid=216

or http://tinyurl.com/2w6re
 
S.Heenan said:
http://www.dabs.com/uk/templates/Channels/ProductResults/Produc
tResults1.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2fuk%2fchannels%
2fcomponents%2fmemoryandaccessories%2fproducts%2ehtm%3fcatid%3d
216&NRNODEGUID=%7bBC25FDAB-4824-4B3C-8518-C250A5DDF68F%7d&NRCAC
HEHINT=Guest&catid=216

or http://tinyurl.com/2w6re
Click to expand...


Does this sort of memory stick come in different speed memory?

Do all memory stick/flash drives initialise as quickly as one
another?

Also http://makeashorterlink.com/?L2F6326F7
 
Max said:
Does this sort of memory stick come in different speed memory?

Do all memory stick/flash drives initialise as quickly as one
another?
Click to expand...


http://makeashorterlink.com/?L2F6326F7
The products listed here are all USB1.1, according to this:
what is the transfer speed of the Flash usb Drive - Martin Collins
Max 12mbs (USB speed)


Maplins doesn't offer a great price at all.




This unit from Dabs is a good bargain at £45 VAT inc., especially if it is
USB2 (480Mbits/sec) as advertised. Even if it was USB1.1, it's a better
bargain than Maplins.
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/memoryandaccessories/productView.htm?quicklinx=319M
 
Lem said:
Good points. The thing in the back of my mind is that mainboard
memory has in the past gone up and down. Although the trend is
downward it seems that there are some pretty big swings either way
and these swings can last for something 6 months or so.

So I am not clear what to go for and when.

Does anyone have a better picture of the market than I do and who
can advise?
Click to expand...

You have to remember that these Dongles all use flash memory, not DRAM, and
my gut feel tells me that you won't see the kinds of "swings" that you might
see in DRAM/DIMM markets.

Such swings are usually an abberation in most cases anyway, IMHO, e.g., a
couple of years ago, when there was a fire in a Toshiba factory and the
prices of LCD panels went up... for awhile, then started dropping again.

So my advice is still the same: Decide if you can use it, and if so, how
much memory you'd need, watch for price points vs. memory size, then get it.

If you try to chase prices down, you'll never get the "best" price, and if
you don't have a real use for it, it'll never be "worth" whatever price you
paid for it... The only exception to this is when manufacturers "end of
life" products, but the products still have demand, then you'll see the
prices start climbing again (e.g., older, slower Duron chips :(), I
wouldn't anticipate that to happen with these dongles since USB 1.1 is
backwards compatible with 2.0. I would note that I have seen some posts
about people having problems with one of the USB2.0/256MB dongles
compatibility.

Also, MaximumPC had an article where they "tortured" a bunch of dongles...

Jim
 
I am sorely tempted to get a memory stick which I can attach to a
USB port and which gives the system access to the memory on the
drive. I have seen 512MB sticks and that seems nice.

The price of these devices seems to be constantly changing, so I
don't want to buy too early in a faling market unless there is a
real bargain to be had.

WHat good UK prices are avaialable for good deals on these devices?
Click to expand...


Unbelievably the best prices for these things appear to be on EBAY. You may
have to search around a bit as they are listed under different headings i.e.
flash drives, memory etc.

MJP
 
Hi,

I asked the same question about two months ago, and someone here recommended
me the CRUCIAL range. I bought a 128MB GIZMO! and it works very well, just
USBv1.1 but its fine. If you want to get a bigger capacity than 128MB then
make sure you opt for a USBv2.0 stick (which CRUCIAL don't do).

I have found 128Mb enough, and after some research into the prices of the
larger units (256MB/512MB etc) it worked out cheaper to buy a small 2.5"
based portable HDD, then you would have 30GB of USB2.0, BUS-Powered storage
space, pretty neat.

Of course you may really need the tiny size of a flash-thumb-drive, but the
portable USBv2.0/Firewire caddies are pretty small also!
 
Wayne Youngman said:
I asked the same question about two months ago, and someone
here recommended me the CRUCIAL range. I bought a 128MB
GIZMO! and it works very well, just USBv1.1 but its fine. If
you want to get a bigger capacity than 128MB then make sure
you opt for a USBv2.0 stick (which CRUCIAL don't do).
Click to expand...

What sort of price (UK pounds) was the Crucial 128 MB device?
 
"Lem"wrote
This is very good pricing from Crucial.
Do other UK retailers sell these Crucial USB memory sticks?
If so then do they undercut Crucial's price?
Click to expand...


Lol. . . . .No they don't!
 
If so, then surely Crucial is undercutting its own distribution
channels?

It makes it less worthwhile for the distributors to bother selling
the product.
Click to expand...


Hi,
Crucial sells direct from its own website! Prices include VAT and P&P. I
seen a few companies carry stuff from the Crucial range but they are always
more expensive than buying direct.
 
Wayne Youngman said:
Crucial Gizmo! 64MB USB flash drive
£16.44 inc. VAT

Crucial Gizmo! 128MB USB flash drive
£25.84 inc. VAT

Crucial Gizmo! 256MB USB flash drive
£49.34 inc. VAT

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp
Click to expand...



This is very good pricing from Crucial.

Do other UK retailers sell these Crucial USB memory sticks?

If so then do they undercut Crucial's price?
 
Wayne Youngman said:
Lol. . . . .No they don't!
Click to expand...


If so, then surely Crucial is undercutting its own distribution
channels?

It makes it less worthwhile for the distributors to bother selling
the product.
 
I think the "cheapest" solution might cost a bit more up-front, but doesn't
become obsolete so quick. My complaint with all the USB flash devices out
there is that they are all sealed and not upgradable. So as soon as the
device becomes too small for you, you need to get a new one.

Instead, if they spent a slight amount more to leave open a cheap slot for
a cheap flash card, like compact flash, then you can just add newer, bigger
compact flash cards at will.

So my suggestion is just to get the cheapest, smallest, CF card reader you
can find, and add to it the cheapest CF cards in the sizes you need.
 
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