MacbookPro and P2

[coolguy007]

Has anyone heard if either the next macbookpro's or the 17" macbookpro's are going to have pcmcia? i hope to buy at the end of the summer...and by that time im wondering if they will even sell the power books

[Rhydon]

No, apple has abandon the older PCMCIA cardslot type II interface in favor of the newer Expresscard/34 slot. Expresscard= better & faster. Apple wants to stay with the new.

[plexi]

is there a PCMCIA adpater for the macbook pro?

[David Saraceno]

is there a PCMCIA adpater for the macbook pro?


No, there currently is no way to use the Express Card/34 slot and the p2 cards.

[snarton]

I'm hoping the 17" has an Express Card/54 slot instead of the 34. From the adapters and other gadgets that have been released so far, it seems most are made for the 54.

Anybody have a guess when the 17" will be announced or shipped?

--Jeremy

[Rhydon]

i believe apple's goal was this june... same with the intel powermacs- im sorry, "MacPro's"

[jeffyjones]

I honestly can't believe that there isn't some USB part with a PC Card slot on it. That seems impossible.

[R Gale]

A company called Duel Systems (http://www.duel-systems.com/products/adapters.aspx) is coming out with a PCMCIA ---> ExpressCard adapter. They told me it should be hitting the market in the summer.

[snarton]

i believe apple's goal was this june... same with the intel powermacs- im sorry, "MacPro's"

I've been trying to follow some of the Apple rumors floating about the internet and I keep hearing that the dual-core Power Mac replacements will be out around August and the quad-cores will come out early 2007. June would be nice, though. Maybe they'll announce in June and ship in August? Trying to hold out.....

--Jeremy

[Barry_Green]

I honestly can't believe that there isn't some USB part with a PC Card slot on it. That seems impossible.
It is impossible. You cannot just go from PCMCIA to USB2. The only products that do it are the P2 Drive and the P2 Store. The P2 Drive is $2500 and the P2 Store is $1800.

I asked a company to custom-develop such a thing too; I figured they could make a home-brew P2 Store by taking a PCMCIA reader and integrating it with a USB2 On-The-Go drive. I figured "how much can that cost?" The answer came back: they'd need to charge $2,000 for it.

Obviously that isn't gonna fly; the P2 Store is already out there at that price.

But the point is, you cannot go from PCMCIA 32-bit CardBus to USB cheaply.

[caseyhayward]

Wow,

17" PB

For once I am glad I have the older model of something for working with P2 (when that happens for me that is :( )

[jeffyjones]

It is impossible... But the point is, you cannot go from PCMCIA 32-bit CardBus to USB cheaply.
Sure you can! "Impossible" is a ridiculous assertion. Devices have been made to bridge the gaps between different bus standards since the home computer was invented. I've even seen USB to IDE adapters (a poor man's USB drive, I suppose).

The issue is one of scale, not technology. If you can stamp out the chip to do the work, and all of the plastic, in a high enough quantity it's cheap. That's the real question... is there enough of a market to justify the mass production of such a device.

A quick Google search yields the following:
http://www.synchrotech.com/products/card-rw_17.html
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=109293

[Barry_Green]

"Impossible" was in reference to the prior poster's use of the word.

Yes it can be done. It has been done. Panasonic offers their P2 Drive which does exactly that: CardBus to USB.

BUT IT COSTS $2500.

And it has to, apparently. Going from 32-bit CardBus (not 16-bit PCMCIA) to USB2 is expensive. It can be done (so it's not "impossible") but you will not find any cheap $50 USB adapter to do it. What people are asking for (a $50 or $100 USB adapter) is indeed "impossible". Even if such a product were possible, it would never be made in the quantities necessary to bring the price point down to $50.

Your quick google search has revealed two products that don't work for the intended function: a USB2.0 reader for 32-bit CardBus PCMCIA cards.

If you do manage to find such a thing, you would be a hero to many HVX users who want to use the MacBook Pro.