Why have all the 128 & 256 Gbyte memory sticks vanished?

[Sysman]

Have Apple monopolised the World's supply of chips again, for their next iFad?

I've just picked up a rumour that there's going to be a new very thin iMac, which points to SSDs being used in those.

linky

We'll get to know next week.

[vetran]

From that link



LOL WTF is that about? They used by MOD/HMRC or NHS or something, full of lovely data?

maybe like panties they appreciate with use?

[northernladuk]

They still have 'em: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Tec...8820783&sr=8-1 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Ser...8820783&sr=8-2

Thats £silly though compared to a 2TB portable drive that can be had for peanuts. Even a 256GB SSD is less than half the price of those so I guess that's why they don't sell much. Probably lack of market rather than any component issues.

From that link

6 new from £175.00 2 used from £290.00

LOL WTF is that about? They used by MOD/HMRC or NHS or something, full of lovely data?

[yasockie]

The reason is at these sizes you probably want transfer speeds to match the capacity.
There is indeed a lot of demand for the NAND chips that these sticks use - they're also used in mobiles, tablets and all SSD drives.
These chips follow Moore's law, and the current generation is 22nm.
The problem with flash storage technology is that the smaller it gets the less reliable it becomes, so rather than getting cheaper, manufacturers have to pad it with extra capacity to ensure reasonable lifespan + develop more elaborate chipt to enable wear levelling etc - all that tech would have to go in the USB stick too which in the end means it's not going to be that cheap, so the market for such a product is probably not that large...

[OwlHoot]

They still have 'em: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Tec...8820783&sr=8-1 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Ser...8820783&sr=8-2

Thats £silly though compared to a 2TB portable drive that can be had for peanuts. Even a 256GB SSD is less than half the price of those so I guess that's why they don't sell much. Probably lack of market rather than any component issues.

Good find - For some reason none showed up when I tried a quick search. Must have misspelled GB or something.

Quite expensive, but they've almost halved from over £500 and one is paying for portability and robustness (not to mention USB 3).

[Durbs]

A year ago, or even possibly two, Amazon stocked 256 Gbyte memory sticks (such as a bulky Corsair, the one whose top keeps falling off!), and I was confidently waiting for the first 512 Gbyte memory stick. But now the largest capacity I can find anywhere is a measly 64 GBytes.

They still have 'em: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Tec...8820783&sr=8-1 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Ser...8820783&sr=8-2

Thats £silly though compared to a 2TB portable drive that can be had for peanuts. Even a 256GB SSD is less than half the price of those so I guess that's why they don't sell much. Probably lack of market rather than any component issues.

[OwlHoot]

A year ago, or even possibly two, Amazon stocked 256 Gbyte memory sticks (such as a bulky Corsair, the one whose top keeps falling off!), and I was confidently waiting for the first 512 Gbyte memory stick. But now the largest capacity I can find anywhere is a measly 64 GBytes.

Have Apple monopolised the World's supply of chips again, for their next iFad?

Oh well, at least I can order 4 Tbyte disks. Better grab a few of them for my ebooks before _they're_ all gobbled up by Google or someone.