One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
such a slot.

What do you think?

"Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
> One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
> mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
> but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
> plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
> if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
> laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
> such a slot.
>
> What do you think?

Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern laptops
comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in modern
laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern laptops
can't accept Type III cards anyway.

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:
>
> "Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
> news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
> > One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
> > mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
> > but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
> > plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
> > if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
> > laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
> > such a slot.
> >
> > What do you think?
>
> Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern laptops
> comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in modern
> laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern laptops
> can't accept Type III cards anyway.

Uh, Bill?

"But modern laptops comes with this anyway."

"But modern laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway."

Huh?

Many manufacturers are eliminating PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, in favor
of the newer ExpressCard.

In my opinion, a bad move, as this will require users to purchase new
cards, if they're even available.

Notan

I was given yes given a dell latitude c640 laptop, not the best I know
but does what I want it to do. Only thing is it only has one 1.1 USB
socket, and as I wanted external mouse, HDD, soundcard etc, I got a
2X2.2USB PCMCIA card. This gave me the option of adding more slots by
using a hub and now I have external HDD, mouse, soundcard, DVDRW, and
even a light! LOL So they do have thier uses, and of course got a
faster USB slot. I have a cooler plugged into the one on the laptop as
it doesn't need to transfer any data. Just my 5c worth. Merry Xmas BTW!


Notan wrote:
> BillW50 wrote:
> >
> > "Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
> > news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
> > > One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
> > > mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
> > > but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
> > > plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
> > > if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
> > > laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
> > > such a slot.
> > >
> > > What do you think?
> >
> > Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern laptops
> > comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in modern
> > laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern laptops
> > can't accept Type III cards anyway.
>
> Uh, Bill?
>
> "But modern laptops comes with this anyway."
>
> "But modern laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway."
>
> Huh?
>
> Many manufacturers are eliminating PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, in favor
> of the newer ExpressCard.
>
> In my opinion, a bad move, as this will require users to purchase new
> cards, if they're even available.
>
> Notan

"Notan" <notan@ddress.thatcanbespammed> wrote in message
news:457C7F97.248D9AE9@ddress.thatcanbespammed
> BillW50 wrote:
>>
>> "Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
>> news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
>>> One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
>>> mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
>>> but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
>>> plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
>>> if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
>>> laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
>>> such a slot.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern
>> laptops comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in
>> modern laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern
>> laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway.
>
> Uh, Bill?
>
> "But modern laptops comes with this anyway."
>
> "But modern laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway."
>
> Huh?
>
> Many manufacturers are eliminating PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, in favor
> of the newer ExpressCard.
>
> In my opinion, a bad move, as this will require users to purchase new
> cards, if they're even available.

Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
internally though.

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:
>
> "Notan" <notan@ddress.thatcanbespammed> wrote in message
> news:457C7F97.248D9AE9@ddress.thatcanbespammed
> > BillW50 wrote:
> >>
> >> "Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
> >> news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
> >>> One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
> >>> mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
> >>> but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
> >>> plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
> >>> if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
> >>> laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
> >>> such a slot.
> >>>
> >>> What do you think?
> >>
> >> Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern
> >> laptops comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in
> >> modern laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern
> >> laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway.
> >
> > Uh, Bill?
> >
> > "But modern laptops comes with this anyway."
> >
> > "But modern laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway."
> >
> > Huh?
> >
> > Many manufacturers are eliminating PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, in favor
> > of the newer ExpressCard.
> >
> > In my opinion, a bad move, as this will require users to purchase new
> > cards, if they're even available.
>
> Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
> either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
> internally though.

"Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet."

"But I don't use PC Card either."

Now you've got me totally confused! <g>

Notan

Personally, having a PC card slot is important to me, but this is
largely a personal preference matter. We are in the changeover period
from PC Card slots to Express Card slots (the laptop equivalent of PCI
card slots and PCI Express card slots), but we are early in the
changeover, and very few Express Cards currently exist (not to even
mention the huge number of PC Cards that some owners may already have).

In my view, Dell abandoned PC Card slots far too soon; many of their
current offerings have only Express Card slots. I much prefer the
arrangement in the Toshiba A105, which has one PC Card slot AND one
Express Card slot.


Peabody wrote:
> One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot (I
> mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong way,
> but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any specific
> plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to add something
> if the need ever arose duing the five years or so that I'll own the
> laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use
> such a slot.
>
> What do you think?
>

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
news:457c9fbc$0$29209$834e42db@reader.greatnowhere .com...

> Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
> either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
> internally though.

Forgive the newbie question, but just what is an ExpressCard? I don't think
I've ever seen one. Is this just the next standard after PCMCIA Type II
cards and we will be seeing them widely on the market in 2007?

Chris

CJ wrote:
>
> "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
> news:457c9fbc$0$29209$834e42db@reader.greatnowhere .com...
>
> > Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
> > either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
> > internally though.
>
> Forgive the newbie question, but just what is an ExpressCard? I don't think
> I've ever seen one. Is this just the next standard after PCMCIA Type II
> cards and we will be seeing them widely on the market in 2007?

In a word, yes.

Notan

A PC Card slot (often incorrectly called a PCMCIA slot) is the laptop
equivalent of a PCI slot on a desktop. An Express Bus card slot is the
laptop equivalent of a desktop PCI Express slot. Physically, an Express
card slot looks a lot like a PC Card slot, but the connector is very
different. There are two different "card shapes" that are supported,
one looks like a stick of chewing gum (not as wide as a PC Card slot,
but about the same length), the other is kind of "L" shaped. [you can
find better description and photos/drawings on Wikipedia].

We are in a transition stage right now. some laptops have PC Card slots,
some have Express Card slots (prematurely, I think .... there are not
many actual cards available yet), and Toshiba (God bless them) in some
models has one slot of each type.

Note: PCMCIA "Type II" was just a thickness (that is, the "Type II" just
designates a thickness). There are, electrically, two types of PC
Cards, but they are not related to the "type I", "type II" and "type
III" designations, which only indicated thickness. The two types were:

16-bit (electrically, these are the equivalent of old "ISA" cards)
32-bit, also called "Cardbus" (electrically the equivalent of PCI cards)

Almost all laptops that support 32-bit (Cardbus) cards also support
16-bit cards. 32-bit cards were introduced around 1997. Older laptops
supported 16-bit cards only, later ones almost all supported both types.


CJ wrote:
> "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
> news:457c9fbc$0$29209$834e42db@reader.greatnowhere .com...
>
>> Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
>> either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
>> internally though.
>
> Forgive the newbie question, but just what is an ExpressCard? I don't think
> I've ever seen one. Is this just the next standard after PCMCIA Type II
> cards and we will be seeing them widely on the market in 2007?
>
> Chris
>
>

"Notan" <notan@ddress.thatcanbespammed> wrote in message
news:457C908D.65B896CD@ddress.thatcanbespammed
> BillW50 wrote:
>>
>> "Notan" <notan@ddress.thatcanbespammed> wrote in message
>> news:457C7F97.248D9AE9@ddress.thatcanbespammed
>>> BillW50 wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "Peabody" <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:mK_eh.18565$nJ1.6852@newsfe17.lga
>>>>> One of the low-end laptops on sale today has no card PC card slot
>>>>> (I mean for PCMCIA type cards). That kinda struck me the wrong
>>>>> way, but I'm wondering whether it should. I don't have any
>>>>> specific plans to add anything, but I would like to be able to
>>>>> add something if the need ever arose duing the five years or so
>>>>> that I'll own the laptop. But I suppose the vast majority of
>>>>> laptop owners never use such a slot.
>>>>>
>>>>> What do you think?
>>>>
>>>> Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet. But modern
>>>> laptops comes with this anyway. Thus I never plugged any PC Card in
>>>> modern laptops anymore. I do have 3 PCMCIA type III HD. But modern
>>>> laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway.
>>>
>>> Uh, Bill?
>>>
>>> "But modern laptops comes with this anyway."
>>>
>>> "But modern laptops can't accept Type III cards anyway."
>>>
>>> Huh?
>>>
>>> Many manufacturers are eliminating PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, in favor
>>> of the newer ExpressCard.
>>>
>>> In my opinion, a bad move, as this will require users to purchase
>>> new cards, if they're even available.
>>
>> Yes Notan... I don't like ExpressCard either. But I don't use PC Card
>> either. I still want them though just in case WiFi or Ethernet breaks
>> internally though.
>
> "Nowadays I only use PC Cards for WiFi and Ethernet."
>
> "But I don't use PC Card either."
>
> Now you've got me totally confused! <g>
>
> Notan

Oh sorry! I meant I only use PC Cards only for older computers which
lacks built in WiFi and Ethernet support. My newer one has a PC Card
slot, but I never plugged anything into it. I do have 3 older type III
HD. But newer laptops can't accept type III PC Cards anyway. So that
doesn't help much. I am a big USB fan though and someday I might get
around and get me a 4 port USB PC Card. This laptop already has 4 USB
ports and it isn't enough. ;)

--
Bill

Peabody <waybackNO784SPAM44******.com> writes:

> But I suppose the vast majority of laptop owners never use such a
> slot.
>
> What do you think?

I don't usually use them but find them invaluable when another bit of
the laptop breaks and I can't wait for repair. For instance, IIRC, USB
on my wife's laptop broke, so we initially just popped a USB-controller
PC card in and used its ports instead.

-- Mark