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Express Card Sucks !

fab5freddy

fab5freddy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 21, 2007
1,206
7
Heaven or Hell
I recently bought a couple express cards for my new MBP 15"
for firewire 400., but found that the connection is very shoddy !

it pops out very easliy and if you just tap it, it will come out
way too easy !

This is not a professional solution if you are out in the field
on a $ 100,000 photo / video shoot !

Apple should get rid of the express port and put another firewire 800
or more USB ports !

Shame on Apple for this shoddy connection !
 
I more or less agree. The expresscard slot is relatively useless while still on the USB bus. It should be connected directly to the system controller but I guess they thought it would be too fast. I feel apple did include it as a bandaid for lack of ports which is a good idea since you can't please everyone but this really isn't a solution.I use an ssd in mine and it works for this purpose but I couldn't imagine using a firewire card.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
I more or less agree. The expresscard slot is relatively useless while still on the USB bus. It should be connected directly to the system controller but I guess they thought it would be too fast. I feel apple did include it as a bandaid for lack of ports which is a good idea since you can't please everyone but this really isn't a solution.I use an ssd in mine and it works for this purpose but I couldn't imagine using a firewire card.
Click to expand...
Is the express slot in the MacBook Pro just USB? I thought they could go through the USB bus for USB cards and through PCI for anything else. If the MacBook Pro's is just USB that seriously sucks.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
I more or less agree. The expresscard slot is relatively useless while still on the USB bus. It should be connected directly to the system controller but I guess they thought it would be too fast. I feel apple did include it as a bandaid for lack of ports which is a good idea since you can't please everyone but this really isn't a solution.I use an ssd in mine and it works for this purpose but I couldn't imagine using a firewire card.
Click to expand...

Sorry, the speed of the card largely depends on the controller used within. There are cards on the market which connects directly to the PCIe bus instead of the slower USB bus but you'll pay more.
 
He's right, though. The ExpressCard slot doesn't seem nearly as snug and secure as the PCMCIA slots of yore. I'm always nervous I'll lose my eSata connection.
 
SoybeanStasher said:
He's right, though. The ExpressCard slot doesn't seem nearly as snug and secure as the PCMCIA slots of yore. I'm always nervous I'll lose my eSata connection.
Click to expand...

Don't pull on it!

Even so, I don't think we can blame Apple for the weak mechanism, I don't think they actually manufacture or design the ExpressCard's holder. It looks like something of the shelf!!
 
Known issue on all the non-unibody MBP (not sure id unibody version has this issue).

This very reason precluded the reliable use of eSata Expresscards since the slightest touch knocked the system off line.

Cheers,
 
UltraNEO* said:
Sorry, the speed of the card largely depends on the controller used within. There are cards on the market which connects directly to the PCIe bus instead of the slower USB bus but you'll pay more.
Click to expand...

Neo,

I'd like to be wrong but according to the system information on my mbp the expresscard slot is on the USB bus, but I've only used one expresscard module so it could be something else. If someone can post a screenshot of the system reporting an expresscard on something other than the USB I'd appreciate it. That's the only thing holding me back from an eSata card.
 
well i can definitely confirm expresscards run in PCIe.

i'm pretty certain that most expresscards run on the PCI bus. I have a PNY esata card that transfers much faster than USB, and a tad faster than FW800 (drivers being the bottleneck). Definitely not on the USB bus.

can you provide a screenshot explicitly mentioning the expresscard slot on USB? Mine doesnt say anything.

i'm going to agree with ultraneo, as a tech in training i've read the expresscard connects directly to the PCI bus, and the expresscard's controller and other things would determine actual performance.
 
I can; see below.

For reference i'm using the Lexar Expresscard SSD which from what i've read is no different than USB circuitry with an expresscard bridge. But if this card could directly connect to the south bridge of the machine than I would expect to see SLC based expresscards that rivaled machanical drives in speed, but this isn't the case. It would make sense that we are seeing different things since I havn't actually used a FW/eSATA expresscard.

I havn't investigated the Expresscard specs so I may misinterpret this but oh well. I do networks and virtualization. Well, everything but Expresscards :p


And yes, my machine's name is Sophie. :D
 

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Eddyisgreat said:
Neo,

I'd like to be wrong but according to the system information on my mbp the expresscard slot is on the USB bus, but I've only used one expresscard module so it could be something else. If someone can post a screenshot of the system reporting an expresscard on something other than the USB I'd appreciate it. That's the only thing holding me back from an eSata card.
Click to expand...

Here you go...

Add PCI/PCIe card expansion to your MacBookPro:
http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/expressbox1/index.html

External hardware RAID for MacBookPro:
http://www.caldigit.com/FASTA-1ex.asp

Professional products like those will make uses of the PCI express bus rather than the slower USB one, which seems to be used on most consumer devices. And they all come with a professional price tag!
 
i guess it depends on which card you're using, it can utilize the USB or PCI bus. I dont have my esata card with me atm but i can post a screenshot when i remember. i've checked it before and remember it saying PCI but i can get a screenshot to confirm.
 
UltraNEO* said:
Here you go...

Add PCI/PCIe card expansion to your MacBookPro:
http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/expressbox1/index.html

External hardware RAID for MacBookPro:
http://www.caldigit.com/FASTA-1ex.asp

Professional products like those will make uses of the PCI express bus rather than the slower USB one, which seems to be used on most consumer devices. And they all come with a professional price tag!
Click to expand...

Ouch with the price, but I guess if it works it's worth it!
 
You know what this also means...

Those MBP's with the bad 8600 GT's can get this box and use an external video card and resurrect your dead MBP (if it's beyond the date for warranty repair). Granted, I'd probably rather buy another Macbook or MBP for the price of this thing, but hey, it's an option. And maybe when they get cheaper, it would be worth it.
 
All the SDHC expresscard34 readers I could find through Newegg or Griffin use USB2.0 interface (or so I assume since half of them state USB2.0 or 480Mbps as their max speed). Others I'm not too sure of their OS X compatibility.

Any links to good expresscard34 cards (SDHC Class 6+ is a must, other formats a plus) that connect through a faster interface and are fully compatible with OS X?
 
tobyg said:
You know what this also means...

Those MBP's with the bad 8600 GT's can get this box and use an external video card and resurrect your dead MBP (if it's beyond the date for warranty repair). Granted, I'd probably rather buy another Macbook or MBP for the price of this thing, but hey, it's an option. And maybe when they get cheaper, it would be worth it.
Click to expand...

Not that it wouldn't work, but keep in mind that the speed of this product is the 250MB/s, which is PCIe x1. Most video cards require PCIe x16, at least that's what the specs say. I've seen tests of x16 cards using fewer lanes out there.
 
relativist said:
Not that it wouldn't work, but keep in mind that the speed of this product is the 250MB/s, which is PCIe x1. Most video cards require PCIe x16, at least that's what the specs say. I've seen tests of x16 cards using fewer lanes out there.
Click to expand...

Oh I know. It's a x1 lane PCIe slot effectively. It would work, but wouldn't be as fast as being in x16 lane PCIe slot of course.

But it would give you a good way to 'test' your macbook to verify the graphics are dead. I bet if you went into the system profiler with one of the systems with a dead 8600, it wouldn't even show the onboard graphics at all.
 
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