Red 16GB are shipping! If you are one of the lucky ones who reserved early, you should be getting yours very soon. If you haven't reserved them do it now HERE.
My short and quick non-scientific review of the Compact Flash CF Expresscard 34 Reader. One distinction between this one reviewed and the Delkin's expresscard 34 reader is that this one actually uses the PCIe speed rather than USB. 2.0 speed.
Testing Materials: Macbook Pro (1st gen with only fw400) Lacie Little Big Disk 160gb Firewire External Bus Powered Drive One RED 8gb CF Card Compact Flash Expresscard 34 Reader Digital Concepts USB 2.0 Multi Card Reader
To begin the test, I shot footage using the Red CF card until it was full (card maxed out at 7.45 gig) With my external LACIE plugged in, I then created a folder in the LACIE and then transferred the data one at a time. I first transferred the data using the Expresscard 34 reader, recorded the time using the stopwatch on my iphone and deleted the file. Repated the same process using the USB 2.0 card reader.
Quick Test results: Expresscard 34 took 3 minutes and 45 seconds to transfer 7.45 gigs to my external fw400 Lacie USB 2.0 Card Reader took 8 minutes and 4 seconds to transfer 7.45 gigs to my external fw400 Lacie
When I get my hands on a 2nd gen gen MBP with fw800, I can repeat the tests putting it up against a fw800 reader and seeing if perhaps transferring from the Expresscard 34 will be even faster to a fw800 drive.
Tech Specs: ExpressCard 34 Form Factor For Maximum Compatibility Provides PCIe speeds of 2.5Gbps rather than USB 2.0 speeds of 0.46Gbps Suitable for MacBook Pro or computers and notebooks equipped with ExpressCard 34 | 54 slots Supports CompactFlash Type I and II, PIO mode, and UDMA mode (CompactFlash Specification Rev. 4.1) Extreme high speed for CompactFlash in UDMA mode, data transfer speeds (sequential read/write) up to 40 MB/sec Compliant with ExpressCard standard running on PCI-e interface Support power saving mode to reduce power consumption Push-In Push-Out Connector For Easy Removal Reliable and rugged stainless steel cover Apple MacBook Pro Ready Supports Hot-Swapping
You can purchase the Expresscard Reader from Amazon here:
