ExpressCard - Availability

Availability

An ExpressCard slot had been commonly included on high-end laptops made since 2006:

• Hewlett-Packard began shipping systems with ExpressCard in November 2004.
• Lenovo integrated the slot into their flagship ThinkPad T43 in May 2005.
• Dell Computer also incorporates this in their Precision (the 17 in models have them exclusively, the 15 in Precisions have both express card and PCMCIA Card slots), Inspiron, Latitude (Latitude D-series have PCMCIA card slots. The D820/D830 have both ExpressCard and PCMCIA card slots), Studio, Vostro and XPS Laptop product lines.
• Fujitsu-Siemens began shipping systems with ExpressCard in mid 2005.
• Apple Inc. included single ExpressCard/34 slots in every MacBook Pro notebook computer from January 2006 through June 2009. At the June 8, 2009 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference the company announced that the 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro models would replace the ExpressCard slot with a Secure Digital card slot, while retaining the ExpressCard slot on the 17-inch model.
• ASUS has also replaced the PC Card slot with an ExpressCard slot on many of its new models.
• Sony also began shipping systems with ExpressCard with its new laptop VGN-C, VGN-SZ, VGN-NS, VPC and FW product line.
• The Acer Aspire laptop series also has a single ExpressCard/54 slot on most new models.
• Panasonic incorporates ExpressCard/54 slots in all the fully rugged and semi-rugged models of their Toughbook brand of laptop computers.
• Gateway notebooks (ML3109 and later) also ship with ExpressCard/54 interfaces.
• Eurocom notebooks Panther 3.0, Panther 2.0 currently ship with ExpressCard/34 while the Leopard 2.0 ships with ExpressCard/34/54. Older models such as the Panther, Leopard, Xcaliber, Montebello also supported ExpressCard interfaces.

Because of the lack of backward compatibility, some laptop manufacturers have chosen to release models incorporating both CardBus (PCMCIA, PC Card) and ExpressCard slots. These include certain models of Acer Aspire, Acer Extensa, Toshiba Satellite, Dell Latitude and Precision, MSI S42x and Lenovo ThinkPad Z60m, R52, T60, R61 and T61.

A large number of ExpressCard devices were presented at the CeBit trade show in Germany in March 2005. In November 2006, Belkin announced that it is launching the first ExpressCard docking station, which uses the PCIe part of an ExpressCard connection to enable 1600x1200 video and the USB part to provide USB, audio and network ports. This points to the ability for ExpressCard to allow more capable non-OEM docking stations for laptop computers.

In 2007, Sony introduced its Vaio TZ model, which incorporates ExpressCards. Also the Sony Vaio FZ and Vaio Z series have the ExpressCard/34 Slot integrated in them. Sony also uses the ExpressCard/34 form factor for the flash memory modules in its XDCAM EX/SxS based camcorders, making the copying of video data between these cameras and ExpressCard-equipped laptops easier. For this reason, Sony also offers a USB-based SxS reader for desktop computers.

The new Toshiba Satellite P and X 200/205 series of laptops and desktop replacements have an ExpressCard/34 slot since April 2007.