3. Notebook Specialties

Notebooks have different requirements than desktop PCs. Connectivity and mobility is the primary focus of a notebook. PCMCIA, PC Card, MiniPCI and Mobile Audio/Modem Daughter Card are helping the road warriors to get connected. Ni-Cad, Ni-MH and Li-Ion along with smart-battery technology provide the necessary power. The chipset used in the notebook motherboard must provide several power saving options and the 3D performance of the notebook VGA chips doesn't have as high of a priority as in desktop systems.

Memory And Connectivity With PCMCIA And PC Cards

PCMCIA/PC Cards were established as the standard for expansion of a notebook. Due to space limitations it is not possible to add an ISA or PCI slot to a notebook.

Type I = 3.3mm thick

Type II = 5.0mm thick

Type III = 10.5mm thick

1989 the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association was founded to establish standards of integrated circuits cards for mobile computers.

1990 the PCMCIA 1.0 was released to the public with the Type I and Type II PC Card form factor.

1991-1994 the releases 2.0 to 2.1 followed to add support for Type III cards.

1995 saw the establishment of the PC Card standard, with 3.3V and DMA support, 32-bit Cardbus bus mastering and Zoomed Video.

The first implementations of PCMCIA cards were modem cards or memory cards that added some main memory to the system. Nowadays you can get PCMCIA cards with 56k modem, ISDN, GSM and LAN support in just one small Type I or Type II PC Card.