Get a 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $19.99 shipped
That's already a great price for a 32GB drive, but the speedy USB 3.0 goodness is icing on the cake.
Regular readers know that flash-drive prices have plummeted in the past year. But you know what all those dirt-cheap drives have had in common? A USB 2.0 interface.
What is this, 2001? USB 2.0 is over, man. It's the digital equivalent of the horse and buggy. And yet it's still pretty rare to find flash drives that support the newer, faster USB 3.0 spec.
That's why I'm jazzed about today's deal. While supplies last, Ice Monkey has the Super Talent ST3U32ST1K 32GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $19.99 shipped. Elsewhere it sells for at least $28.
The black-and-turquoise drive features a retractable USB plug (my favorite design), backward compatibility with USB 2.0, and a one-year warranty. (I mention this last item not because it's especially good -- quite the opposite -- but because there's a mistake in Ice Monkey's product-features list. It says "5 Manufacturer Warranty," but I double-checked with Super Talent, and it's indeed just one year.)
(Update: Although the drive is now sold out, it apparently does come with a 5-year warranty. Ice Monkey verified this with Super Talent, which has since modified its data sheet to reflect the longer coverage. Also, several users reported security flags that appeared when clicking through to Ice Monkey. I'm not sure why the site is generating these alerts, but an Ice Monkey rep told me the company takes security "very seriously" and pointed to the site's prominently displayed McAfee Secure badge. My take: for whatever reason, your security software is producing a false positive. Ice Monkey is a safe site.))
With rated sequential read and write rates of 90MB/second and 16MB/second, respectively, the drive should blow the doors off any USB 2.0 storage you've used in the past. (That's assuming, of course, that you plug it into a USB 3.0 port. If you've purchased a PC within the last year or so, you should have at least one of them.)
According to Ice Monkey's "stock meter," the company has a full inventory of these drives, though how many actual units that means is anybody's guess. Also, it's worth noting that Ice Monkey has a fairly mediocre score over at ResellerRatings.com, with poor communication and slow shipping being the big complaints. (I've heard similar complaints of late about Daily Steals, Ice Monkey's "sister" company.)
Thus, if you're in a big hurry, you may want to spend extra to get it elsewhere. If not, well, this is one of the best deals on a speedy, high-capacity flash drive I've seen this year.
Bonus deal: Speaking of big hurries, it's hard to beat e-mail delivery. For a limited time, and while supplies last, Walmart is offering a $50 iTunes eGift Card for $40. You can use the card for yourself or send it along to someone else as a gift, all with just a few minutes' worth of clicking.
Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.
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