ExpressCard or USB hub?

[No Left Turn]

... or are they essentially the same thing?

It occurred to me earlier today that instead of using a USB hub, I may be able to use an ExpressCard with USB ports instead. It's looking like USB 3.0 is supposed to provide more bus power which would make it more reliable, right? Does anyone have experience with an expresscard and how it worked for them over a USB hub?

[SirReal]

I was wondering/thinking the same thing. Waiting with bated breath.

[lsmith]

generally the expresscard solution is considered lower latency. there are a couple threads on this forum on this topic. unfortunately apple dropped the expresscard slot in favor of an sd card slot on newer macbook pro 15" yet still sticking with only 2 USB ports. why does Steve hate digital musicians so much?

[BradCee]

i think express card works in the same way as PCIe?

assuming that you can find compatible drivers that work properly with your current configuration (mainly the power handling side of things impo), it should have all the benefits that usb 3.0 presents, i.e better power performance so less chance of things lagging, and better data handling so no audio drop oputs.

end of the day even if you don't get the usb 3 benefits, it's still a hub.

my 2p.

[No Left Turn]

end of the day even if you don't get the usb 3 benefits, it's still a hub.

my 2p.

I see. I'm not that familiar with the technicalities of ExpressCard, but was hoping that it would be a little more stable than the USB connected hub. Looks like it's the same deal where the best performance comes from one that's powered and I have no choice but to go with a powered hub of either the USB or ExpressCard flavor.