What do you use the P50/70 ExpressCard slot for?

[i2000s]

I have found a lot of old discussions on best usage of the expresscard slot. Most of them are from 5 years ago. I am not sure if anyone is actually using/planning to use the expresscard slot for something? What I found:

1. Expresscard SSD. I only found ~150MB/s write and slower read speeds at the best, which is much slower than a usual SSD disk. No recent models? It is ridiculous expensive and easy to get hot.
2. Expresscard adaptors for USB 3.0/eSATA and others ports. My favorite is the USB 3.0 adapter idea.
3. 4G cards.
4. external GPU (didn't find modern GPU that can be useful for this machine).
5. wifi/internet adapter.
6. TV/camera transmitter.

Any real story or thoughts? I am not wanting it to be empty all the time...

[axur-delmeria]

I am not wanting it to be empty all the time...

This reminds me of a situation like "a solution in search of a problem".

You don't need to use the ExpressCard slot, but simply want to. To me that sounds like some form of fixation, which is understandable when you think about how some of us Thinkpadders can be so obsessed with our machines.

But, we must learn to temper that with a bit of pragmatism, especially when we're short on time, money, and maybe sanity.

Do you need extra USB 3.0 ports? Do you know the problems they have with supplying enough power to external hard drives? I do: I use a USB 3.0 ExpressCard in my X220, and I definitely need it because my Thinkpad doesn't have any USB 3.0 ports.

[jdrou]

The major point of having PCCard or ExpressCard slots is not what you can do with them now but what you will be able to do when new devices appear that did not exist when your laptop was designed (e.g. USB 3.0 for older laptops or USB 2.0 for even older ones). With high-speed external buses like USB 3.x and Thunderbolt 3 the expansion slots are probably not as important as they formerly were but they are still basically future-proofing.

[i2000s]

The major point of having PCCard or ExpressCard slots is not what you can do with them now but what you will be able to do when new devices appear that did not exist when your laptop was designed (e.g. USB 3.0 for older laptops or USB 2.0 for even older ones). With high-speed external buses like USB 3.x and Thunderbolt 3 the expansion slots are probably not as important as they formerly were but they are still basically future-proofing.

I have to second that and the post from axur-delmeria...

Given that I have never used any of the EC slots on my old TPs, I can generalize this trend to my current one. Just in a small chance of case I need, I will do the plugin-n-go.

[fb1996]

With high-speed external buses like USB 3.x and Thunderbolt 3 the expansion slots are probably not as important as they formerly were but they are still basically future-proofing.

Unfortunately, ExpressCard is way too slow for that purpose nowadays.

However, ExpressCard is a great way to add legacy ports like RS-232, eSATA or FireWire to a ThinkPad.

[dr_st]

Unfortunately, ExpressCard is way too slow for that purpose nowadays.

However, ExpressCard is a great way to add legacy ports like RS-232, eSATA or FireWire to a ThinkPad.

It is interesting how things went a full circle.

In its early days, ExpressCard was a great way to add new technology to legacy systems, and now it's a great way to add legacy technology to new systems.

[Radioguy]

For any option that remains flush with the chassis, I err towards keeping it in the slot that not.

That tells me to have another 3.0 or eSATA card (or combined) inserted rather than leave empty.

Other than this, the stashcard was a great idea, but I think production stopped with PCMCIA versions (still a nice option for those).