My new laptop has a port for an Express card. What can I use it for? Howard Goodman
ExpressCard is a smaller, smarter and faster format for plug-in cards, and is intended to replace the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) and PC Card (CardBus) slots in notebook computers. The new format is sponsored by the PCMCIA, and aims to provide the same sort of benefits as the PCI Express expansion slot in a desktop PC: see www.expresscard.org for details. ExpressCard is used in several Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook and Toshiba notebooks, as well as a few Sony and NEC models.
Not many cards are available in the UK, a rare example being the AverMedia AVerTV ExpressCard TV Tuner, which provides a stereo TV tuner and video capture device for about £65. Memory cards, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards, smart card readers and similar options are on the way. I
f buying an ExpressCard, look for an "energetic orange rabbit". This logo shows that an ExpressCard has been tested at an interoperability event and rated compliant. So far, more than 50 products have passed. As with the Wi-Fi wireless logo, the rabbit is intended to show that a product doesn't just meet the specification but works with other ExpressCard designs in real life.
