ExpressCard finally shows up
posted March 31st 2005 5:03AM
Just what we need, another card format. With new and smaller flash card formats seeming to pop up almost daily, it seemed inevitable that the venerable PC Card would get a revamp. After all, the standard's been around since 1990, and most other PC technologies have improved quite a bit since then. The new format, the ExpressCard, was agreed upon a couple of years ago, but it's taken until now for it to finally make its way to the marketplace. The format is about half the size and significantly faster than the original (its interface is PCI Express or USB 2.0, rather than PCI). Vendors are apparently lining up to produce ExpressCard-based Bluetooth adapters, FireWire ports and other peripherals. We would've preferred something smaller that's already in widespread use, like SDIO, but ExpressCard is a done deal, so we'd better just shut up and get used to it.
seems kind of redundant... but then the entire interface/storage card industry appears to be.
i can't see why someone needing a small-form-factor interface card would pick this over SDIO... bandwidth maybe? is PCMCIA/PC Card/CardBus faster than SDIO? like PCI speed or something? if you put ExpressCard on a computer it would basically seem to nix backwards compatiblity with PC Card based on size... meaning if you are going to force a standard... why not force something that is already around?
the only thing i even use PC Card for is a multiformat card reader. and this looks too narrow to be able to do that. with wifi and bluetooth and ethernet all (presumably) being built into any machine new enough to include ExpressCard i don't really even see much incentive to develop for it. maybe GPS i suppose... but even there it seems that CF or BT or USB models are more popular than PC Card these days.
Wait a minute. significantly faster, because it's USB 2.0 instead of PCI? I thought that normally, on a PC, a USB controller was a PCI device itself.
And AFAIK PCI is faster than USB or USB2.
Its NOT USB. Its PCI Express. Why do you think its called ExpressCard???? Go to http://www.pcisig.com/ if you think I am lying.
The good thing with this is that now you dont have to develop different chips for a regular PC and a laptop so this is much more cost effective that PCMCIA and we can look forward to cooler cards. That card on the picture is the smallest one and then there is a bigger one too.
"The good thing with this is that now you dont have to develop different chips for a regular PC and a laptop so this is much more cost effective that PCMCIA and we can look forward to cooler cards."
Cooler cards. woodeedoo. I can barely contain my excitement at another un-needed standard...
Matt.. no one thinks you are lying. Calm down, please wont you? :)
On another note.. This is for laptops, SDIO would be a stupid choice, considering its size. And who cares about formats? This is for peripherals.. the better you can get three fingers around something the better you wont lose the damn thing. JHC.
ExpressCard will be able to swing stuff like mobile video cards. In theory, you could buy a laptop with a low-end Radeon 9200 (or whatever the PCIE equivalent is), and swap it out for a mobile x800 (or whatever the top-of-the-line mobile equivalent is) whenever you feel like it. This is a Good Thing. SDIO is kid stuff by comparison.
But the writer was correct -- there's a set of pins for PCIE and also USB2.0 in the interface. This is really clever. USB2 is much cheaper, so manufacturers will be able to swing simple, low-power devices, and also "big iron" upgrades.
One feature that I've heard is coming out for ExpressCard is a Digital TV tuner card (DVB-T) for us europeans. Means that laptops can avoid having the excessive duty tax on the tv tuner, but still have an integrated tuner.
Quite a few sonoma machines we've had in have this slot.
Yep, this is a great thing for developers, who can now reuse a lot of work to support PCI-Express and then rework the form-factor but do very little IC work and driver work to support express cards.
The death of the PCMCIA format? :( Hmmm...
Shouldn't be too long till they'll make a PCMCIA express-card adaptor? :P
>One feature that I've heard is coming out for >ExpressCard is a >Digital TV tuner card (DVB->T) for us europeans. Means that >laptops >can >avoid having the excessive duty tax on the tv >tuner, >but still >have an integrated tuner.
Enter, The PCMCIA Card Bus card with an integrated FM and TV tuner! (Capture video and audio content in REAL TIME!) and MAC compatible to boot!
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_9398.html
Oh yeah - it has bandwidth alright - if you use the ExpressCard's PCI Express interface, it's more than twice as fast as the current PCI standard, and that's only in one direction. Finally we might see some -real- notebook expansion.
I NEED AN ADAPTER FROM MCPCIA TO EXPRESS CARD. DOES ANYONE MAKE SUCH AN ANIMAL?
Does any one realise that DELL are manufacturing their Inspiron Laptops with the ExpressCard port in place of a PCMCIA port, and you cant even buy an Expresscard yet! Think the public should be warned DELL are ripping the world off!