Dell Laptop PCI Express

Doublespresso

Hi

I have a Dell Laptop, one of the recent £300 bargains.

I thought it had a PCMCIA slot so that I could insert my GPRS Laptop card, however I am told that this laptop has PCI express slot which is different.

My question is whether I can use an adapter to enable me to use my existing GPRS card (and other PCMCIA accessories)?

BTW what is the PCI express good for??

Thanks.

hendersonb

You don't have a PCI express slot on the laptop - well i'm pretty sure not anyway. It could possibly be a mini PCI card.
You don't state the model of the laptop for me to go and check, i'm suprised they missed of PCMCIA though as its so important for connectivity. Sure there is USB but its not quite as nice a solution for a lot of things

Doublespresso

Sorry, it's an Inspiron 1300

I had a look at the tech spec on the Dell site and I quote:

"Express card slot: This system uses an ExpressCard Slot which does not support any cards available for PC Card."

Doublespresso

Anyone knows about the "Express Card slot"? It appears to be standard now with all new Dell Inspirons laptops..

Thanks

Browntoa

http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/

Doublespresso

thanks for that.. but I am still left without a solution...
What do I do with my PC cards that I already own (wifi card and GPRS card)
Any bright ideas out there?

From the expresscard.org site FAQ

[SIZE=-1]5. Are PC Cards and ExpressCard modules compatible?
The two technologies are not compatible. The decision was made to take advantages of advances in technology to simplify the design. The speed and size of the new ExpressCard design outweighed the backward compatibility issues.[/SIZE]

Doublespresso

I had a reply from Dell Tech Support, which is pasted here for the benefit of others who are in the same situation:


"I understand from your mail message that you want to use PCMCIA WiFi card with your laptop.

Please note that there is no PCMCIA slot on your laptop. The express card can not read usual PCMCIA card. So, you would not be able to use any PCMCIA card with your laptop.

In order to install a WiFI card, you need to use the Mini PCI slot of your laptop provided that you are using a Mini PCI WIFI card.

However, you can purchase a USB PCMCIA card reader to use PCMCIA cards which are not supported by Express Card Slot."