diff --git a/src/node_buffer.cc b/src/node_buffer.cc
index d7f63b2ec2..d304063abc 100644
--- a/src/node_buffer.cc
+++ b/src/node_buffer.cc
@@ -113,15 +113,16 @@ size_t Length(Handle<Object> obj) {
 }
 
 
-// TODO(trevnorris): would be more efficient to use StringBytes to calculate the
-// length and write out the data beforehand then do the same as New().
-Local<Object> New(Handle<String> string) {
+Local<Object> New(Handle<String> string, enum encoding enc) {
   HandleScope scope(node_isolate);
 
-  Handle<Value> argv[1] = { string };
-  Local<Object> obj = p_buffer_fn->NewInstance(1, argv);
+  size_t length = StringBytes::Size(string, enc);
 
-  return scope.Close(obj);
+  Local<Object> buf = New(length);
+  char* data = Buffer::Data(buf);
+  StringBytes::Write(data, length, string, enc);
+
+  return scope.Close(buf);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/node_buffer.h b/src/node_buffer.h
index fe2abb9e5e..37468f2d37 100644
--- a/src/node_buffer.h
+++ b/src/node_buffer.h
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ NODE_EXTERN size_t Length(v8::Handle<v8::Object> val);
 // public constructor
 NODE_EXTERN v8::Local<v8::Object> New(size_t length);
 // public constructor from string
-NODE_EXTERN v8::Local<v8::Object> New(v8::Handle<v8::String> string);
+NODE_EXTERN v8::Local<v8::Object> New(v8::Handle<v8::String> string,
+                                      enum encoding enc = UTF8);
 // public constructor - data is copied
 // TODO(trevnorris): should be something like Copy()
 NODE_EXTERN v8::Local<v8::Object> New(const char* data, size_t len);