T400s Express Card or 5-in-1 reader?

[FragrantHead]

When you buy a T400s with a 5-in-1 reader, do you loose the Express Card slot or do Lenovo supply a 5-in-1 reader Express Card that sits in that slot?

[ZaZ]

I believe the card reader sits under the ExpressCard Slot.

[smidgley]

You lose the Express Card slot.

[ZaZ]

Interesting because in the PCWorld review pic, it looks like you get both. In the Notebook Review review it shows the ports, and it says ExpressCard54 slot and card reader.

[smidgley]

That's a T400 in your link, he's asking about the T400s, I believe.

In this photo, the T400 is on the bottom, the T400s is in the middle.

[FragrantHead]

Yes, my question is about the T400s. I'm gonna go with Smidgley here. My next question is: As far as I know Express Cards that implement a 5-in-1 reader and sit flush with the housing are readily available, for example here:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/expressreader

So why would you go for the built-in reader and sacrifice the flexibility of being able to swap the ExpressCard out for something else?

For better performance?

Because the built-in reader supports (memory) cards not supported by the above Express Card, such as Compact Flash?

Because products like the above require a dongle for some types of cards, but the built-in card reader doesn't?

Put another way, exactly what cards does the Lenovo built-in reader support? With a dongle, without a dongle?

[ZaZ]

Whoops on my part. Maybe it's better to have it built it so you won't take it out and lose it. Do you foresee yourself using any other ExpressCard devices? I've not used one since I started using notebooks with ExpressCards.

[FragrantHead]

Right now I don't have much use for either, but I tend to keep machines for a long time. Current is a 6 year old T30. Other Express Cards? Well, you can never have enough USB ports, also USB 3.0 is around the corner, isn't it?

[twister6]

Built-in reader that comes with T400s (option) doesn't suppport CF card. It supports SD for sure, I use it all the time. But not sure what are the other types under 5-1 since I haven't seen it listed anywhere else. I wonder if memory-stick is another one? So if you need to be able to read CF, like for older DSLR cameras, you better look for express card option with that or better just get external multi-card reader. Personally, I have no use for express card, therefore chose 5-1 reader for my T400s. I know some people with small SSD drives (like 64GB) use high capacity SD cards for additional data storage. Therefore wondering if tranfer speed with built-in card reader is higher than through express card.

[yak]

There are useful Express Cards:
- Flash memory cards readers,
- WWAN cards (less protruding than WWAN USB sticks),
- Ethernet cards (additional Ethernet port with full Gigabit speed, not possible using USB),
- eSATA cards (for external hard drives, again, with transfer rates exceeding USB),
- USB controller cards (additional USB ports, no need for HUBs),
- Serial/Parallel port cards (still useful for people working "in the field"),
- and so on.

The most interesting are those using the fact that an Express Card is inside the notebook (like the "flush" card readers) or those using the 1x PCI Express lane available in the port instead of the USB lane thus achieving data transfer speeds not possible for external USB 2.0 devices.

Like this 2x eSATA II RAID controller with up to 3Gbps transfer rates:
http://delock.de/produkte/gruppen/Expre ... anguage=EN

[anli]

Hey folks,

I have a T400s with the media reader and I noticed that it pops out. The size of the slot looks pretty close to an Expresscard/34 slot, but I've not got any cards to test it out. Can anyone else verify one way or the other?

Zander

[nicolaim]

Hey folks,

I have a T400s with the media reader and I noticed that it pops out. The size of the slot looks pretty close to an Expresscard/34 slot, but I've not got any cards to test it out. Can anyone else verify one way or the other?

Zander

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I think you'll find this info valuable:

I just did some research on this. Turns out the media/card reader on the T400s and T410s is simply an Expresscard/34 card reader with a bezel matching the side of the laptop. If one removes the keyboard there's just one screw holding it in place. Removing the screw makes the reader removable, yet it doesn't fall out, so the screw is not needed. This is excellent news, because what I thought was a choice between the reader OR the slot has now become an AND, i.e. we have both! I think a common use for the slot will be for USB3 adapters, already widely available at reasonable prices.