XPS M1330 & Delkin ExpressCard 54

Just ordered an Expresscard/54 - Compact Flash Card Reader for my M1330 today but I guess I wasn't the first one...

 

I got the card today & man, it's faaast!!!

 

I've been eyeing this myself for my Vostro 1500. Glad to know you've had no issues with it, I've read some negative feedback on the quality.

The cheapest I've seen this for is $42.99, which is a little too rich for me. It drives me nuts as I have a PC Card-CF adaptor that cost me $5. I wouldn't have mind (if not preferred) having the PC Card slot back instead of the Expresscard 54.

 

Well, hold on a sec, I didn't say that, I said I'm thrilled with it's speed What I don't like:

1. the tips, for lack of a better description, are relatively sharp and since all standard 54mm ExpressCards stick out of the M1330 by about 1~2mm, it can scratch anything that comes in contact with it (like the Sleeve that I carry the NB in, or maybe even some of my own skin ) Funny enough, the fella who reviewed it (see link in my OP) didn't seem to be that concerned and worse, went as far as to call it " flush"...!

2. I dunno why, but all CF adapters seem to be more tricky (when inserting a CF card) than their counterparts (MS, SD cards, etc.). Not only is this ExpressCard not an exception, I'd say it's even harder than the norm...

If you're not careful inserting your card(s), I can imagine that the adapter's [CF] guide rails could eventually get stripped, or otherwise damaged The best way to insert a CF card is to remove the adapter from the bay, insert the CF card into it, re-insert the adapter.

But as you can see, the above two "issues" kind of defeats the goal of permanently keeping the adapter in place, which is what the reviewer's (as well as my own) goal is/was. Sorry to be the one to throw a wrench in, but you should know what your hard-earned $43 will get you. Speaking of which...

I can appreciate that (I have a CF cardbus, a Memoery stick cardbus, a WLAN cardbus, etc.). But if you're heavy into [amateur] photography, $43 is really a great deal - look, I paid more than twice that...!

 

Sounds like I'll just continue using my cheapie USB CF Reader then. It's maddening for me to understand why PCMCIA had to come up with a different form factor to go from PC Card to ExpressCard to begin with. Couldn't the enhancements to the specs occur while still keeping the PC Card form factor (and backward compatibility). It's the opposite reason why USB has become so commonplace now.

My next point and shoot camera will likely be SD anyway since no one seems to make point and shoot digitals using CF.

Thanks for providing the cons to this, again trying to get a built-in CF slot has been one of my interests and you've given me more stuff to weigh. I almost ordered another non-Dell notebook just because it had a PC Card slot to use it for CF.

 

I was using my CF adapter the other day and I'm still very pleased with it's performance so I thought I might bring the topic back up to the top for the newcomers

 

Does insertion of the Delkin deactive the all-in-one internal memory card reader?I read somewhere you need to take out the Delkin to use the internal SD reader on the m1330. Is this correct? i often use both.

 

Hey, sorry for the delayed reply, but I finally got around to testing out your "I read somewhere" theory and I'm pleased to report that you can use both simultaneously

And yes, I'm still thrilled about the transfer speeds of the Delkin