The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Expresscard Docks

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by tyeh26, Aug 30, 2007.

  1. tyeh26

    tyeh26 Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Even with a 7port USB hub, unplugging in and out Monitor out, ethernet, and USB ports ( i guess seven wasn't enough ) becomes a hassle. I was wondering if anyone has experience with expresscard docks.

    I'm overlooking USB docks because of the poor transfer rate. Does anyone know the transfer rate of a VGA out port versus an ExpressCard (34 i think) slot?

    thanks for the input.
     
  2. Jurisprudence

    Jurisprudence Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    347
    Messages:
    446
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I was looking at the Belkin Notebook Expansion dock but have found it very diffivult to get any reviews of it. And to be ohnest I just dont trust Belkin not to screw up a great idea. Then I found another problem. The expresscard slot should have a theoretical bandwidth of 2.5gb/s, more than enough to thansfer a vga output but some manufacturers dont use the pci express channel (to get to 2.5gb/s). My forthcoming Sony Vaio TZ has its expresscard connected to usb at its rear which means 480mb/s. And you will never get close to that in real life. That it also shared with other usb devices connected via usb so you may have problems if your doing any heavy file transfers etc in the background. Check with your laptop manufacturer/manual whether the expresscard interface is connected via pci or usb before purchasing. Heres a link to the Belkin product anyways.

    http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/10_10_06NotebookExpansionDock.html
     
  3. tyeh26

    tyeh26 Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Thanks, has anyone ever used the Belkin one? or maybe the Targus one?
     
  4. CalebSchmerge

    CalebSchmerge Woof NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    1,126
    Messages:
    2,395
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    55
    The problem that I have with these is that they require software drivers, which means that they will slow your entire computer down, so this means it is convienent, but it will be a hassle.