What card slots do X61s and X200s have?

Is anyone certain about what card slots (express vs. PCMCIA) does each of X61s and X200s have? I've heard different sayings and want to make sure. Thanks!

 

all X6x series have a single 32-bit cardbus slot.

all X20x series have a single expresscard/54 slot.

i say this with 100% certainty in its accuracy.

 

Agreed. Erik knows what he says.

 

Thanks! So, if I want to buy a USB card for X61s, it should be Cardbus USB card? What about a PCMCIA USB card? Will both work? If so, which better?
For X200s, it should be an express USB card, yes?

(Sorry if I sound too dumb.)

 

X61 uses a PCMCIA usb expansion card

X200 uses a Expresscard usb expansion card.

 

Only PCMCIA card for X61s? Why not Cardbus card if it's a Cardbus slot? Somewhere I seemed to have read that Cardbus slots can take both Cardbus and PCMCIA card, with the former faster? Thanks...

 

the slot itself is 32-bit CardBus not PCMCIA.   however, 32-bit CardBus is backwards-compatible with 16-bit PCMCIA cards.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CardBus_slot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card#CardBus
http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm

let's not confuse the issue more than necessary.   there's no reason why a CardBus USB card won't work.   it doesn't require PCMCIA.

 

Thanks a lot, Erik, for making things very clear for me! The links are also very helpful!

 

Hi again I would like to by an ExpressCard USB adapter for my X200s. I found the following being sold, but the prices vary from $16 to $70, so I'm not sure if the cheap one will be OK. Would appreciate opinions--if you have other recommendations, so much the better!

This is only $16

This $43, but not sure if it's USB adapter? ("controller"??)

This is $70

Thanks for any input!

 

the first card you linked is a true USB card.   the second two are eSATA and completely different than USB.

if you want USB, go with the first one.   if you want eSATA then the second two are what you want.

 

Thanks erik! Terrific!

 

Hi Erik or others: I've bought the $16 card linked above and just received it. Looks like very nice and simple, just insert it in my x200s and I can plug in my USB drive now . since it's the first time I use a "card" like this, and it didn't come with any instruction sheet ()I have 3 more small questions about this card:

a. On the box it says "CARDBUS EXPRESS". In the features list it says only "Supports 32 bit CardBus PC Card type II slots" but does not mention Expresscard. I wonder if it is really an Expresscard or just a CardBus card --not that it matters too much to me since the Expresscard slot is backward compatible, but I would like to know if there is a way to identify this to be an ExpressCard or a CardBus card.

b. Once inserted, how do I remove it when I need to?

c. It came with a small cable, one end of it is like a USB (just like the head of a USB drive), the other end is very slim rounded, seems to fit in the little round hole on the card (between the two USB ports). What's the use of it?

Thanks a ton in advance for your (anyone's) patience to answer my questions!

 

b. gray button the right of the slot

c. extra power cable for the card. you would plug the cable into another usb slot to feed the card more power

 

Thanks! Yeah I just figured out how to remove it (I never knew what it's for before). What kind of power source could I use to plug the Card in to get more power? Is that anything with a USB slot would do?

Is there a way to know whether the card is actually an ExpressCard or a CardBus?

 

that would make it a cardbus card, not an expresscard.   "express" may have been used in the name before expresscard became a standard.   in any case, it's a poor choice of nomenclature by the manufacturer of the card in question.

expresscard is NOT backwards-compatible with anything other than other expresscards.   an expresscard/54 slot (which is 54mm wide) will accept an expresscard/34 card (which is 34mm wide).   neither will accept a cardbus card whatsoever.

 

Erik, thanks. However, after I inserted the card, it seems to work fine (I tried with a USB flash drive), so the Expresscard slot (of X200s) seems to accept this card. So I'm not sure... either the expresscard slot is backward compatible with the Cardbus, or the card is not CardBus but an Expresscard? (On the card, it has a small "ExpressCard" logo, and says "EXPRESS>>>" (you can see the pictures at the website linked in the above post), but the box, one side at the end says "CardBus Card", while the front side says "CardBus Express". Confusing (perhaps the manufacturer is not even sure themselves )

 

That just sounds like a horribly designed package. The card you bought is in fact an ExpressCard (as proved by the logo). Picture showing 54mm and 34mm:



For comparison this is a PCMCIA or CardBus card:

 

Thanks for the confirmation, jonlumpkin! That's good news. Now I really think the designer of the package was not knowledgeable about these cards (or at most as knowledgeable as me ). Seems the L-shape is almost unique for Expresscard?

 

Pretty much. Even the 54mm (L-Shape) is really a 34mm at heart. The designers of the ExpressCard standard kept a 54mm option for compact flash (CF) readers and similar devices that need more than 34mm for external connections.

 

Thank you!
Just to see how bad the package design is: it in fact has "PCMCIA" and "CARDBUS EXPRESS" all printed on the front side of the box ; on the side it's "CardBus Card", then on the barcode sticker it's "ExpressCard/54".

 

you must got a cheap one.

 

$15.98 (see the link in this thread earlier). The folks didn't know what they were packing into the box--maybe if they knew it would have been a little more pricey