So I opened my m15x up again...

And I found I have two PCI express mini card slots. One is filled with the wireless card with 3 antenna attached to it.

The other slot is empty. I also have a 4th antenna, that's blue, that's unattached to anything.

http://aliendl.alienware.com/Right_Now/5667/image_1.jpg

To the right of the wireless card is empty and I'm kind of scared that I have an unattached antenna with a metal contact head just loose in my case. Of course, it has a plastic covering, but I'd still rather not have it doing nothing.

So... what goes in that slot?

 

I'll open it up to see if it's the same with my notebook sometime tomorrow to check for you (unless someone has already answered). It may be normal. Did you include AlienFX (the backlit keyboard) with your m15x?

 

Hi.

maybe it`s for a TV tuner and the blue wire is for the Ariel?

 

I think the blue wire thing has been discussed before. Mine is not connected to anything too and same for all. So, you don't have worry about it .

 

yep, this has been discussed before. the blue wire isn't really connected to anything. don't worry about it. the other free slot, well, i think it'd be interesting to hook up some accessories to it sometime, maybe a TV tuner or something.

 

The other slot is probably for the turbo mem card.

 

probably, but it could theoretically be used to attach anything that works over mini-PCIe.

 

There are TWO free Mini-PCIe slots on the M15X. there's one up by the battery, and the other is by the wireless card (as you pointed out). the one by the battery (the watch-battery that's used to maintain the clock), is for the turbo-memory, and is used for the turbo-memory when factory installed.

Theoretically, anything could be placed in there, however, that is what it's used for mainly.

The other has the blue antenna wire. I believe this is for a WWAN card. such as one you would purchase from your cellular provider (eg, sprint or rogers).

For those that may not know, a WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) card essentially is a cellular modem. It's often packaged as a PCMCIA or Expresscard, and used externally. however, with dell and HP (mostly in the states), there has been a movement towards INTERNAL cards. The implementation of an antenna, without the option (during customization) of adding a card indicates to me that it's intended to be an after-market addition.

eg: you take your AW into Sprint, buy the card, and they add it to your laptop as an internal component.

IMO, they don't have workers there smart enough to do it, and they know it, therefore, they only sell the PCMCIA and Expresscard versions in-store.

I'm guessing that if you wanted to add this function to your laptop, you'd probably have to order the card over the phone from your cellular provider, wait for it to come in, then install it yourself.

This is all just speculation however.

Edit: PCIe WWAN card, found on ebay:

 

nice find mystik. i wonder, what other things could you attach over mini-pcie?

 

Just about anything... there's TV-tuner cards (even HD I think), different types of memory, USB ports, I've even seen a GPS module... (though, I have yet to see it somewhere that you can actually purchase it)...

Personally, I'm keeping my ear to the ground for a GPS module that I can install in there.

Wireless N + BT + GPS, All in one device? YES PLEASE!

 

"different types of memory"? do you mean like RAM, or an SSD?

also, is this the sort of thing you're looking for:
http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/Peripheral/MiniPCI/MP-954GPS.HTM
?

 

Yes, that's the TYPE of thing I'm looking for, but that's Mini PCI, not Mini PCIe. That won't fit in my m15x... but it can replace the wireless network card in my Toshiba 6000 Pro. (circa 2002)

as for different types of memory, I mean like MS uses PCIe for Turbo Memory... similar to that.

 

This is the only PCIe GPS card I can find... and I can't find a retailer for it... at least none on this continent.

 

shouldn't a mini-pci card fit in a mini-pci slot? on desktops, pci x1 cards fit in pcie x16 slots, don't they?

 

No. basically, in this case, you'd be trying to jam a PCI card into a PCIe 1x slot...

we all know how well that would work.

 

That is wicked cool.

 

can't you call them and have them ship it?

 

I don't believe the manufacturer sells to the public, and the only retailer is in Ireland... I'm not paying THAT kind of long distance to find out if they carry the card... nevermind how much it costs or what kind of assraping I'm going to take in shipping costs.

 

Thanks everyone!

So is anyone else worried about the blue wire causing a short?

 

not really, seeing how it's insulated and whatnot.

 

Looks like Ericsson also has a solution http://www.ericsson.com/solutions/mobile_broadband_modules/docs/MBM_FactSheet.pdf

Further searching indicated that Dell and Lenovo have RTM product with the F3507g...this is way cool!