The PC (PCMCIA) Card

By Stephen Bucaro

The PC card, technically called the PCMCIA Card because it was developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, is a form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers.

It was originally designed for computer memory expansion, but it became a standard for other notebook computer peripherals including network cards, modems, hard disks, and digital cameras.

A PCMCIA Card is 85.6 mm long by 54 mm wide but come in three different types, each with a different thickness.

Type	Interface	Thickness
I	16-bit	3.3 mm
I	16-bit or 32-bit	5.0 mm
III	16-bit or 32-bit	10.5 mm

There was also a Type-IV card released by Toshiba that is not an official PCMCIA standard, that is 16 mm thick.

The original standard was defined for both 5 volt and 3.3 volt cards. The 3.3 V cards have a key on the side to prevent them from being inserted fully into a 5 V-only slot.

Today PCMCIA card is a legacy interface, as devices that used PCMCIA now use the USB interface.

More Computer Anatomy Articles:
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