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    PCMCIA & expresscard slots: useful or not?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by useroflaptops, Jul 8, 2009.

  1. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

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    I say useless. I've always been angry @ the PCMCIA slots on my laptops. what a waste of space. geez they can easily try to fit another harddrive in that space with some shifting around. I never use it, so its always just an empty space there.

    The last time I used it was on laptops back in the day that needed it to use the modems for dialup. I had a 3com PCMCIA modem. That was the last and only time i've used PCMCIA slots.
     
    useroflaptops, Jul 8, 2009
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  2. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Useful for pcmcia e-sata as you likely don't have e-sata on an older notebook.

    There's also expresscard-to-pcmcia converters, in which case the expresscard SSDs could be used.
     
    User Retired 2, Jul 8, 2009
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  3. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

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    the problem is thats connecting to an external device which is likely a harddrive for example. but that pcmcia space can be replaced with an internal harddrive should one wish it.
     
    useroflaptops, Jul 8, 2009
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  4. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    express card slots are very usefull, because you can now buy the ViDock2.

    It means you can use desktop video cards with your notebook. Play the latest games with high settings. So you can buy a cheaper notebook with integrated graphics and still play any game you wan't.
     
    moral hazard, Jul 8, 2009
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  5. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

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    i think most laptop users will find more benefit to an extra harddrive than an expresscard slot that they may or may not use for a dock they may or may not need/want for games they may/may not play. for me, the pcmcia slots are a complete waste of space. its been like that since forever. the only time i ever needed them was for the modem dialup days. but then my next laptop had integrated modems so they became useless again. just imagine every other laptop being able to do RAID confirgurations instead of an empty PCMCIA slot sitting there doing nothing 99% (100% for me) of the time for most users.
     
    useroflaptops, Jul 8, 2009
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  6. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I think we should make DVD drives external too, why not three HDDs :p I mean really, most people use their DVD drives annually..
     
    sgogeta4, Jul 8, 2009
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  7. Rachel

    Rachel Busy Bee

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    Well if a laptop has not got mobile broadband built in then the next best thing to me is a express card slot/pcmcia mobile broadband card.

    I would not buy a notebook right now if it did not come with an optical drive.
    I use mine to play and rip my CD's quite often. I don't like the inconvenience of having an external drive.
    A number of people also seem very keen about blu-ray optical drives.
     
    Rachel, Jul 9, 2009
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  8. paper_wastage

    paper_wastage Beat this 7x7x7 Cube

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    i'd rather have more usb slots than an expresscard/pcmcia slot... don't feel like buying a $20 card to get those extra usb slots

    i thought i would need a cd drive, but it turns out i didn't really need one built in... and the one on my laptop is slotloading and replacing it with a SATA HDD Caddy is more trouble than i want

    should have gotten the laptop without a cd drive
     
    paper_wastage, Jul 9, 2009
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  9. lokster

    lokster Notebook Deity

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    the only reason i use the slot is for the remote, good on you HP :p
     
    lokster, Jul 9, 2009
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  10. kaltmond

    kaltmond Clepple

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    I need it for Soundcard....
     
    kaltmond, Jul 9, 2009
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