Generally speaking yes - for a number of reasons.
PCMCIA: 16 bit data bus running at 10MHz > theoretical maximum transfer rate of 20Mb/sec
PCI: 32 bit data bus running at 33MHz > theoretical maximum transfer rate of 132Mb/sec. This is found in most desktop PCs of today, although there is scope within the specification to expand to 64bits @ 133MHz.
The PCMCIA specification is closely related to the ISA specification used on many older plug in boards for desktop PCs. Its performance has been improved over the past few years with the introduction of Cardbus products. The Cardbus specification allows a 32 bit data bus running at 33MHz along with bus mastering (which is absent on PCMCIA cards).
Several of the newer NI cards for laptops use Cardbus in
order to provide the user with higher performance capability - for example higher single channel acquisition rates DAQCard-6062E.
Jeremy
