I need to get a media card reader for my laptop and I need to know if I should get a PC Card media reader or a USB one, is PC Card faster than USB? Right now the PC Card is most likely what I'll get because it's basically internal and I won't have to plug it in and out etc.
Most PCs are discontinuing PC cards in newer models, so if you plan on a new PC at all soon, consider a USB. They are nearly as fast at the PCMCIA, cheaper, and more easily switchable without as much driver issues. I'd personally get a USB.
I have used both and personally haven't noticed any difference in speed. I think the only time it might matter is if you are using an older (ie version 1) USB port rather than the faster (version 2) ports that are now standard. I, too, would go for a PC Card just because of the internal part of it, you can just leave it in and not have to worry about losing it or breaking it off on something, etc.
The short answer is, PC card is generally pretty fast and fast enough. However, if you do have USB2.0, USB2.0 could be faster. As you mentioned, PC card has the extra edge of being internal so I'd go for it unless you really care about the top speed. The long answer is that the practical speed depends on quite a few factors. 1. the speed of the memory card itself 2. the adapter (PC Card, USB Card Reader) 3. the actual computer connecting interface (PCMCIA for PC card and USB for USB card reader). Basically the slowest part will become the bottleneck. For the connecting interface, PCMCIA is the fastest (100+Mb/sec), followed by USB2.0 (60+Mb/sec) then USB1.1 (around 1.5Mb/sec). USB2.0 and PCMCIA are both so much faster than other components that they typically won't be the bottleneck. For the memory card, they vary greatly but a decent one should start with a few megabytes / sec, with the high end models go up to 20Mb/sec or so. For the adapters, I don't know the precise answer. However, from my empirical experience (trying USB2.0, USB1.1, and PC card at some point), I think they are generally faster than 1Mb/sec. My one-off experience (side-by-side) was that the USB2.0 card reader I used was faster than the PC card I used.
