Ok so my expresscard dreams are changing now. I can't seem to find anywhere to buy expresscard connectors in the year 2024 for some reason. I've ordered parts to harvest stuff from. It turns out, even in 2018 this was a problem, but this forum post (https://egpu.io/forums/builds/2012-14-hp-8470p-9600gt4gbps-ec2-7-egpu/paged/5/#post-44907) is doing a similar thing to what I want to do, which is repurpose a usb3 expresscard. I will see if I can use their footprints if I spin my own. I also realized that there's already a USB port inside the x220 that was supposed to be for bluetooth, but you can get ones that expose a USB port, like [this](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005244735899.html?spm=a2g0n.detail.1000014.11.5bd80uf00uf0Dy&gps-id=platformRecommendH5&scm=1007.18499.332340.0&scm_id=1007.18499.332340.0&scm-url=1007.18499.332340.0&pvid=2acefb53-2c62-4cb3-a49b-1d4097e5a9b1&_t=gps-id:platformRecommendH5,scm-url:1007.18499.332340.0,pvid:2acefb53-2c62-4cb3-a49b-1d4097e5a9b1,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21CAD%219.63%219.63%21%21%2150.11%2150.11%21%402103011017060662629881316ec056%2112000032342415600%21rec%21CA%21754549577%21) . I could make a USB-C version then feed a cable out somewhere... maybe the SATA port? But I'd have to give up the hard drive in there. I think the NVMe is plenty fast (400MB/s), but in theory the SATAIII is even faster (600MB/s) Something like the external WiFi antenna here: https://www.xyte.ch/mods/x230/ What I'm confused about is that there are extra components on the board  There's a resistor and two... diodes? (side note, I got sidetracked and made https://gist.github.com/tahnok/4461fce90656d755d3440618984c3dff to upload assets and files for use in the future on this blog / notebook) I should see if I can find the pin out / part for the connector --- I found an (obsolete) part for expresscard connectors! https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/1759010-1/2327827