• On TV.com: TOP 10 Shows CANCELED Too Soon
February 12, 2008 12:38 PM PST

Panasonic offers big and fast SD card--for $700

by Stephen Shankland
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 8 comments

Panasonic's 32GB SDHC card, with a 20MB-per-second transfer rate, will cost about $700.

(Credit: Panasonic)

Panasonic announced a new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) flash card on Tuesday that offers both high speed and lots of space for those willing to pay.

The 32-gigabyte card, called the RP-SDV32GU1K, is due to ship in April for about $700. It's a high-speed "class 6" card that can transfer data at speeds of 20MB per second--the world's first at the 32GB capacity, Panasonic asserts.

SD is the dominant format for flash memory, and with the newer SDHC technology that extends capacity beyond 2GB, it's begun spreading into space-gobbling videocameras. SanDisk, a top flash card brand, announced a 32GB SDHC card costing $350 in January, but it transfers data a notch slower, at 15MB per second.

One major flash card alternative to SD, CompactFlash, can transfer data at a maximum of 45MB per second. However, top transfer speeds are often more useful when copying files from a flash card, since cameras and videocameras often can't write data at those top speeds.

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
Recent posts from Underexposed
Nikon app teaches photography on the fly
Smile! Flickr has an official iPhone app
Corel Digital Studio 2010 opens up to consumers
Adobe tests raw support for Olympus E-P1, new Nikons
Adobe's next Lightroom to forsake PowerPC Macs
How Flickr needs to change
Adobe kills low-end Photoshop, urges users online
Toshiba plans 64GB SDXC memory cards for 2010
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (8 Comments)
  • prev
  • next
Now it seems cheap....
by lmasanti February 12, 2008 1:18 PM PST
With thei " 32GB card... for about $700" the Apple's Air 64GB <br />Solid State Drive at $999- almost seems cheap!
Reply to this comment
Would make a great Readyboost drive
by Leria February 12, 2008 3:33 PM PST
This would make a KICKASS Readyboost drive, if there is no limit on how much space on a card you can allocate to Readyboost (I'm not sure if there is!).
Reply to this comment
Readboost limit...
by rturner2 February 12, 2008 4:02 PM PST
There is a 4GB limit :-(
View reply
Look like Junk
by guest86 February 13, 2008 3:10 AM PST
What a waste lot of money. Many people can sue company for that. I refuse to buy this 32 GB SD card. Cost is $700??? Not worth and important to buy. Cheaper I know answer will be $275 Dollars. That all. Need lower price and many people can afford to buy them. High price sometimes can scam people. That what I heard from that. :(
Reply to this comment
more...
by guest86 February 13, 2008 3:17 AM PST
Wait let see again. I saw 32GB SD card is very, very slow. 20MB-per-second transfer rate? Not good think like that. That is pointless. I recommend 50 to 100 MB per second. Save time and not waste your time. It will save your money a lot.
how is this for a harddrive replacement?
by k2dave February 13, 2008 6:54 AM PST
32 mb's seem like a workable number for a harddrive, a bit on the small side, but could easily fit Win XP and have plenty of room for programs as long as you are not into songs, video, or pictures. I would guess that the power requirement of this card would be far less then a harddrive also, it appears like this may be a good technology for laptops. <br /><br />Yes $700 would be a dealbreaker for most people, but those prices historically fall and capacities increase.
Reply to this comment
This is the end for HDD based camcorders
by www.hdgreetings.com February 13, 2008 7:03 AM PST
Just in the last 2 years large numbers of camcorders with hard drives have been introduced.<br /><br />Also a handful with those awful round DVD holders have been introduced.<br /><br />Mark those all as obsolete and don't buy one.<br /><br />Replaceable flash cards are the future now.<br /><br />Flash memory can't replace computer hard drives yet because it's so expensive to create a high speed device.<br /><br />However even these class 6 SD cards are slow by comparison, meaning the prices will fall quick.<br /><br />And since they hold a decent amount of HD video even at today's capacities, it's a no brainer.
Reply to this comment
(8 Comments)
  • prev
  • next
advertisement

Google's social side aims for some Buzz

Facebook and Twitter are the darlings of the social-media world, not Google--which hopes to change that with Buzz, betting it can organize your online social life.

Watching the birth of a gaming start-up

Stewart Butterfield and his friends are back at it with a new company. CNET's Daniel Terdiman was given exclusive, behind-the-scenes access as they built it from scratch.

About Underexposed

This blog sheds light on digital photography subjects such as cameras, photo editing, and Web sites. Shankland joined CNET News in 1998 after a five-year stint as a science writer. He's a lab rat who grew up in Los Alamos, N.M., and graduated from Harvard.

Contact Stephen at Stephen.Shankland@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Underexposed topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right