SanDisk designs "netbook-specific" SDHC card, grossly overcharges for it
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 2nd 2009 10:07AM
posted Jun 2nd 2009 10:07AM
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I guess the economic conditions are forcing corporations to beg for money.
stupid products to be bought by stupid people. supply and demand.
Would be OK if those stupid people didn't end up getting on TV and then demanded someone else to compensate them.
No offence GM CEO's :X
Is that Class 2 memory? (I assume the '2' inside the 'C' denotes class-2 aka 2 MBps memory?)
Well, about 10 days ago I bought Class 6 (6 MBps) SHDC memory (8GB) for $10 + $4 shipping. This is highway robbery!
Yes, that does indeed designate Class 2.
I know some pretty dumb people, but I don't know _anyone_ dumb enough to fall for this -- I don't think it's possible to know the word "netbook" and be that dumb.
hardly anyone pays attention to the sdcard write speed classifications except for a few... 2mb/s is slow.
Apple pie.
Discuss.
It is delicious.
/thread
Great with ice cream
Why does everyone turn every post at Engadget into an Apple debate!
As a totally random side note (well not so random, you mentioned pie right before lunch time and now I am hungry), I think McDonalds should make a deal with Apple, so they can call their pies "Apple iPods". It would amuse me. I could eat iPods every day.
@kamokazi, Apple won't have anything to do with McD's. As soon as Steve Jobs appeared on the board of Disney, all Disney/McD promotions dispaeared as Mr Jobs is uber Veggie (even vegan?). Personally, I can't stand McD's, I think they insult good food!
Steve Job's arrival at on the Disney board had nothing to do with that. The contract wasn't working out well for them and they didn't renew it. If what you said was true then the hamburger place in DCA that closed down would have been replaced by a salad stand, not another hamburger place,,,
You don't have to buy it. :P
£48 for a 16Gb class 2 SDHC card?
Just say no kids.
Well you pay the price for being an idiot? Still unfair to overcharge people who don't understand.
Isnt there trading standards against these stickers? (well thats all they are, put on their standard SDHC cards)
wow, this really puts things in perspective...
I remember a few years ago getting a great deal on a 1GB SD for $75 CAD.
I paid ~$300 for a 2G card a few years ago before going on vacation.
this is why i love engadget.
Class 2? Seriously?
That's what I thought - If you're going to sell a 'specialized' card for data storage, why not at least make it a quick one?
Cuts into the profit margins, I guess.
Now if it was colour matched to my netbook... :p
That's what I thought, "Class 2- wtf?" (Why that format.) Anyway, I'm sure SanDisk will make oodles of money from this one, just not from me...
That stickers gotta be worth at least $15
I bet the "little computer specific" stickers are even more :P
Yes, but to Sandisk, not to us...
This is as useful as installing the latest Windows 7 RC with double-sided 2.88MB floppies. But the biggest benefit - your computer will take eons to transfer a couple hundred megabytes of data onto this card!
Why are memory stick cards so much more expensive than compact flash cards? Aren't they basically the same thing?
Believe it or not, someone will buy it.
Of course. The vast majority of buyers for technical stuff go to the store (the only one they go to for this stuff), read the label and think, "Well it's specifically for what I want it for AND it costs more. It must cost more for a reason..." Oh, the blind faith we have in capitalism and the market being fair in this country.
I've done the same thing for purchases I know nothing about. Like, say, a new faucet. And when I hear that little voice in my head, I put the wallet back in my purse and go home and educate myself. But I think that's a geek thing. (Any kind of geek, not just a computer geek.)
@Nicole
If it's more than $50, I usually go home, educate myself, and end up finding something better online a lot cheaper that is on my doorstep in about three days :-) I even did that with a dining room table and chairs. Furniture store wanted $900 (+ $80 delivery if I didn't know about 5 people with a truck). I found it for $550 UPS Freight'd to my door :-)
youve never seen how much they charge at best buy have you? this is par for the course there.
People bought that Wii SD card for $90 -> 4GB so anything is possible.
Maybe they could somehow figure out a way for SD cards not to get corrupted everytime my Mini 9 hibernates. SD cards are worthless storage in laptops since I value hibernating more than SD portability.
Yes this price is stupid.
This is likely the fault of your SD card reader's driver not properly ensuring all data is written to the device before changing power states.
Have you checked for card reader driver updates? Also, check the device manager to see if you can set the device removal policy on the storage volume...
Maybe that is what this card is for, it has magical circuity that makes sure it doesn't corrupt data when your device sleeps. Or it could be a dolled up craptastic class 2 card with a fancy sticker and a margin that would make Steve Jobs hard. Its a toss up either way.
I think it's criminal in Europe...
If you're stupid enough to buy this, you don't deserve to have that money.
Exactly, It's economic natural selection.
I agree, but neither does Sandisk.
That's easy to say coming from someone who frequents Engadget, but I don't think my sweet grandmother is stupid for seeing this product, knowing I just purchased a "netbook" and thinks "Oh! Chris would love this! And 80$ isn't that big of a deal. I'm sure they're not ripping me off."
I don't actually have a netbook, but I'm sure there are many grandmothers who will get ripped off, and that's probably who they're marketing to. Same w/ the Wii SD cards.
I'm surprised you guys didn't label this as part of your Crapgadget series. Seems like it fits that mold.
Well the product is not crap. It's the price that's crap. I could get a 16GB SD card for way cheaper on Newegg and it would be just as good as this one. In fact here goes one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134971
So this will fit in my NC10 netbook without sticking out of the slot? No? Great.
thx for this engadget, i'm one of those stupid people who thought i was getting more when i paid extra for this shit
Excuse us if we laugh.
This is silly. I did however get a great deal on a mousepad for Apple notebooks. It was a steal at $75.
How ironic there should be a RadioShack ad right on this page for a $15 4GB Class 2 SDHC card from Radio Shack. 4x$15 = $60...factor in the convenience cost for having all in one package ant that pricing is right in line with this.
Thanks...but I'll stick to buying new 16GB Class 4 SDHC cards off ebay for ~$13 (Shipped). I've been happy with all the ones I've gotten so far...
How is this any different than Sony's Memory Sticks?
There should be no surprise here. As someone who buys a few of these you kind of stay away from Sandisk. Not only are they the most expensive (for no reason), but once there's a specific device name on there, the card's price is higher. For instance, their "Video HD" SD card, etc.
Kind of funny actually. I wish they'd read this article and explain themselves.
LOOOL
they should keep track of every person who buys one of these and then send them a letter a few weeks later saying, "You are an idiot, hahahahahahaha"