PCMCIA to PCI Adapter

 

PCMCIA to PCI is Possible... but a bit expensive.

If you need a true PCI port through your laptop's PCMCIA port, there are really only a few choices, and they are all made by a company called Magma.

Price Break Down:

1. Magma PCMCIA to PCI Adapter (Half Length)

One PCMCIA to One PCI Slot for Half Length PCI Cards

Seen for: $1,059

This system basically consists of a PCMCIA card that plugs into your laptop and has an attached ruggedized cable connecting your laptop to an enclosure that can fit a small sized PCI card.  Since the architecture of PCMCIA and PCI are so similar, this style of adapter is the truest PCI port you can add to your laptop.  This PCMCIA to PCI expansion system is for 32-bit laptops and 32-bit PCI cards.

2. Magma PCMCIA to PCI Adapter (Full Length)

One PCMCIA to One PCI Slot for Full Length PCI Cards

Seen for: $1,079

This is the same as above, but with a larger enclosure for larger PCI cards.

3. Magma PCMCIA to PCI Adapter with 4 Full Length Slots

One PCMCIA to Four PCI Slots for Full Length PCI Cards

Seen for: $1,489

This expansion kit is a lot like #2, only includes 4 PCI slots that all work independently of each other for 32-bit systems and cards. Your laptop will be able to see and control these 4 PCI slots as if they were directly connected to your computer's motherboard.

Do your really need PCI to PCMCIA?

I'm not going to scrutinize naming convention, but typically when I'm turning one port on a system (like a desktop or a laptop computer) into another port, I will say the original port first, and then the port I'm turning it into; for instance, if you have a PCI slot on your desktop computer and you want to make it into a PCMCIA slot, I call the adapter a PCI to PCMCIA adapter or PCI to PCMCIA Host Card.

Anyway, if this is what you really need, then you're in luck, because this is much less expensive than the opposite adapter (the PCMCIA to PCI which we will discuss further down).  The PCI to PCMCIA simply plugs into a typical PCI slot (usually located in the rear of your desktop computer) and has an available slot that you can put PCMCIA cards into.  These are commonly useful for people that want to use a PCMCIA data card from their data provider (like Verizon) with their desktop's PCI port.

PCI to PCMCIA adapter: $29