Vote on why MB used PCMCIA on early NTG 4 Comand!

[jjcodex]

Still makes me laugh that this utterly obsolete technology made it into a car as late as 2009, but ever asked yourself why?

I am just curious as to what the group thinks!

JJ

 

[flango]

Just typical MB using outdated technology long past it's sell by date and it still does so nothings changed I'm surprised they've not incorporated an 8 track cartridge into Command

 

[jjcodex]

Just typical MB using outdated technology long past it's sell by date and it still does so nothings changed I'm surprised they've not incorporated an 8 track cartridge into Command

I believe that the 8 track has been offered as option on the facelift e-class!

It does make me laugh though - the last time I used a PCMCIA slot was to provide wifi to a laptop around 10 years ago!

Just a thought, but wasn't the last of the W211 Comand units equipped with a simple SD slot? If so, why did they take a step back towards PCMCIA I wonder....

 

[richard]

It was spec'ed at least 3-4 years before you first saw it - probably longer ..

R

 

[Stratman]

Yep, the car it's in was designed several years before it hit the showrooms. You use the technology that's around at the time.

 

[flango]

Yep, the car it's in was designed several years before it hit the showrooms. You use the technology that's around at the time.

That might be what Mercedes do but on such a small component like that you would switch to the newest technology as you got nearer the production. Launching a new model with old technology just makes you look stupid and outdated and is not the best sales aid. Still if people researched the cars they bought better. It's just a case of we've designed it this way and can't be ****d to change it, complacency I think they call it

 

[jjcodex]

That might be what Mercedes do but on such a small component like that you would switch to the newest technology as you got nearer the production. Launching a new model with old technology just makes you look stupid and outdated and is not the best sales aid. Still if people researched the cars they bought better. It's just a case of we've designed it this way and can't be ****d to change it, complacency I think they call it

For my money I think this is closer to the truth. SD media has been the industry standard for many years now.

TOM TOM portable media have been using them since the release of the W211 (if not before!)

 

[sunnydude959]

IMO it was a universal slot whereby people could put in a multitude of cards as per their preference, with an appropriate adapter.

PCMCIA is physically larger than most memory cards, so it could take compact-flash, or SD card.

 

[Colin_b]

PCMCIA was more popular in Germany for longer than here, it was in German process control equipment as well, not just COMAND.

 

[Diesel Benz]

What is the problem with PCMCIA when one member says SD media and another prefers CF (like on their SLRs). I remember a lot of complaints about MB with the SD media slot that did not support SD HC cards. With PCMCIA you can choose whatever you want.

 

[jjcodex]

What is the problem with PCMCIA when one member says SD media and another prefers CF (like on their SLRs). I remember a lot of complaints about MB with the SD media slot that did not support SD HC cards. With PCMCIA you can choose whatever you want.

Maybe valid when memory was expensive, but surely with memory prices so low now, and with adapters capable of most things is this really justification for the PCMCIA format? Particularly when the original adaptor is more expensive than a USB all in one reader (for your computer) combined with an SD card of pretty well any size?