PC Card Slot on T400

My laptop came with a PC card slot:



and i'd like to install a SDHC card reader but not sure what size is correct. Can someone help me with the one that would fit. My invoice doesn't specify what is the correct size.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220441747769

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...s=algo=SI&its=I%2BIA&itu=UCI%2BIA&otn=4&ps=42

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ExpressCard-Express-Card-Reader-SD-SDHC-MMC-xD-PC-Mac_W0QQitemZ170351397925QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item27a9bc0c25&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1215|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

 

PC card slots are all one size, there is no variation. Used to be a long time ago with type I, II, and III, but all slots I've seen in the last several years have been type II.

ExpressCard slots come in 34mm wide and 54mm wide. T400's support both, but a 34mm card may not be as stable since there's no real support on one side.

 

Thanks very much. I'm pretty clueless about pc cards, never owned one lol.
I'd like a card to fit the entire slot instead of having gaps . So i guess I should go for either the first two links? They look like 54mm wide from the pictures. Do you recommend other companies (name brand) that might be more reliable. I need something that can read SDHC cards.

 

Don't mix up your apples and oranges. PC card and ExpressCard are two different standards that are NOT interchangeable. All PC cards are the same width (whatever it is). The 34mm vs 54mm choice is ONLY for ExpressCard.

PC card is also often called PCMCIA or CardBus. Your T400 has one slot of each type (PC card and Expresscard). I'd recommend you use a PC card based card reader since for most instances you don't need faster transfers than PC card supports and that'll leave the ExpressCard slot available if you later wanted to add something else.

I don't know anything about current PC card or Expresscard card readers. I knew I'd never need a PC card slot so I ordered my T400 with the 7-1 reader and Expresscard slot.

My suggestion is avoid eBay for something like that and go to Newegg where you can see other people's reviews/ratings on the items you're considering -- and more importantly where you likely have an easier means of returning something if it doesn't work well for you.

 

Thanks again Lew. I regret not ordering with a 7 in 1 reader. I caught my mistake to late to change configuration. I'll check out newegg.

 

You might be better off getting a compact USB reader, which will be a lot faster. My USB 2.0 CF card reader downloads about three times faster than a PCMCIA CF card reader. Maybe I just have a crap PC Card reader.