Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Tablet indecision...

The way I've seen it explained is that the internal flash in tablets (at least the iPad) is more equivalent to SSDs than SDs.

Thank you Ken!

I just went ahead and ordered the 16GB Toshiba Thrive. The tipping point was reached when I realized that all of the accessories I wanted (docking station, etc.) were all substantially cheaper for this model as well.

Let us know what you think and congrats, always fun to get a new toy.

You made the worse choice possible...

























kidding!... maybe

It's a bit late as by now you are enjoying your new toy but to answer your question, SSD drives are much faster than SD cards. The difference can be as much as 5 to 9 times faster. That general statement being said, there are other things to consider.

SD cards can appear slower than they really are if they are being put in a USB controlled card reader. USB will actually be the limiting factor, not the card. Direct readers are pretty fast.

SD cards have different speed ratings. You would be aware of this from your video work. Some are rated for HD video capture, others are not up to snuff. Cameras use direct card readers so USB bottlenecking isn't a factor and the speed ratings actually come into play.

Some laptops (not sure on tablets) cheap out and use USB controlled card readers so you are wasting money on faster cards. I would think that most tablets use direct read.

On tablets, extra storage is not just for data. As you start to download from the Immense library of free and dirt cheap apps from the Android or iTunes markets, that extra storage may also start to contain apps that have to load.

HOWEVER
All that being said, I think you may be over thinking the card speed thing for your intended use with a tablet. Tablets are not about speed. They are about convenience and ease of use. If you really need to start counting milliseconds then you would probably be better off with a specced out laptop.


OK, techie voice gone. Murph back.

Now just go grab a beer and reign terror on those pigs.

Hey Murph- I don't have it yet, so the pigs are safe for the moment. After my lunchtime UPS delivery, though...watch out!

I had assumed that ALL tablets have SSD drives, but noticed that this 32GB Toshiba lists a 5600RPM SATA. (I didn't order the 32GB version, but rather the 16GB version which doesn't specify; I assume it's SSD.

I ordered a Transcend class 10 32GB card for the Thrive. It might be overkill, but this is the same card I use in my video cameras (one of the first "verified" cards listed by the camera mfr) and I've never had an issue with the 25 or so I have now.

It's taken me an hour to finish this post because of phone calls, etc...and the tablet came early and is on charge.

Those effin' pigs are going to get it!

Thanks for the info, Andy. And Ben, I'll let you know if you're right!

Tempting as a new sig.

Yeah, but that's because you read it as having to do with beer and bacon...not the app.

If you are more budget conscious, ppl should really consider the RIM Playbook for a tablet.
The new OS release has done a world of changes and the damn thing cost half of the iPads.
A few friends have them (and Apple products). I continue to hear that RIM is better overall for productivity but this tends to relate to less 'apps' available in its store (or the thumbs keyboard vs the virtual keypad in re: to the smartphones) and not so much about the functionality of the unit to do anything that the iPads and Android systems do.
e.g. play movies, play games, email...
They all do the most common things that people want to do and they all do it very well.
One just costs half.