Editing PC Card (section)

=== ExpressCard ===

ExpressCard is a later specification from the PCMCIA, intended as a replacement for PC Card, built around the [[PCI Express]] and [[USB 2.0]] standards. The PC Card standard is closed to further development and PCMCIA strongly encourages future product designs to utilize the ExpressCard interface. From about 2006, ExpressCard slots replaced PCMCIA slots in laptop computers, with a few laptops having both in the transition period.

ExpressCard and CardBus sockets are physically and electrically incompatible.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#expresscard | title = PCMCIA Frequently Asked Questions | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061014224844/http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#expresscard | archive-date = 2006-10-14 }}</ref> ExpressCard-to-CardBus and Cardbus-to-ExpressCard adapters are available that connect a Cardbus card to an Expresscard slot, or vice versa, and carry out the required electrical interfacing.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=cardbus+expresscard&x=12&y=30 | title = Newegg.com product search results for CardBus ExpressCard | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090424090159/http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=cardbus+expresscard&x=12&y=30 | archive-date = 2009-04-24 }}</ref> These adapters do not handle older non-Cardbus PCMCIA cards.

PC Card devices can be plugged into an ExpressCard adaptor, which provides a PCI-to-PCIe Bridge.

Despite being much faster in speed/bandwidth, ExpressCard was not as popular as PC Card, due in part to the ubiquity of USB ports on modern computers. Most functionality provided by PC Card or ExpressCard devices is now available as an external USB device. These USB devices have the advantage of being compatible with desktop computers as well as portable devices. (Desktop computers were rarely fitted with a PC Card or ExpressCard slot.) This reduced the requirement for internal [[expansion slot]]s; by 2011, many laptops had none.

Some IBM ThinkPad laptops took their onboard RAM (in sizes ranging from 4 to 16&nbsp;MB) in the factor of an IC-DRAM Card. While very similar in form-factor, these cards did not go into a standard PC Card Slot, often being installed under the keyboard, for example. They also were not pin-compatible, as they had 88 pins but in two staggered rows, as opposed to even rows like PC Cards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/IC_DRAM_Card|title=IC DRAM Card - ThinkWiki|website=www.thinkwiki.org|access-date=9 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024043232/http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/IC_DRAM_Card|archive-date=24 October 2017}}</ref> These correspond to versions 1 and 2 of the [[JEIDA memory card]] standard.