(27' 2013 model) Yup, you got an improved iMac, my 2011 27' iMac definitely lists the internal card reader under the general USB heading. The built in CF card reader in an iMac is not USB but operates off the PCIe bus. Sandisk Extreme Firewire CF Compact Flash Card Reader - PC / Mac - Add to Watch list. Also, I'm not sure what kind of CF card reader you're referring to? The built in CF card reader in your 2011 iMac? As far as I can tell there is no difference except one is wireless and does not have the numeric keys. (The 2012 iMacs and beyond have USB 3.0.) Apple keyboards? Not sure I understand what you mean by old style keys vs the flat style? I have three Apple keyboards: Two wired that came with my iMacs and one wireless. USB 2.0 should be able to achieve 40 MB/s with a 333x CF card.Your 2011 iMac has USB 2.0 only. CardBus was a huge step forward for PowerBooks, providing about 133 MB/s. PC Card adapters run CF cards at up to about 33 MB/s, but only for cards rated at 233x and higher – and even then they may not achieve their claimed speed. USB 1.1 is horribly slow (about 1 MB/s) and probably the worst option for Virtual Memory, but it was all Macs had when this article was first posted in 2000. There are a lot of factors involved with CF performance, which we are trying to quantify in a separate article to be published soon.
2015: This article was published before Mac OS X arrived and applies specifically to the Classic Mac OS.
Then compare that to current memory upgrade prices for your Mac. Visit, eBay, and ramseeker to see if Compact Flash cards fit your budget. Your best bet after installing maximum memory is to try RAM Doubler. * You can use Virtual Memory, but it’s very slow on 68K Macs and not terribly fast on first generation Power Macs. If you have any trouble, email me, and I’ll try to help you. The 7300 I’m using right now can be upgraded to 1 GB for less than the cost of a Flash card upgrade. For some Power Macs, it could be a waste of time.
For first generation Power Macs and 68K Macs, low memory is hopeless.* The earlier the model, the less memory it will support. A), and some clonesįor desktop models, you will need a USB card and some form of adapter such as VST’s Tri-Media Reader (it works with Compact Flash, Smart Media, and floppy disks). Other computers this may be useful for are PCI Performas and some low-end PCI Power Macs like the 5500 & 6500, iMacs, iBooks (especially the Rev. If you get big enough cards, your PowerBook could have over 1 GB of RAM. I’ve only tested 8 and 32 MB CF cards on a PowerBook 1400.
I do warn you, try this out with someone who already has a CompactFlash card. The way you do this is to format the CompactFlash card as a hard drive and use it for Virtual Memory (instead of using your hard drive). Suddenly something came into my head: Why not use CF cards as RAM?
When I got home, I was thinking how to solve my memory crisis (my 190cs is running Mac OS 8.1 in only 7 MB of RAM). One day at the elementary school where I help out, we were viewing some pictures on a CompactFlash (CF) card. Every time I use my PowerBook 190cs, I get the same warning, but now that problem is gone. Let me ask you this question: On a PowerBook, have you ever seen an out of memory warning? If not, you must have a newer machine.