14 DAY TRIAL // The "pre-CES" show seems to never end. It's like every producer has kept something hidden and now rolls it out like it's a life-saver. In some cases, the idea is justified. In others? Well, I'll let you decide just how important this little gadget is.
Lexar should ring a bell in your brain especially if you use the "Jumpdrive" flash series. It seems that they are planning to upgrade the line and will offer 8GB models starting with the CES madness. The stick is encased in a metal jacket making it very appealing to the eye. There are 2 Jumpdrive models that will be upgraded: The Secure II and Firefly models will receive up to 8 GB storage capacity while the Mercury will come with the PowerToGo software.
Lexar claims that all the new drives will support Windows Vista's flash-based software acceleration feature "ReadyBoost but I guess that every decent flash device can be ReadyBoost compatible so that's not such a big deal after all. I will say just that: if you plan to use the ReadyBoost feature take into account that you will have to purchase a flash device that needs to be twice as big compared to the Ram you have installed in your system in order to get the most out of ReadyBoost."
Lexar will be also introducing SDHC Platinum II memory with higher data transfer rates and capacities between 256 MB and 2 GB. Also, there will be MiniSD cards (up to 2 GB), MicroSD cards (1 GB max) and MMCmobile/MMCmicro cards (512 MB max for the moment). The flash maker also plans to introduce a new memory card line for Xbox 360, Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii.