Shortly after we began reviewing the SanDisk 512MB Memory Stick PRO Duo (PRO Duo), the company came out with it's line of gaming line. Being the only portable gaming device that makes use of the PRO Duo format, the Sony PSP is the obvious target for this new line of sticks that are available in 4 capacities and 4 colours. The 128MB is Pink, the 256MB is Orange, 512MB is Green and the 1GB is Yellow.
Introduction
The SanDisk 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo is available from Amazon for about $160USD. This comes out to approximately 15.6 cents / MB, 3 cents / MB pricier than the 512MB model.
Benchmark
All benchmarks were done with the PSP in USB Mode, rather than using the PRO Duo in a memory card reader. This should yield more realistic results for what you'll be doing, but it might not necessarily be an accurate indicator of the maximum speeds of the card. This is only of interest if you're reading this review for non-PSP usage.
For the benchmark I used FD Bench and 3 settings. To simulate a small video clip, I chose the 40MB setting, 4MB for an MP3 and 1MB for a game save.
As can be expected, copy speeds will fluctuate depending on the size of the file, ranging from 518KB/sec for a 1MB file and 712KB/sec for a 40MB file. Keep in mind that even though it says 1GB and that should mean 1024MB, you actually get about 949MB after formatting the memory stick. This is for a variety of reasons, but rest assured other memory sticks won't be any different.
Real World Storage
Manually transferring files is another option. I rounded up all of the movies from PSPunch, a site that hosts PSP formatted movies by independent directors. They're almost entirely Japanese and quite amateur, but endearing and nostalgic for me.
But I digress, what's important is that there is a total of about 233MB in MP4/THM files that I want to copy over. This is for 14 movie shorts, approximately 74 minutes total in length. Total time to transfer was a little over 5 minutes. That still leaves me with 715MB free! As for game saves, the sizes vary, a Lumines save is about 33k, while a Ridge Racer is about 200k. Leaving yourself 15MB free for this should be more than enough for your future saves. Thus, if you consider that a typical MP3 is on average 3.5MB, there is still space for about 200 tracks (around 10 hours of music). If music isn't your bag, you could fit an entire PSP formatted DVD onto one of these memory sticks. No matter how you cut it, 1GB is an incredible amount of storage and entertainment.
Overall
All in all I'm very happy with the SanDisk 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. Even though Sony isn't aiming to compete with other media players, with 1GB storage capacity, some people may be hard pressed to buy anything else when they really just want a bit of everything -- gaming, movies and music all in one device with a beautiful screen. The SanDisk PRO Duo allows you to store a hefty amount of fun. I suspect the only challenge some of you may have will be in filling it up.
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