SanDisk Intros 8GB Extreme III SDHC Card

Boasting transfer speeds up to 20 MB/s, SanDisk's latest card is meant for photographers and other professionals with the need for speed.

If you’ve ever needed to store 8GB of data in a card the size of your thumbnail, your boat has come in. On Wednesday, SanDisk announced its 8GB Extreme III SDHC card, meant for high-end digital cameras, camcorders, and other devices that share the Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) standard.

Besides the ability to store roughly 4,000 high-resolution pictures or 16 hours of MPEG 4 video, the card has read and write speeds of up to 20 megabytes per second. On the SD Assocation’s speed specifications scale, the Extreme III ranks a Class 6 – the highest available – which means it can sustain minimum transfer speeds of six megabyte per second.

The cards will debut at U.S. retailers for $179.99, no later than mid-November. Each card will come packaged with a SanDisk MicroMate USB 2.0 Reader, which sells for $20 on its own.