The new cards are part of Lexar's "Armor" lineup, which already includes ruggedized portable SSDs and other gear designed to withstand harsh conditions. The two new stainless...
Unironically a good idea. I can see these really helping to increase the chances of memory survival in camera applications where the camera has a high chance of being physically destroyed. Also a metal body reallllly helps conduct heat out of the flash, which will increase their lifespan in continuous-write applications.
Stainless is extra bad at conducting heat considering it's a metal, but it's still way better than plastic. I hope they make an aluminum version at some point.
Energy needs can be met and shouldn't be an argument for using plastic.
The pollution could be more dependending on how you look at that statement, but making something without plastic results in less plastic pollution and you can't claim that to be an overall loss for the earth.
You can swap out centralized energy sources (relatively speaking) overnight as greener sources become cheaper/more available compared to retooling whole industries away from plastic
It's the same thing with electric cars, yea it might plug in now to a dirty energy source, but that energy source could be a green energy source tomorrow without you ever knowing and importantly not having to buy a new car or change any other infrastructure to take advantage of it
A power line is a power line, it doesn't care if the electricity going through it was derived from a dirty power plant or solar or nuclear
I feel like dealing with SD cards' inevitable demise is more important than armoring them. What good is a stainless SD card that no longer functions after 2 years of use?
Better thermal conductivity and in turn dissipation than plastic does tend to longer lasting flash chips, how much this change means in real world practice though remains to be seen
It's hard to believe that it would have taken 25 years for the many SD card builders out there to figure out that a heat spreader could solve the degradation problems.
Well considering that most of the SD cards I've had always died from foul play or physical destruction of some kind I think that armoring them is not without merit.
Obviously like all solid state media they do wear out over time, and their wear leveling isn't as good as an SSD which has a much more sophisticated controller with much more sophisticated wear leveling management.
Doesn't the steam deck use micro SD cards, I don't think that these full-sized ones are going to be much help for those guys. Unless of course they come out with stainless steel micro SD cards but that doesn't seem likely for obvious reasons.