You can already connect one external display to the laptop’s DVI port. ViDock Gfx One of the more interesting uses of the ExpressCard slot is to connect multiple monitors. And you won’t pay a performance penalty: in my testing, I found no significant speed difference between copying large files via ExpressCard versus the MacBook Pro’s built-in ports. Because an ExpressCard with multiple USB ports lets you charge your phone (with the appropriate cable), iPod, and other items, you can leave their respective power bricks at home, too. You can also forget your hub’s AC power brick. Using an ExpressCard to multiply your ports means that you can leave other hardware at home: these cards can replace a dedicated USB hub, so that’s one less thing to pack in your laptop bag. (These numbers are theoretical maximums real-world performance rarely matches them due to system overhead and other factors.) Some eSATA ExpressCards offer more than one connector, so you can connect multiple drives.ĭon’t want to tether your laptop to an external drive while you’re traveling? You can also get ExpressCards that have solid-state storage of their own, such as the Delkin ExpressCard 34 Solid State Drive 16GB. With a maximum throughput of 2.5 Gbps, an ExpressCard comes close to keeping up with eSATA’s 3-Gbps capacity.
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Many models can’t read SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards with capacities greater than 4GB.ĮxpressCards can also provide something that isn’t otherwise available on a Mac laptop: a way to connect external hard drives that support the faster eSATA (external Serial ATA) interface.
(The exception: ExpressCards that read CompactFlash memory.) Be sure to pay attention to the cards’ specs as you shop. ExpressCards generally also sit flush with the MacBook Pro’s case, so you can leave them in the slot all the time, rather than popping them in and out.
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They’re a bit faster than the Mac’s USB 2.0 port in my testing, 1.2GB of digital photos transferred about 26 seconds faster via the ExpressCard (1 minute and 23 seconds) than over a USB cable connected directly to the camera (a Nikon D80) equipped with USB 2.0 (1 minute and 49 seconds).īe sure to get the right card for your MacBook Pro: An ExpressCard/34 (such as the EZQuest 2 Port eSATA PC ExpressCard, left) will fit, an ExpressCard/54 (right) won’t. Devices such as the SIIG Express-Card 11-in-1 Reader/Writer can read and write to plenty of card formats, such as SD or Sony Memory Stick. It’s by no means encyclopedic, but it should give you an idea of how you can expand your laptop’s powers.Īfter using (and frequently leaving behind) USB memory card readers and cables to transfer digital photos from my camera’s Secure Digital memory cards to my Mac, I now use an ExpressCard reader. Here is just a sampling of the ExpressCards available.
An ExpressCard passes data to the system at up to 2.5 Gbps PC Cards supported speeds of only 1.06 Gbps.
(ExpressCard/54 cards do exist, but they don’t fit in the MacBook Pro.) ExpressCards also require less power-1.5 volts, compared with 3.3 volts for the PC Card.
The ExpressCard format has a couple of advantages over the old PC Card format.įirst, it’s narrower: ExpressCard/34 cards are 34mm wide, compared with the 54mm PC Cards. With the MacBook Pro, Apple discarded the old PC Card slot in favor of ExpressCard/34, a more compact expansion slot that offers greater transfer speeds and an increasing array of uses.
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