Review: LaCie USB Keys
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With all the digital options like Dropbox surfacing, the reign of USB flash drives are quickly coming to an end. To prolong the inevitable, flash drives are evolving nearly as quickly and constantly as their cloud-based counterparts. Perhaps no other company has been as inventive and stylish as LaCie, which in recent years has built its drives smaller, tougher, and with larger-capacities than ever before. Even so, lugging around an additional piece of hardware is still an inconvenience many people aren’t willing to consent to.
However, LaCie is looking to change all that with the release of its Key line, which makes carrying a thumb drive as easy as grabbing your keys. The LaCie Keys look and feel exactly like a key, and a plastic plug can be easily snapped on and off to ensure that the water- and scratch-resistant gold SIP connector doesn’t get damaged. The keys are perfect addition to the keyrings of those that just can’t fit their stuff in Dropbox’s 2GB entry-level storage limit. The keys come in three different designs (CooKey, WhizKey, & iamaKey), and each look almost exactly like an ordinary key, complete with keyring holes and silver plating.
The drives inside the LaCie Keys come in four sizes—±4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB (for $19.99, $29.99, $54.99, and $99.99 respectively). A hundred bucks for a 32GB flash drive is pretty spendy, but for some, the price is justified in the portability and style of the line.
If USB flash drives are going the way of the dinosaurs, LaCie's making sure they go out in style. The Key line is a perfect example of high style and inventive storage. When cloud-based just won't cut it, the Keys will.
LaCie Keys
COMPANY: LaCie
CONTACT: www.lacie.com
PRICE: $19.99, 29.99, 54.99, 99.99
REQUIREMENTS: USB port
Super-cool style. Convenient keyring storage. Flash drive works great.
Plastic plug that covers the gold connectors falls off way too easily and will be quickly lost by many. 16GB and 32GB models are overpriced.
Score
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imajoebob
October 30, 2010 at 1:30pm
Flash drives are becoming external hard drives, and 'the cloud' is still no competition. When I can put a monster database on a $30 flash drive and take it anywhere I go, it's so far ahead of a cloud-stored file it's not even laughable. It would take HOURS for even the best Internet connections to load that database remotely, and then HOURS MORE to resave it.
As for LaCie, their style is always spectacular, but they still demand double the price of generics. I can get a 4GB thumb drive with a keychain loop for under $10. Even if the style is worth an extra 10 bucks, why doesn't the 8GB simply cost 10 more than a generic ($12-15)? And I'd like LaCie to explain why it cost an extra FIFTY BUCKS to stuff 32GB drive in the exact same package as the 4GB? I might be willing to pay the $10 premium for this 4GB key, but not another 40 on top of that for the big model - I can get 64GB of storage for that price.
The biggest threat to LaCie is Apple joining the mainstream. When your only choice for an external Firewire drive was LaCie, you'd spend $200 for their (absolutely beautiful) 20GB drive. But now that you can grab a 1TB USB drive for 60 bucks, they have to rethink their pricing model.
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