Tong Family

!http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/ProductImageCompressAll200/20-211-182-01.jpg! It’s shopping day for miscellaneous stuff, so going through flash drives. I’d recommend the PQI i810 or the i220 if you really want small. 2GB is a good size for these little guys to do quick transfers and they fit on a key chain.

h2. “USB Flash Drive Reviews”:http://usb-flash-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/

I just lose these all the time. It is amazing to see how prices have completely collapsed. It is now 2 cents per megabyte for a flash drive. Most are USB 2.0 and there arent’ any performance reviews I can find so it is all about size and bundled software (which I’ll never use). I like the SanDisk Cruzer and the Transcend because the USB plus is retractable. Not clear if any will fit into a MacBook Air though.

h2. “Newegg Top Sellers”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2003240522+4802&name=Top+Sellers

Might be more efficient for shopping for things like this. Here is their list and this will mainly get you the geek-oriented, high performance drives that are oh so ugly:

* “Patriot Xporter XT 32GB Flash”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220261. Kind of amazing, you get 32GB for $130 including a rebate. A nice way for me to carry *all* my music. I just wish the iPhone came in a 32GB size 🙂 It is 24MBps read and 4MBps write.
* “Corsair Flash Voyager 8GB”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233037. $40 street. It is so think that it is not clear if it will fit in a MacBook Air though. The cap is going to come off is the only issue.
* “Crucial 2G”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148153B shows how pricing has changed. A 2GB crive is $8 after rebate! It isn’t very fast though.
* “Kingsontg 4GB”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134510. OK, 4GB is just $15. Wow!

h2. “Newegg Fashion”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2003240522&bop=And&Pagesize=100

Personally I like what “A-Data”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50002135+40000522&Manufactory=2135&SubCategory=522&SpeTabStoreType=0 is doing on the fashion front as these can be really fun. So just take all the flash drives and sort by best rating and look at all the images looking for something cool looking and you get: !>http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/ProductImageCompressAll200/20-141-275-06.jpg!

“pqi Intelligent Drive i810 2GB Flash”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141275 which is incredibly sjmall and on a lanyard. They claim it is the smallest flash drive in the world. There is also the “i815”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141361 but not clear on the difference. The i820 doesn’t seem available yet, but dispenses with the external case and is 4GB and looks like the i201 but comes in a case. Meritline has the 4GB 810 available for $22 including shipping so a real bargain!

Their “Intelligent Stick”:http://www.pqi.com.tw/product.asp?cate1=3 line is pretty amazing. Some are literally just a small stick with no casing at all! If you want a little more peroframnce. For slightly larger, you can get the “pro220”:http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=wlj&resnum=0&q=pqi+pro+220&um=1&ie=UTF-8 which has 32MBps read speed for $42 for 2GB. Not really worth it IMHO.

The “Traveling Disk i201”:http://www.pqi.com.tw/product2.asp?oid=19&catE1=19&PROID=333 is like the i820 but comes in cool colors. You get get them from “Meritline”:http://www.google.com/products?q=pqi+i201&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1 for $13 for 2GB.

Some other cool ones are:
* “Patriot 2GB X-Mini Green”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220246 looks like a green blob. $15 for 2GB. The X-mini comes in lots of colors including red.
* “A-Data PD17 1GB”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211182 which is red and has a nice clip on it.
* “A-Data S701 4GB”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211252. Which has faux carbon on the outside and is very small.