PCIe-miniPCIe adapter: we connect modules from a laptop to a regular PC. What to put in MiniPCI-e What is mini pci e

In most modern laptops, expansion cards inside are implemented in the form factor and with a MiniPCI-e connector. Usually it is occupied by a WiFi card, but in addition to one occupied one, it often happens that there is a second slot that is not occupied by anything. Accessing it is usually no more difficult than accessing the memory/hard drive/other expansion cards, although in some laptops you will have to remove the bottom cover to do this.

Since there is a connector, the question arises as to what it can be used for.

The Mini PCI-e format is a mobile version of pci express, which additionally includes usb 2.0 and several contacts that can be used by manufacturers at their discretion. It turns out that in fact there are not so few devices that can be stuck there, if there is a need. I thought that since the question “what can be put there” is asked, then I can answer it in more detail than usual.

Here is the list of pieces of iron. I did not set out to collect and describe everything here, but most of it is accurate. The price for the hardware is listed on ebay.com, and I didn’t buy the cheapest option. Usually the price includes delivery, but this needs to be clarified when you decide to buy it - sellers and conditions are different.

1. WiFi card. Wireless Internet card. It couldn't be simpler, and this is how at least one slot is usually used. Why do you need a replacement? Firstly, if you want to install a faster card (standard “N” instead of “G”). Secondly, if you decide to install MacOS, then not all cards are supported, and the compatible one is inexpensive. Thirdly, to expand the capabilities of the card - for example, combined WiFi/Bluetooth or WiFi/WiMax cards are sold. What you must remember is that any wifi card of this format requires the connection of antennas; these are two or three (for a full-fledged “N”) wires, which are located in the lid of the laptop, under the screen. No antenna - no signal. The length of the wires that you already have in your laptop is usually sufficient to connect the card only to the slot where a similar card is already installed, and the second slot can be located much further away. To replace antennas or install new ones, you will have to disassemble the laptop almost entirely, incl. – disassemble the screen. In the photo above there is a standard size card, below it there is a half size form factor, half size. The price of such cards is up to 10 usd for Chinese nameless ones, and about 25 for branded ones. Essentially, there is no difference. Cards supporting the N standard or together with Bluetooth are more expensive, but the price remains the same.
2. Broadcom HD video chip(you can search by WX637). This thing is relevant for netbooks. Allows you to decode video, including maximum HD quality with high bitrate, with almost any processor, greatly removing the load from it and reducing energy consumption. If netbooks of previous generations (on some kind of Atom 250) and Intel chipsets stick their fins together when trying to play heavy video, then such a card solves this problem one-two-three times. Supported by all popular operating systems. For new netbooks - not relevant, because... there, hardware decoding capabilities are built into video chips, but the capabilities of each chip (and therefore netbook) are still different. It’s better with laptops - almost any more or less modern laptop can be configured to play HD video using its video card, without the need to buy anything additional. The cost of such a card is approximately 40 usd.
3. TV Tuner. Allows you to receive television and radio. There are different ones, it is necessary see what standards are supported. So, for example, in Latvia analogue television has practically died out, and a digital receiver is required. An important point - any TV tuner for internal use requires an antenna connection! If your laptop initially did not have space for a connector on the outside, you will have to do a lot of digging to get it out. There are models where, depending on the configuration, a TV tuner could be installed or not, and in these, as a rule, there is a place for an output, it is simply closed with a plug. The cost of the tuner is from 25usd.
4. Mini PCI-e PCI Express to SATA USB Coverter Adapter . Behind this terrible name is a scarf with a pair of connectors, where connectors for USB and SATA are routed. What it can do, well, at least, allows you to simplify connecting a USB device directly to minipci-e: you can put a flash drive and use it, like ready boost/turbo memory, you can put a USB receiver from a wireless mouse/keyboard inside, and much more. On the other hand, if you have some skill, they can be removed directly from the mini pci-e contacts, but this is already a modification that easily breaks the warranty. The cost of such a scarf is approx. 8usd.
5. Turbo Memory. Once upon a time, at the dawn of Windows Vista, Intel proudly introduced the world to Intel Turbo Memory technology (and ReadyBoost, as a fundamental part of it). What its essence is is the use of fast flash memory connected to minipci-e as a place to create and store a kind of cache of files currently being used by the operating system. The idea of ​​this thing is that access to an arbitrary part of flash memory is very fast, unlike hdd, so theoretically this increased the speed of operation (booting) of the system (and the average budget computer of that time coped very poorly with Vista, the system requirements of which for comfortable work at the time the yields were extremely high). In fact, it turned out that if you close your eyes to the advertising words, then somehow the technology manifests itself on systems with small amounts of RAM (up to 1GB), and even then, this effect is quite subtle even in tests, not to mention in normal work (for example, one of the tests). If there is more RAM, the presence of TurboMemory becomes almost meaningless. Having suffered a fiasco, the technology was buried, and laptops are no longer equipped with such cards, but they can be bought - the price of a Chinese TurboMemory card is approx. 12usd for 1GB version. I believe that a flash drive of the same capacity will be much more useful, but that’s up to you to decide.
6. CF Card to Mini PCI-E . An exotic thing that allows you to use CompactFlash memory cards as a data storage medium. The relevance of such a thing is small, but I know of successful examples of its use - these are routers controlled by various *-nix systems, where a CF card replaces a hard drive. Another option for such an adapter is a card with an SD slot. The idea is exactly the same, the size is smaller, and therefore it will fit into almost any laptop. In fact, this is a USB card reader, and through an adapter you can put cards of almost any format compatible with SD (SD, Mini-SD, Micro-SD, SDHC, MMC, RS-MMC, Moblie-MMC, MMC-micro, MMC-plus ). The price of such an adapter card is about 6 usd. Please note that the card slot can be located on one or the other side - this must be taken into account, because installation space is limited.
7. Mini PCI-e to ZIF. An even more exotic thing that allows you to connect zif disks. These are very small hard drives, 1.8 inches (a regular laptop is 2.5, a desktop is 3.5 inches). At the moment they are not particularly used anywhere, so it will only be useful for those who accidentally have such disks left - their small size allows them to be placed very compactly, and in the cases of large (with a screen of 17 inches or more) laptops sometimes there is even room for this.
8. Mini PCI-E PCI-E adapter. This thing will probably need to be separated into a separate material. As the name implies, this is an adapter from mini pci-e to standard pci-e, as in a desktop. The possibilities are clear, this is the connection of any device designed for such a connector, and, in particular - video cards. Those. in fact, you can connect a powerful external video card to the laptop. There are a lot of disadvantages, this is the inconvenience of connection, the need to use an external power supply for the video card, and the absence of a hole above your mini pci-e slot for outputting all this “happiness” outside, because for which you will have to use the laptop with the back cover removed, and the low data transfer speed, which will never allow the video card to work “to its fullest.” There is one plus, but a huge one: for relatively little money you get the opportunity to use a video card that can be tens and hundreds of times faster than the built-in one in your laptop.

That's all for now. I'll add something else later.