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Obviously Turbo Memory is designed to work with Windows Vista and its Ready Boost feature, so you may be wondering why you would want this instead of just plugging a USB memory key in and enabling Ready Boost. Well there are a number of very good answers to that question.

1 - You don’t need to have a USB key sticking out of the side of your notebook.

2 - Turbo Memory utilises the PCI Express interface, which is faster than the USB 2.0 interface.

3 - Turbo Memory will consume approximately one third the power of a USB based device.

4 - The user doesn’t need to remember to insert a USB module to get the Ready Boost benefit.

5 - A USB key can not improve Windows boot times, since Vista will not store boot files on non-persistent memory. Turbo Memory on the other hand can improve Windows boot times by up to 20 per cent.

Intel showed me two identical notebooks, one with Turbo Memory and one without. Identical automated scripts were then run on both machines, with the Turbo Memory equipped machine finishing the script in literally half the time. Of course I always hold off judgement until I’ve tested hardware myself, but I have to say that I think Turbo Memory could be one of the best features of Santa Rosa, especially for a power user like me. If you regularly have to use Photoshop on a notebook to manipulate 8-megapixel images, you’ll know that anything that can speed that process up is a blessing!

Unfortunately Windows Vista only allows one Ready Boost device to be used at a time, so you can’t use Turbo Memory and a USB key simultaneously. Even more disappointing is that you won’t be able to use Turbo Memory and one of the new hybrid hard disks that have recently been announced. Whether this situation will change with a Vista Service Pack remains to be seen, but hopefully Microsoft will see sense and allow multiple devices.

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