MaC*MiNi's*Super*Secret*Expansion*Port?

Question

Hi there, planning to get an Intel Mac Mini soon, but I could not test this out yet - I was wondering if anyone could answer my questions:
The Intel Mac Mini, as I've read on some documents, has a new wireless card from the old PowerPc Mac Minis (which uses a mini-PCI port). I read that it uses the new mini-PCI-express card/port format. Well I was wondering if this is indeed a standard mini-PCIe port, or is it a locked down Apple proprietary sort of thing? I was wondering if someone was able to (or could) swap out the apple cards with something else - say another flavor of mini-PCIe wireless card or an Intel mini-PCIe video capturing module. I reckon not many people would bother to since the wireless card is already included with the computer, but it's not a question as to why it shoud be done, but whether it's possible. Would really be nice to know that the mac mini has that capability since future hardware upgrades could be done.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Thanks for the replies. It is the same port. I was wondering if the existing module could be swapped out. The picture you have is of the old airport extreme found in the powerpc mac mini. Those have a mini-pci bus. Notice the new intel mac minis have included cards that are different:
Link: http://apple.qj.net/uploads/articlesmodule/34854_05qjgenth.jpg
It is said that this uses the mini-pci-express standard. Any thoughts if it is proprietary to the apple card only or could be swapped out with something else?
Developer documet: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/HWTechAirport/Articles/AirP_implementation.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40003886-DontLin kElementID15
Thanks again ^^