USB3 Gigabit Ethernet performance on MacOS

This is the second part of the USB3 Gigabit on MacOS series. On the first post we discussed on how to choose an USB3 Gigabit adapter. On this post we try to answer to the following question: Does USB3 on MacOS supports gigabit speeds ? Read below to find out. To start with, let’s remember why it might be important for some users how does USB3 allows for gigabit ethernet performance: most recent MacBooks lack ethernet jacks. This means that, for power users, there are only a limited set of alternatives: Thunderbolt Gigabit adapters, for those laptops which support still …

Netac P500 UHS-I U3 128GB Micro SD card

On our previous MicroSD shootout, Netac’s offering was deemed as the best MicroSD card for smartphones and compact cameras due to it’s low cost per MiB and very decent read performance. However, write performance was underwhelming, landing on the middle of the pack. It was with great surprise an high capacity, high performance MicroSD card from Netac landed on my desk: the Netac P500 Smart Card UHS-I U3 128GB MicroSD card (brands need to try to shorten the MicroSD product names, this is getting ridiculous….). This card corresponds to the fastest and highest capacity offer from Netac, supporting UHS-1 U3 speed …

MicroSD UHS-1 32GB cards shootout – Comparing MicroSD cards from a number of different perspectives

After having reviewed a number of different microSD cards, the next step could only be compare then over a number of perspectives, each of them making sense to a significant number of users. Now, I believe it is quite obvious for everyone that there isn’t probably a best microSD card but it really depends on which parameters, or ratios between parameters are relevant for each one. Each of them will then represent an important benchmark by itself, so let’s detail each of them: Read Performance – The basic SD card benchmark, and targeted by most manufacturers. Although overlooked in some reviews, …

Netac P500 Smart Card 32GB microSD

Manufacturer Leapro Brand P500 Smart Card Announced Capacity 32 GiB Formatted  Capacity 29.53 GiB UHS Class 1 SD Bus UHS104 Price AliExpress – €7.34 Netac is a chinese company most known in Asia by its USB drives ever since the early 2000’s, but on the SD card market a virtually unknown name. On our desk there’s Netac branded microSD, officially named as P500 Smart Card, yes “Smart Card”. Why on earth would it be called “Smart Card” is something that completely baffles us. If you still can’t believe, check the package photo. Fortunately, on the newly manufactured products the label seems to …

Transcend Premium 400x 32GB microSD card review (TS32GUSDCU1)

Manufacturer Jiaelec Corp Brand Transcend Premium 400x Announced Capacity 32 GiB Formatted  Capacity 30,01 GiB UHS Class 1 SD Bus UHS104 Price Amazon.com – Only TS32GUSDU1PE available. Avoid! Amazon.co.uk – £8.91 AliExpress – €10.45 Again, 32GB are not the same everywhere. Sometimes it’s bigger. Transcend is one of the tradicional SD card players ever since the transition between MMC and SD, always marked by a performance conscience, although not as known as SanDisk. As our baseline SD card review demonstrates it has been a sure option when performance is relevant, however, more often than not companies just lean back on past hard …

Samsung EVO MicroSD card 32GB

Manufacturer  Samsung Brand  EVO Announced Capacity 32 GiB Formatted  Capacity 29,80 GiB UHS Class 1 SD Bus UHS50 Price Amazon.com – $11.50 Amazon.co.uk – £8.99 AliExpress – €8.19 This is what vertical integration means… almost. When it comes to memory devices, Samsung is the the undisputed king of the hill, leading both DRAM and NAND markets, and a very relevant player on all semiconductor markets, including NAND controllers. With this in mind, we expect nothing short of a very competent display of performance from any Samsung branded product. In this review we focus com Samsung EVO MicroSDHC 32GiB card which is Samsung …

Kingston SDHC MicroSD Class 10 32GB

Manufacturer Kingston Brand MicroSDHC Announced Capacity 32 GB Formatted  Capacity 28,97 GiB UHS Class  1 SD Bus UHS104 Price Amazon.com – $9.45 Amazon.co.uk – £7.59 AliExpress – €11.92 Sometimes, a gigabyte is smaller than it should … Kingston is one of the old kids on the block for flash storage. Althogh known for price conscious SD cards and USB sticks, it has recently started moving into higher performance products. This movement was probably driven by two different forces: pressure from lower cost asian vendors, and the need to create a higher brand awareness in order to compete on the SSD market. One thing …

Adata premier MicroSD 32GB review

… Or shall we call it Sandisk Ultra…? Manufacturer ADATA Brand Premier Announced Capacity 32 GB Formatted  Capacity 29.71 GiB UHS Class I SD Bus UHS104 Price Amazon.com – Not recommended  Amazon.co.uk – Not recommended  AliExpress – € 9.66 Adata Is nowadays a very relevant player in the DRAM market but is also starting to emerge on the solid state market. Having offered products with higher than average performance at average price points made Adata a known brand is Asia and now appearing in both Europe and on the US. This MicroSD card from Adata is presented without flowering or blushing marketing. It is …

Mixza Tohaoll MicroSD card review

Manufacturer Mixza Tohaoll Brand Ocean Series Announced Capacity 32 GB Formatted  Capacity 29,40 GiB UHS Class I SD Bus UHS104 Announced SD High Speed Measured Price Amazon.com – $11.99 AliExpress – €8.80 Mixza Tohaoll MicroSD – When things simply don’t add up Mixza is a little known recent company founded in China in 2009, which produces solid state products. It doesn’t manufactures any flash chips, or SD controllers, as Samsung or Micron, as so many other brands out there, like Kingston, Mixza simply resells products manufactured by 3rd party factories, or to some extent, packages all electronic components in-house. This specific MicroSD chip was manufactured …

Sandisk Ultra MicroSD review

Sandisk Ultra MicroSD Manufacturer Sandisk Brand SDHC Ultra Announced Capacity 32 GB Formatted  Capacity 29,71 GiB UHS Class I SD Bus UHS50 Price Amazon.com – $11.99 Amazon.co.uk-8.19 AliExpress – €8,21 Sandisk is the incumbent portable flash storage manufacturer ever since the days of Compact Flash cards and one of the few that actually manufactures the products it sells under it’s brands. And ever since then Sandisk is known for high performance flash storage. Then it moved to the SD card market, and most recently on MicroSD. Since the Compact Flash times, the need to differentiate between different performance metrics causes Sandisk to brand …

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