Newbie Ques. - is speed worth buying?

[yawglenn]

Is there really much a noticeable difference in having a fast memory card? I have mp3's, photo's and I intend to install programs on the card and maybe save some vids. Is it worth paying say 25% - 50% more for?

I'm thinking of buying a Kingston 1GB SD

Thanks

[PocketBrain]

From what I understand, no. I think the bottleneck for speed in regards to external memory is the PPC itself. There is a difference between CF and SD (s is faster ), but that is an issue between the two memory types. Search the forums if you need a better explanation; this has been discussed before.
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[BrandenRussell]

Digital SLR cameras supposedly will have a difference with different speeds, but I don't think PPCs do.

[Howard2k]

I normally consider a 10% - 20% premium. All my devices use SD and even if my PPC cannot take advantage of the speed increase my camera or my NEXT PDA might.

[yawglenn]

Thanks all! I'll save the money then for more memory.

[mcfudge]

Thanks all! I'll save the money then for more memory.

I have used a regular speed SD card and a 66x high speed SD card in my Garmin iQue 3600 (Palm). There was a noticeable difference in the speed. I will not buy a regular speed card again.

I am thinking about buying a CF card for my X51v and I cannot find information about the bus speed of the CF slot so I can decide which speed (I, II, or III) is the best value. There is no point in spending big bucks on Extreme III speed if the bus speed maxes out at II or somewhere between I and II. Does anyone know the CF bus speed or which card speed is good value? Thanks!

[axzilla]

if your axim is writing to the card there could be a difference in write speeds if you got a really slow card but the read speeds of most all cards exceed the axims capability

[PocketBrain]

I normally consider a 10% - 20% premium. All my devices use SD and even if my PPC cannot take advantage of the speed increase my camera or my NEXT PDA might.

Yes, keep in mind other devices you own in making your decision. As for the "my next PDA might" question, save your money, you will be able to upgrade with what you save, flash memory and microdrive prices are dropping all the time.
And on that train of thought, I wish I had a 1GB CF instead of the 256MB UltraII that I have now. Maybe I should just exchange the 128MB out of my CF camera and lose a few .mp3's.

[Haesslich]

I'd have to say that, if there's not MUCH of a speed difference now, there may be one later - but your new PDA may not have the slot in the future.

For me the Kingston Elite Pro was only $6 more than the regular-speed card, so the decision was easy - I bought the higher-speed card, which does make a difference in USB card readers, which makes it easier to dump music or other large files into the card without waiting 20-30 minutes to transfer it all via ActiveSync or Bluetooth... or WiFi for that matter. If it's not THAT much more expensive (the 10-20% within price of regular card target), then go for it. If you have a camera or MP3 player which uses SD cards, the extra speed may be noticeable on that device, so by all means go for it if you do.

One final note - while the extra read/write speeds may not be noticeable for the faster cards, you MAY notice a speed difference when using cheaper and slower SD cards compared to others which are more expensive but also 'regular speed'. PNY cards are, in my experience, a prime example of this; it may take a few seconds longer to write files to the PNY than it might to a Sandisk or Transcend, perhaps because of the particular brand or type of MLC memory they use.