diff -r 1c999569643b -r acf2c31e22d4 samples/delegatingwriter/src/org/apidesign/delegatingwriter/AltBufferedWriter.java
--- a/samples/delegatingwriter/src/org/apidesign/delegatingwriter/AltBufferedWriter.java	Sat Jun 14 10:04:51 2008 +0200
+++ b/samples/delegatingwriter/src/org/apidesign/delegatingwriter/AltBufferedWriter.java	Sat Jun 14 10:04:53 2008 +0200
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
         // BEGIN: writer.delegateout
         // efficient, yet dangerous delegation skipping methods unknown to 
         // subclasses that used version 1.4
-        if (csq != null && csq.length() < 1024) {
+        if (shouldBufferAsTheSequenceIsNotTooBig(csq)) {
             write(csq.toString());
         } else {
             flush();
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
             throw new IOException(ex);
         }
         
-        if (isOverriden || (csq != null && csq.length() < 1024)) {
+        if (isOverriden || shouldBufferAsTheSequenceIsNotTooBig(csq)) {
             write(csq.toString());
         } else {
             flush();
@@ -112,6 +112,28 @@
         return this;
         // END: writer.conditionally
     }
+
+    /** At the end the purpose of BufferedWriter is to buffer writes, this
+     * method is here to decide when it is OK to prefer buffering and when 
+     * it is better to delegate directly into the underlaying stream.
+     * 
+     * @param csq the seqence to evaluate
+     * @return true if buffering from super class should be used
+     */
+    private static boolean shouldBufferAsTheSequenceIsNotTooBig(CharSequence csq) {
+        if (csq == null) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        // as buffers are usually bigger than 1024, it makes sense to 
+        // pay the penalty of converting the sequence to string, but buffering
+        // the write
+        if (csq.length() < 1024) {
+            return true;
+        } else {
+            // otherwise, just directly write down the char sequence
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
     
     public enum Behaviour {
         THROW_EXCEPTION,