What to buy what to buy...:(

[Scor]

Hi all,
I'm wondering what to buy.
I can get my hands on a GBA flash card (the EFA linker 1 of 256 Mbit (32MB)) for 30/35 euros (unboxed/boxed + shipped).
Or I can wait for the MK4/buy an MK3.
1.Anyone got any idea what I should do?
2.Got any idea what a MK4 is gonna cost?
3. Is 256 Mbit really to little?
*(I also have a GBAMP, but I wanna run/make some stuff, (namely backups) so I might be interested in buying the thing.

[sven]

wait for mk4,

[angelfly]

wait for mk4,

  what he said

[Scor]

Tell my why then, won't it cost much more (aka what will it cost)?
I don't really run big backups, games I really like I buy anyway.

[bruceg]

It depends on what you are using it for...  For running roms, mk4 is going to be more versatile.  You just have to wait for the official announcement as to the pricing (hopefully mk4 mini will be affordable).

MK2/MK3 isn't the best option out there for running roms.  If they ever fully resolve the SD card issues, then I would definitely recommend it.  The EZflash cart isn't compatible with the menu flashing, either.

Furthermore, there are still various issues/bugs with running homebrew using the menu...

Thus, I would concur with the others that waiting would be the best course of action (unless you were to choose another competing product, such as supercard, which is very affordable and already has high compatibilty)

BruceG

[Scor]

Thanks Bruce ,

What do you call more affordable? somewhere around 80 euros (60 US dollars)?

All my homebrew (except for stuff like DSheretic) I'm running from GBAMP, so thats not so much of an issue.

I can buy the MK3 (with GBAkey+128MB SD for 100 euro's), that interesting?

Are there gonna be more/different versions of the MK4 (what is it gonna be exactly anyway, and howlong do I have to wait for it to come)?

[bruceg]

I really have no idea how much mk4 mini will sell for (plus Dr. Neo hasn't announced all the specifications yet, so we don't know what it will be able to do).  The main reason I think mk4 mini might be more affordable is that the neoflash products have become less expensive in general, since the first generation product was introduced (that was well over $200 US dollars).  MK3 2006 is around $90 or so...

Depending on what features it supports and your particular needs, you might still need a separate flashcart.  Mk4 mini mentions flashcard support, so that would indicate to me that it may have more limited functionality (it's all conjecture, until more information is released)

You may already know this, but the neo-key is not a good substitute for a regular gba flashcart...  The neo-key has only 16 M writeable space, and NO sram at all... 

There will be more than one variation of mk4 (this is probably the 'lite' version)

We just have to wait and see (more information should be coming soon, according to Dr. Neo's post).  The mods really don't know anything more than everyone else at this point.

BruceG

[Scor]

The MK4 mini seems to be just a passme (but one that works with all systems and no need for a normal game).
So chances are that with the MK4 mini, I would need a flashcard.
But maybe when a different version will be released....

The NeoKey is just a very small flashcard for the neo menu . I knew that, but thanks anyway.

[bruceg]

yeah exactly.. and neo-key isn't even a tiny flashcart, since it doesn't have any SRAM 

[d-loader]

I get the feeling, that we'll see something equal to the MK2/3, just with updated speed.. but I'm not sure 

[sven]

maybe the mk4 have a full sd cart speed

[d-loader]

well, sven.. it wouldn't help if it had.. but I know what you mean though 

The DS slot is not as fast as an SD card reader.. so full speed would be redundant  .. what you want, is the speed between the SD card and the Neokey, itself, to improve.. and I'm 100% it will become faster 

[bruceg]

I get the feeling, that we'll see something equal to the MK2/3, just with updated speed.. but I'm not sure 

The hardware design invariably improves as well, and a result, one would think it would be easier to code to achieve the desired results, so I would guess compatibility is going to be higher.  Plus, mk2/mk3 were apparently not even designed initially to run commercial roms (therefore, hardware is much more difficult to manipulate).  With the mk4 design, they are definitely looking at rom compatibility issues.

And I would agree that speed issues would likely be addressed as well, since that's such a major bottleneck with the current products.

BruceG