22 replies to this topic

[jj2]

If anyone if interested Staples has these flash drives for sale

Memorex 1GB - $14.95
Memorex 2 GB - $29.95
MEmorex 4 GB - $59.95


http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...sProductDisplay

The 1 and 2 GBs sound like a good deal to me. I got a 2GB one, get them while you can cause I think the sale ends tomorrow

[Izra]

Hm... from my experience with memorex brand products, they don't tend to last too long.. especially their blank cds and dvds which get scratched easily and stop working after a few weeks. But hey.. 30 bucks for a 2 gig flash is always a good deal.

BTW.. try to keep things like this in tech talk instead of general chat

[techkid]

If you are looking for reliable flash drives, Sandisk is really good based on my experience. It has been working perfectly even though how many times I drop it on the floor.

[Izra]

techkid, on Feb 17 2007, 12:30 AM, said:

If you are looking for reliable flash drives, Sandisk is really good based on my experience. It has been working perfectly even though how many times I drop it on the floor.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-SDCZ6...p;s=electronics

It's the same price, but from reviews, I hear that because of its sliding mechanism, it tends to break and snap easily.

[djharkavy]

Whole lot of places on the internet selling flash drives cheaply.

I have used digi4me.com before.


1 GB $13.79 (which I bought for $19.99 two months ago from digi4me.
2 GB for as low as $19.94
4 GB for as low as $34.98

[techkid]

Spaz, on Feb 17 2007, 09:21 AM, said:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-SDCZ6...p;s=electronics

It's the same price, but from reviews, I hear that because of its sliding mechanism, it tends to break and snap easily.

I went to the link that you offered and found this comment.

Quote

After you're done starting up the U3 application, you will see that it also installs an extra drive in Windows Explorer. You have the drive for the Cruzer itself, but there is another one that appears as a CD. It causes confusion every time you explore your computer, since you have to remember that this is for the Cruzer, and not an actual CD drive. There does not seem to be a single use for this extra drive, except to take up space and cause confusion.

Does this comment mean that after the applicaiton installs on a computer, that all the files that were on the Sandisk stay on the computer even after the Sandisk is removed?

[z2z007]

No, both eject when the device is removed. The beauty of U3 is the power to startup applications right off the flash drive. That is why you see two icons. It only appears useless if you don't take advantage of U3 functionality.

[NickC]

djharkavy, on Feb 17 2007, 10:34 AM, said:

Whole lot of places on the internet selling flash drives cheaply.

I dont trust the internet getting any technology related stuff or expensive stuff. What if it ships to you defected and you have to ship it back? It would be a waste of time.

[djharkavy]

NickC, on Feb 17 2007, 10:03 PM, said:

I dont trust the internet getting any technology related stuff or expensive stuff. What if it ships to you defected and you have to ship it back? It would be a waste of time.

If you say so. I have done quite well buying from the internet. And so far, no defective items from Digi4Me.

[z2z007]

I do 80% of my shopping online and I even do my banking online.

[NickC]

djharkavy, on Feb 17 2007, 10:43 PM, said:

If you say so. I have done quite well buying from the internet. And so far, no defective items from Digi4Me.

The prices seem too good to be true
I mean a 4GB Flash Drive would cost around $120+, and suddenly it dropped over 75 dollars, there has to be a twist to it.
But since they prices are that low, its sort of convincing me to get one opposed to wasting my money at staples and circuit city.

[z2z007]

It only seems like that if you never have shopped online. It is much cheaper to operate an online store and the savings are passed on to the consumer.

See this, for example...
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib....1/sortby=priceA

Besides, 4GB flash drive would have cost $120 a few months ago. Prices drop rather quickly as higher capacity media come out.

[Charles]

The prices of flash drives are rapidly declining. Companies know that they will soon be obsolete.

[djharkavy]

Charles, on Feb 18 2007, 10:41 AM, said:

The prices of flash drives are rapidly declining. Companies know that they will soon be obsolete.

replaced by?

[Charles]

In the future all your files will be stored online where you can access them from anywhere. You can already see attempts at this. The only thing holding this back is the speed of internet connections.

[Transparent Reality]

Charles, on Feb 18 2007, 11:10 AM, said:

In the future all your files will be stored online where you can access them from anywhere. You can already see attempts at this. The only thing holding this back is the speed of internet connections.

Sorry, but that never worked before, does not work now, and will not work in the future. Take this simple example: What do I do if I have a computer that needs drivers for a NIC card or a PCI WiFi adapter? I have have an internet connection all around, but it doesn't help if I can't use the adapter. So I'd pull the drivers off the web, and put them on a flash drive, and then transfer it over. Flash drives are basically the replacement for floppies. We need a means to physically store data. And besides, why bother uploading anything when the computer is physically next to you?

You're right on one point though: You won't have a 480Mbit internet connection anytime in the next 10 years.

The reason that flash drive prices are plummeting is simple. Flash memory has become cheaper and easier to produce, and in larger capacities. 4GB of good flash memory (we're talking .1ms seek times) costs $40. 8GB variations are coming to the market pretty soon.

[techkid]

NickC, on Feb 18 2007, 09:56 AM, said:

The prices seem too good to be true
I mean a 4GB Flash Drive would cost around $120+, and suddenly it dropped over 75 dollars, there has to be a twist to it.
But since they prices are that low, its sort of convincing me to get one opposed to wasting my money at staples and circuit city.

someone selling his or her stuff online does not have to pay the bills, such as rent, lighting, gas and all of that. The fact that a person is able to sell something from their homes means that they do not have to pay those bills and as a result it costs them less to produce the product. This lower price gets passed on to the consumer. Here is a simple example. Let's say that Japan wanted to import a television set into the United States and it costs Japan 500 bucks to make. After all the middle men and shippnig costs and all that it woudl come out to be about 800 bucks. Now let's say that the United STates wanted to protect the television makers back at home, so the US sets a tariff of lets say 10%. Now the cost of that television set goes up by 80 bucks. Who do you think pays the extra 80 bucks, the consumer of course. IF Japan can find a way of going around the tariff, and in effect lowering the price of the TV just like the seller on the internet does, the consumer is able to get the product at a lower price.

[Josh]

I think you could have stopped before the Japan example.

[Transparent Reality]

techkid, on Feb 18 2007, 03:26 PM, said:

someone selling his or her stuff online does not have to pay the bills, such as rent, lighting, gas and all of that. The fact that a person is able to sell something from their homes means that they do not have to pay those bills and as a result it costs them less to produce the product. This lower price gets passed on to the consumer. Here is a simple example. Let's say that Japan wanted to import a television set into the United States and it costs Japan 500 bucks to make. After all the middle men and shippnig costs and all that it woudl come out to be about 800 bucks. Now let's say that the United STates wanted to protect the television makers back at home, so the US sets a tariff of lets say 10%. Now the cost of that television set goes up by 80 bucks. Who do you think pays the extra 80 bucks, the consumer of course. IF Japan can find a way of going around the tariff, and in effect lowering the price of the TV just like the seller on the internet does, the consumer is able to get the product at a lower price.

You're forgetting the price of maintaining warehouses(rent, lighting, gas - oops), staff, equipment, and the servers necessary for eCommerce. The savings from eCommerce comes from the reduction of costs in maintaining retail outlets, as well as the applicable taxes for maintaining shops in a state.

Consumers don't pay tariffs by the way. The importers do, which may or may not translate to higher costs for products. As for what protective tariffs have to do with flash drives, I have no clue. Hell, I don't think there are any producers of flash memory stateside.

[NickC]

ZoSo, on Feb 18 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

I think you could have stopped before the Japan example.

No, I actually was like, what is he talking about? Before the Japan example. So thank you techkid.

And Transparent, if you think about it, we DO pay the tariffs, we all do. For example if 10 flash drives are shipped to the US and the tariff is 50 dollars, then each of the flash drives are increased by 5 dollars so the importer doesnt lose any money. Thus, the selling price increases. If we dont pay the tariff then the selling price shouldn't have increased by 5 dollars each flash drive.

And flash drives are an excellent way to carry data all over the place, its like a mini folder you are carrying around.