PCMCIA Card
Stands
for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association." PCMCIA
was an organization that focused on creating expansion card standards for
portable computers. It began in 1989 and lasted until 2010, when it was
acquired by the USB Implementer Forum (USB-IF).
The most notable product developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association is the PCMCIA Card (commonly called a "PC card"), which provided expansion capabilities for laptops. The card could be inserted into a PCMCIA slot on the side of a laptop, providing additional memory or connectivity. There were three versions of the PCMCIA card standard:
- Type I - 3.3 mm thick - used for memory expansion
- Type II - 5.0 mm thick - most common; used for NICs (Ethernet cards), modems, and sound cards
- Type III - 3.3 mm thick - used for ATA hard drives
Larger PCMCIA slots were backwards compatible with smaller cards. For example, a Type III slot could support Type 1, 2, and 3 cards and a Type II slot could support Type 1 and 2 cards.
In the 1990s, PCMCIA cards were a common means of adding extra functionality to laptops. But as laptop components became smaller, manufacturers were able to fit all the necessary components into their laptops, making PCMCIA cards unnecessary. Additionally, many peripherals that previously required a PCMICA card became available in USB versions. In the early 2000s, the trend towards thinner and lighter laptops eventually made PCMCIA cards obsolete.
A
PCMCIA card has a 68‐pin
connector that connects into a slot in the PC. There are three sizes (or
"Types") of
PCMCIA
cards:
The
Type I and II cards work in a Type III slot and a Type I card will work in a
Type II slot. (On the other hand, the thicker cards can't be fitted into the
slots for the thinner cards.)
The
PCMCIA standard is most commonly applied to portable PCs but it can also be
used on desktop computers. The PCMCIA card is not to be confused with another
credit‐size electronic card,
the smart card.
In
computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer peripheral interface
designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA Card, the PC
Card standard as well as its successors like Card Bus were defined and
developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
(PCMCIA).
PCMCIA
slots also come in three sizes ‐‐
a Type I slot can hold one Type I card, a Type II slot can hold one Type II
card or two Type I cards, and a Type III slot can hold one Type III card or one
Type I and one Type II card. PC Cards can be removed or inserted "on the
fly," which means you don't have to turn your computer off to exchange
them and you don't have to restart for your computer to recognize them.
