ExpressCard/34

ExpressCard/34

by nelsonj3 Oct 7, 2007 12:40PM PDT

Why did Apple limit the ExpressCard slot to the 34mm instead of the 54mm slot that most PC's have? This eliminates many devices that would be nice to have, like SoundBlaster's X-Fi card or any of the Bluetooth PowerPoint and media remote controls that I have seen. Apple usually puts the best equipment in their machines, but this choice seems like a big mistake to me.

Discussion is locked

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(NT) Which model are you talking about?

by grimgraphix Oct 7, 2007 12:47PM PDT

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Oops

by nelsonj3 Oct 8, 2007 12:05AM PDT

I am talking about the MacBook Pro.

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24" iMac video cards

by grimgraphix Oct 7, 2007 11:14PM PDT

Something I came across while exploring if an iMac's video card could be upgraded now... or sometime in the near future.

All about MXM
As early as 2004, NVIDIA introduced a standard for mobile modular graphics cards. MXM, which stands for Mobile PCI EXpress Module, aims to allow notebook manufacturers to bring their product faster to market and to design a single platform which suits a manifold of graphics modules. On top of that, the standard is open, which means that an ATI MXM card is possible, allowing manufacturers an even greater flexibility. Based on 16 lanes of PCI-Express (the same as its desktop brethren), MXM is here to stay for the long run. Now that most new laptops are based on new chipsets, which feature PCI-Express technology, more and more MXM powered laptops are arriving on the market. MXM's history looks bright indeed!

And yet...

What's in it for you?
Untill recently: not much. Some laptops could be fitted with a GPU of your choice, but that was about it. If you check out this video from NVIDIA, you are led to believe you can upgrade your laptop graphics card as easily as you would swap a PCMCIA card. Nothing could be further from the truth. First off all, the actual mechanical and thermal interfaces are more complicated compared to NVIDIA's vision, but that's not even the tough part.

The tough part is you can't really buy these modules.

Why? Because right now, if you are not happy with the graphic performance of your laptop, you have to buy a new one. If you would be able to buy an MXM card off Newegg or your local computer shop instead, that would be a transaction where the laptop manufacturers have nothing to gain, while they have lost the sale of a new laptop in the process.

And so they shield the market as much as they can. Very few manufactures even mention MXM. They carefully use the word 'module', or they mention nothing at all. And yet, more and more laptops are powered by MXM

New iMac: MXM 10 august 2007

Apple seems to stick to the MXM formfactor for some of their iMac models, but they abandoned nVidia. As a reminder: Apple MXM cards are not swappable with other MXM cards because of vBios limitations. If a Mac - Mac swap is possible we don't know.

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by nelsonj3 Oct 8, 2007 12:08AM PDT

Interesting, but where is the connection to the ExpressCard slot?

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Try looking through here for an answer.

by grimgraphix Oct 8, 2007 1:11AM PDT

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/

grim

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Sorry, after looking through their guides...

by grimgraphix Oct 8, 2007 1:16AM PDT

... I realized that they haven't kept up to date with tear downs of new models or even the iMac series. Shame, since I found their instructions for working on my 12" G4 iBook quite helpful.

grim

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Slightly off track there, Grim

by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Oct 8, 2007 1:50AM PDT

the poster is referring to the ExpressCard/34 slot in the side of the Macbook Pro.
There are two standards for this type of slot, ExpressCard/54 and ExpressCard/34, Apple have the 34mm size.

I can't answer the posters question though, that would be better directed at Apple.

I did a quick search for ExpressCards and found a considerable number of them in the /34 type, but not the ones that the poster mentioned. Just because there is a /34 device, it does not mean that the manufacturer is actually supporting the Mac with it or, conversely, just because the /54 version exists it does not follow that the manufacturer would offer Mac support.
There are still a lot of PCMCIA cards out there that never had Mac support.

P

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LOL...

by grimgraphix Oct 8, 2007 2:34AM PDT

Not surprising I made a mistake since I am only recently looking at the actual hardware specs of the new macs.

Ciao !

grim

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Here are a couple of cards

by nelsonj3 Oct 8, 2007 7:24AM PDT

Given that the MacBook Pro is designed to be a portable multimedia study of sorts, it seems odd that they would exclude support for devices such as those linked below. http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16642
http://www.interlinkelectronics.com/index.php?id=Njg1

The first provides 5.1 channel sound along with a slew of other features to replace the built-in 2 channel sound of a notebook. The second is a remote control for media players and PowerPoint that runs through Bluetooth and stores and charges in the ExpressCard/54 slot. Many PC manufacturers are offering either of these cards when you build your system, but Apple has excluded the use of either of these by not making the slot big enough.

Thanks for the suggestion that I ask Apple directly.

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