Acer CFexpress Type B Cards Introduced – Up to 512 GB

Storage Media

by Olaf von VossMarch 21^st, 2022

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Acer may not be the first brand that comes to mind when talking about filmmaking gear. But apparently the company has just launched a new line of CFexpress Type B cards called CFE100 with 128GB / 256GB and 512GB capacities.

Having one more player bringing these CFexpress Type B cards to the market will eventually lower the prices, and that’s always a good thing for the filmmaking community, right? The new cards from Acer range from 128GB to 512GB but they share the common specs of 1600 MB/s max. sequential reading speed and 1000 MB/s max. sequential writing speed with one exception and that is a 1200 MB/s max. sequential writing speed for the 512GB model.

It is worth noting that the sequential read and write speeds should not be confused with the sustained read and write speeds. These values are naturally lower than the sequential ones, which is obviously better for marketing, but for filming, the sustained speeds are a much better indicator of the actual quality of a given recording medium. Let’s hope that Acer will provide these numbers soon.

Acer CFexpress Type B cards

As an interface, the PCIe Gen3×2 standard does the heavy lifting, but there’s more to these cards than just pure speed: They seem to be pretty rugged as well. Acer claims that the new cards are good to go from -20 °C up until 70 °C (for storage even more: -40 ℃ – 85 °C). Furthermore, Acer states that these cards are completely sealed and therefore magnet proof, X-ray proof, UV-guarded, and anti-static to reduce accidental damage and to ensure file security. They are made using industrial-grade NAND flash.

Since they use the same form factor, CFexpress cards are backwards compatible with cameras that originally use the XQD format. However, it is essential that the manufacturer has updated the camera’s firmware accordingly. Acer states that the cards are compatible with Panasonic S1R and S1, Canon C500 Mark II, C300 Mark III, 1DX Mark III, EOS R5 and Nikon Z 6 II, Z 7 II, D6, D5, D500, D850, Z 6 and Z 7 cameras.

Pricing and availability

All three Acer CFexpress Type B cards are available now and the pricing is as follows:

• Acer CFE100 128GB: $130
• Acer CFE100 256GB: $270
• Acer CFE100 512GB: $460

One quick note about the Acer Storage brand: Acer branded storage products are designed and manufactured by BIWIN Storage Technology company, a maker of flash memory, DRAM memory and solid-state drives and this company is an official licensee of the Acer brand.

Link: Acer Storage

What do you think? Do you own a compatible camera? What’s your favorite recording media? Share your thoughts in the comments below!