laptops with mini pci express connector

[arstech.]

Hi,

I am new to the community - did just sign.

Can you guys point to brands, lines, and specific models of laptops which have mini pci express slot?

In order to know this a person has to open the case and look inside.

I am asking this because we are designing a product allowing to connect variety of peripherals outside of the laptop.

Thanks, Paul.

 

[helpstar]

Usually the wifi card is installed in mini pci express slots. I think almost all laptops nowadays might have one, but it´s occupied.

 

[arstech.]

hello helpstar,

thank you for contributing;
I do have an old dell laptop with empty mini-pcie slot left for a bluetooth card;
and, I did read about macbooks with empty mini-pcie slot left for a ssd
in the past few models of laptops did have express-card slots but it did not get popular;
seem mini-pcie is the only was to get pci express out of a laptop and use it for expansion;

paul

 

[hang-the-9]

Hi,

I am new to the community - did just sign.

Can you guys point to brands, lines, and specific models of laptops which have mini pci express slot?

In order to know this a person has to open the case and look inside.

I am asking this because we are designing a product allowing to connect variety of peripherals outside of the laptop.

Thanks, Paul.

Then you should design it for USB ports, USB C is starting to be the standard for modern connections. Anything that needs to have someone take the cover off a laptop and hang a cable outside of it will be hugely limiting themselves.

 

[arstech.]

we, ars technologies have been designing usb products for close to 20 years;
usb is not suitable interface to handle pci like peripherals!

if I use an analogy usb is like a freight shipping company which ships a container with shipments once every week; on the other hand pci express is like the ups truck which picks up and ships several times a day;

 

[hang-the-9]

we, ars technologies have been designing usb products for close to 20 years;
usb is not suitable interface to handle pci like peripherals!

if I use an analogy usb is like a freight shipping company which ships a container with shipments once every week; on the other hand pci express is like the ups truck which picks up and ships several times a day;

Did you research if people will be willing to hang a cable from their mini PCIe slot to use whatever you are designing? USB C is more capable than USB 2 or 3, companies are using that for everything now, including full docking stations with HDMI, Display Port video, network, USB 3 ports, all off one connection. And not many laptops have a free mini PCIe port to use, it is not likely people would be willing to remove the WiFi card to free a slot.

I know if something I was looking at for work required me to hang a cable out of our laptops and remove the WiFi card, I would look for something else first.

 

[arstech.]

An ordinary user may choose to stay within popular technologies.
We serve a group of users who have a specific PCI card, or -x1 / -x16 PCI Express card, or PXI Express card, and want to use it on a system which does not connect to such cards.
Preferably, without changing of the software, using the same binaries!!!

Mini PCI Express is becoming universal solution because it is present on some laptops, on some desktop motherboards, and upcoming in some ARM based boards.

Yes, it is not convenient to open the laptop case , look inside for a mini pcie connector, and run wires from the system. But this is better than nothing. And, the user has the choice of using not only $1000+ mac or 300+ pc laptop, but $30+ ARM system.

As for USB2/3/C, PCI EXpress, Thunderbolt, etc. it is probably better to open a new thread. I am new to the forum and do not know how to branch from existing thread.
hang-the-9 - if you can, please open a new thread, and I can share a prospective as a small independent developer/manufacturer.

 

[COLGeek]

Keep in mind that the vast majority of users will NOT crack open the case of a laptop and if they did, the end results would likely be bad. A mini-PCIe device as proposed is likely targeted at a fairly small market of users will to take the risk and it better be some device to warrant the risk. Further, most laptops will only have one such port and it is usually occupied with the wifi/BT adapter, as previously noted.

 

[arstech.]

replaying to COLGeek -
yes, you are right that the user must be a bit desperate to open the box in order to connect and make working their specific peripheral;
such folks are usually in the age group which still remembers desktop computers, are not scared to open the box, and maybe even picked parts and built their own system!

regarding ->>> mini-pcie port usually occupied , we have 2 solutions :

• a mini-pcie wifi/bt device can be replaced with usb one, freeing the slot
• and, we have a pcie switch device which looks alike and acts like a usb hub - hooks to one upstream port and provides 3 downstream pcie ports; the user can hook for ex. 3 -x16 pcie cards, or 3x3=9 pci peripheral cards to their laptop;

 

[COLGeek]

replaying to COLGeek -
yes, you are right that the user must be a bit desperate to open the box in order to connect and make working their specific peripheral;
such folks are usually in the age group which still remembers desktop computers, are not scared to open the box, and maybe even picked parts and built their own system!

regarding ->>> mini-pcie port usually occupied , we have 2 solutions :

• a mini-pcie wifi/bt device can be replaced with usb one, freeing the slot
• and, we have a pcie switch device which looks alike and acts like a usb hub - hooks to one upstream port and provides 3 downstream pcie ports; the user can hook for ex. 3 -x16 pcie cards, or 3x3=9 pci peripheral cards to their laptop;

Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[Alabalcho]

You can still buy a laptop with ExpressCard slot. For your special device, potential uses won't balk on the laptop' price, if they really need it, so they will go the lengths to get a laptop with proper expansion slot. I consider myself a techie person, but I would not open my laptop and hand a ribbon cable out just to use your product - I'd either use a desktop, or someone' else product.

 

[Solandri]

Older laptops used a mini-PCIe slot for the WiFi card, but also a WLAN (cellular) card. If your laptop had the option of being configured with a WLAN card but you didn't get one, it may have a free mini-PCIe slot.

Newer laptops have switched to using M.2 for the WiFi card. The same thing applies about the WLAN card - laptops with cellular support will have a second free M.2 slot which taps into the PCIe bus. I don't know the standard size for these cards, but they're much smaller than the M.2 SSDs (22x80 mm or 22x42 mm).

The WiFi and WLAN PCie slots are not always x4 though. A lot of them are x1.

Likewise, if you get a laptop with multiple PCIe M.2 slots for SSDs, you could use one to connect a PCIe device. These are almost universally PCIe x4.

However, going forward, you'll probably want to make your device compatible with Thunderbolt. It uses the USB-C connector, but the USB-C spec allows using the connector for non-USB things. Thunderbolt is one of these. It pipes the PCIe bus (x4) and Displayport through the USB-C connector in serial format.

So if you want your device to be mounted internally, aim for M.2 (sized depending on whether you want it to fit in a WiFi/WLAN slot or SSD slot). If you're ok with your device sitting on the desk next to the laptop, aim for Thunderbolt.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Mini PCI Express is becoming universal solution because it is present on some laptops, on some desktop motherboards, and upcoming in some ARM based boards.

As for USB2/3/C, PCI EXpress, Thunderbolt, etc. it is probably better to open a new thread.

I disagree. I think Mini PCI Express is probably becoming less popular for connecting external peripherals, with Thunderbolt (which uses the USB C connector) becoming more common. Just look at all the external graphics card docks that use thunderbolt 3 that have come out recently.

Thunderbolt 3 uses the PCIe interface, the same as Mini PCIe, but is a lot more convenient.

 

[arstech.]

replay to Alabalcho ->>>>>>>>>> I would not open my laptop and hand a ribbon cable out just to use your product ...

we provide interfacing products allowing use of peripherals which do not normally fit with the system that the user has;

you will need to have a pci card, or pci express -x1 card, or pci express -x16 card , etc. and to want to use the specific card on your current or on a new system;;

some of our customers do have peripherals which control machines, their cost exceed many times the cost of the system and interface;

 

[COLGeek]

I think the point getting missed is the niche nature of the market based on the number of folks who will crack open their laptop to install a new gizmo.

So, just what type of device are you referring to? What does it do to get folks to risk bricking their laptop to install it?

 

[arstech.]

replay to Solandri ->>>>>>>>> Newer laptops have switched to using M.2 ...

thank you for pointing out the m2 interface; we will check it;

how popular is it? is it available on most or only fee of the new latops?

 

[COLGeek]

m.2 slots are being used on higher end models and ultrabooks, mostly at this time (to the best of my knowledge). I would expect this interface's use to grow now that m.2 SSD prices are coming way down while capacities go up.

 

[arstech.]

replaying to -TJ Hooker ->>>>>>>>>Thunderbolt 3 uses the PCIe interface ...

is thunderbolt present on any non-mac systems?

we are small and independent developer/manufacturer of hw&sw ; few years ago we tried to get chips from intel to make thunderbolt products - unsuccessfully!

not only we had to commit to buying large quantity of chips, but the manufacturing facility we use had to be approved by apple - unacceptable for us!

besides, if I can play a dvd on an external dvd drive through usb2, why would I need 40gbit tb3?

 

[arstech.]

replay to - COLGeek ->>>>> So, just what type of device are you referring to? What does it do to get folks to risk bricking their laptop to install it?

please check <<Link removed by moderator>> web site, the section about 'xprs' line of products;

the mini-pcie product, and the 3 port switch product are in prototype - not yet listed as products;

 

[COLGeek]

Nope. Not going to advertise your site for you.

 

[arstech.]

m.2 slots are being used on higher end models and ultrabooks, mostly at this time (to the best of my knowledge). I would expect this interface's use to grow now that m.2 SSD prices are coming way down while capacities go up.

thank you for pointing this out!

 

[arstech.]

Nope. Not going to advertise your site for you.

you asked a question - what kind of devices do I refer to, and I did replay to it...
and, if you look through this thread it is full of links and referrals.

 

[TJ Hooker]

replaying to -TJ Hooker ->>>>>>>>>Thunderbolt 3 uses the PCIe interface ...

is thunderbolt present on any non-mac systems?

Yeah, it's available on lots of non-Mac systems.

Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 laptops - the complete list

We've seen Thunderbolt ports on enthusiast computers for a while now, but these days Thunderbolt is becoming the port everyone wants on a new laptop,

www.ultrabookreview.com

besides, if I can play a dvd on an external dvd drive through usb2, why would I need 40gbit tb3?

What do DVD players have to do with anything? You didn't say what sort of peripherals you want to connect or what sort of bandwidth they require. Basically all you've said is that you want an external PCIe interface, I was just pointing out that TB3 is a convenient and increasingly popular option for that.