SanDisk's dime-sized Ultra Fit drive now available with 128GB option
When it comes to squeezing megabytes into a tiny space, SanDisk takes the crown, as it managed to fit 128GB of storage into a dime-sized drive.
Just look at the photo above -- these two items are placed next to each other. However, the SanDisk Ultra Fit is something we’ve seen before, but never capacities this big. We’ve seen 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants.
But this time SanDisk made a 128GB version, enough to fit 16 hours of full HD video or 18,000 standard MP3s. Lets not forget that MacBook Air offers 128GB of storage, as well as the top-end iPhone.
According to SanDisk’s director of product marketing Phillippe Williams, the trick is to take the full advantage of the device’s height, as well as its length.
"Using proprietary technologies, our memory die are vertically stacked—each of which is shaved to be thinner than a strand of hair", Williams explained to Wired over email. "Fitting more memory into the same form factors is one of our in-house skill sets... While Moore’s Law allows us to regularly increase capacity, the work we do on packaging and product design accelerates this".
The Ultra Fit is intended as a "plug-and-stay" device, acting as an ever-present storage boost rather than a portable solution.
"You could see this as being particularly attractive in emerging markets, where price is an even more important consideration", says Williams.
Stepping up from 128GB to 256GB on otherwise identical MacBook Airs costs $200, a full $80 more than just buying the base model and augmenting with an Ultra Fit.
Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.