@LexYeen PCMCIA (which was just miniaturized PATA) could do 133 MB/s, while USB 2.0 high speed was limited to 60 MB/s (480 Mbps), so it seems like USB wasn't quite fast enough to really supplant PCMCIA until USB 3 came out in the 2010s, though
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@LexYeen and it feels like a SATA-based PCMCIA-equivalent could have been far faster than USB 2, given that by 2004 you could have 300 MB/s SATA II speeds

Or even better, a PCIe-based replacement, with 250 MB/s per lane--you could probably fit four lanes in a PCMCIA-sized form factor, possibly even more, giving you a GB/s or more transfer speeds
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@LexYeen sorry i got a bit rambly there
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@Felthry No worries at all, I know how sometimes the words just kinda come out and can't be stopped.

As for why something technically inferior would become dominant? Ease of use and cross-compatibility, IMO. If you wanted to use a PCMCIA cards in a desktop you needed a special expansion card, and laptops would need the whole-ass slot built in. Meanwhile, USB uses less physical space and is more broadly available thanks to that.

@LexYeen I just want laptops to have expansion slots like how desktops have PCIe slots.
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@Felthry Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-[48 hours later]-aaaaaaame.

@terrana I was thinking more of the idea that you could have expansion cards that would be permanently attached, like how desktops got PCIe. Laptops are just not as customizable.
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