ReadyBoost Enabled on Tecra M4

After Microsoft's suggestions that raw speed doesn't matter as much for ReadyBoost as I/O (seek) speed, I decided to take a chance and get a low-speed cheap 2GB SD card so that I could use ReadyBoost on my Tablet PC without a dongle hanging off of it. A comment on a story I wrote a couple weeks ago suggested that Kingston cards might work, since the commentor was using the faster Elite Pro versions.

I ordered a Kingston 2GB SD card from Buy.com, which cost only $17.95 after $9 rebate and $10 Google Checkout discount. I didn't know if it would work, but I figured that worst case scenario that I could use it as additional memory in my digital camera or the Wii when it comes out next month.

The SD card came today, and in literally 10 seconds, I had ReadyBoost enabled. No fuss, no muss. It'll be interesting to see how much more responsive the OS feels.

Update: Reformatted the card as NTFS, since I'll be keeping it in the system permanently. I could still enable ReadyBoost afterwards. The system feels a touch peppier, but I had 2GB of RAM to start, so I wasn't expecting a massive performance increase. No change in my System Rating, but that's because I'm video limited. Overall, it was a very satisfactory experience. I could definitely see this being a "must buy" peformance upgrade that won't break the bank.