Express Card Laptop???

Status
Not open for further replies.

invento123

Prominent
May 5, 2018
45
0
540
Alright prepare for some bad ideas!

So Im gettin ready for college, obviously need a laptop, but I also want to be able to game on it. Given my VERY limited budget of a whopping $250 Im obviously going used. Im not looking for anything high powered, hell a 2nd gen i5 would be more than enough for me, and because of my budget I know any decent dedicated graphics is way out of the question. Now because Ill be transporting this laptop to and from school daily I dont want to worry about having to removing any plugs from inside it or have any wires just kinda dangling such as the mini pcie to external gpu dock plug a friend of mine using that I was considering to use for any laptop I get.

Long story short I saw you can use the express slot on a laptop to hook up a external gpu dock and Im in love with that idea. Problem is I cant find any laptops both on ebay or Newegg with a express card slot. I know express card is old and almost dead but certainly there are laptops for sale with it?

Any help finding one with an express card or of a different way of getting a laptop hooked up to an external gpu dock that isnt too clumsy (excluding thunderbolt obviously) would be greatly appreciated! Or if Im dreaming too big and need to be yeeted back down to earth.

Thank you!
 
Solution
After a bit of googling, it looks like you'll probably only get PCIe 2.0 x1 speeds at best from an express card adapter. That means you'll be running the card at 1/32 of the bandwidth it'd have with a normal PCIe 3.0 x16 connection.

For the price of the adapter, PSU, monitor, etc needed to use an external GPU, you'd probably be better off putting that money towards a better laptop.

invento123

Prominent
May 5, 2018
45
0
540
Im putting a gtx 1050 in it so Im not expecting much, just play tf2 at not low settings and 720p. Ive seen videos on guys do it with laptops on mini pcie and Id be more than happy with even some of the results they get.
 

TJ Hooker

Titan
Ambassador
After a bit of googling, it looks like you'll probably only get PCIe 2.0 x1 speeds at best from an express card adapter. That means you'll be running the card at 1/32 of the bandwidth it'd have with a normal PCIe 3.0 x16 connection.

For the price of the adapter, PSU, monitor, etc needed to use an external GPU, you'd probably be better off putting that money towards a better laptop.
 
Solution

invento123

Prominent
May 5, 2018
45
0
540
Thank you very much for your reply. I haven't thought about the price of the adapter and power supply for an egpu. Ill definitely be saving up for something better.
Thanks again
 
Status
Not open for further replies.