| Article Index |
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| Apacer Handy Steno AH421 4GB USB Flash Drive Review |
| Page 2 - Performance/Conclusion |
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Performance:
The performance of the drive is excellent, with SiSoft Sandra benchmark reporting a read speed of 23MB/s which is the quickest I’ve seen from a USB Flash Drive, and much quicker than my SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4GB, which comes in at around 17MB/s read speed.
Apacer’s website and specs on the AH421 list a max read speed of 17MB/s and max write speed of 5MB/s. As the SiSoft Sandra test results were way above this mark, we thought we’d do a bit more testing. We conducted a basic test of copying a 700MB file to and from the flash drive on our OzHardware test bench. To copy the file to the AH421 took an average of 97 seconds, and to copy the file back took an average of 29 seconds, this gives a write speed of 7.2MB/s and a read speed of 24.1MB/s, which backs up the SiSoft Sandra results, and are way above Apacer’s claimed figures, which is strange because manufacturers will usually claim as optimistic a figure as they can legally get away with.
This extra speed will make the AH421 a better device than most when used with Windows Vista for its “ReadyBoost” feature, if there’s anyone out there that actually wants to use Vista and thinks ReadyBoost is a worthwhile feature that is.
Conclusion:
The Apacer Handy Steno AH421 is one of the best performing USB flash drives I’ve ever used, however some of the design elements, although interesting and a bit innovative, don’t work too well in the real world unless you’re ONLY going to use the drive on a notebook computer, nor would it be too comfortable to carry in your pocket with the USB connector jutting out the side.
The AH421 comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB sizes selling for around AU$39, $46 and $72 respectively, which is about mid-market in terms of price, so it’s OK in terms of value, but not brilliant. The AH421 would be suitable only for people who will use it on a notebook, and don’t need to take the drive between their notebook and desktop PC.
OzHardware Rating – 6/10
This product can be purchased online at www.techbuy.com.au (Direct Link)
