Asus XG Station is World's First External Laptop Graphics Card - Gizmodo

ASUS is coming out with a pretty cool piece of tech that lets you use a desktop PCI Express video card with a notebook as an external video card! However, the lappy must have an ExpressCard slot.

It is supposed to be available in Q2 of this year, which probably means sometime this spring. No word on pricing yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if it cost as much as a good video card (hopefully it will be cheap).

Is this the dawn of a new era for external video cards?

Sweet! This could give older or even budget l;aptops a new gaming life.

This is EXACTLY the kind of tech that I was talking about that will make the old "Clunky" desktop reach an early grave in a recent thread I started!

http://forums.pcapex.com/anything_go...k_like_in.html

I did not see this one coming, but now I see it...it just makes too much sense, and makes me wonder what took them soooo long to build it!

That is one SWEEEEEEEEEET Card

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro I did not see this one coming, but now I see it...it just makes too much sense, and makes me wonder what took them soooo long to build it!

Because they need to saddle a person with another external power brick.

I dont get it, so you plug a desktop card into that thing then plug that thing into a laptop?

Thats not gonna be very portable is it....?

EDIT - Ah I get it.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex I dont get it, so you plug a desktop card into that thing then plug that thing into a laptop? Thats not gonna be very portable is it....?

No - it comes with a videocard built into it. But to use it, you must have it plugged into a dedicated power supply. It functions like a docking station.

Quote: Originally Posted by Iateronmly No - it comes with a videocard built into it. But to use it, you must have it plugged into a dedicated power supply. It functions like a docking station.

I thought you had to add your own video card? I would definately prefer it if you got to add your own card.

So I'll have to buy one of these gizmo's and a LapTop.

Sealed box for a graphics card??? Temperatures??

Doesn't appear that this provides improvement for the notebook's display, only external displays.

I'm curious to see all the information about this product once Asus releases it.

-hartigan

Awesome linkage Sleepy_Sentry - this is long overdue!

Asus will have to price carefully however, as if your laptop is MXM-compatible you can pick up a 7900GS for $500 which you can fit inside your laptop.

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous Sweet! This could give older or even budget l;aptops a new gaming life.

Not so much so, because Express Card is a standard that is still pretty rare on laptops. It's failed to gain popularity with laptop makers and customers alike due to a dearth of peripherals. Maybe this will change that.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Awesome linkage Sleepy_Sentry - this is long overdue! Asus will have to price carefully however, as if your laptop is MXM-compatible you can pick up a 7900GS for $500 which you can fit inside your laptop. Not so much so, because Express Card is a standard that is still pretty rare on laptops. It's failed to gain popularity with laptop makers and customers alike due to a dearth of peripherals. Maybe this will change that.

Thanks for the rep. Luckily for me, my lappy came with an Express Card slot.

I will be interested to see whether or not it will be possible to run an external video card along with the laptop's original video card. Quad monitors, baby!

Like Necro said, I agree that desktops are coming to an end. Last year, notebooks made up almost 2/3 of computer (not notebook ) sales. I recently bought a notebook and though it isn't as powerful as my desktop, I use it more because of its portability.

How much is the dang thing? Looks cool as heck...wish video cards for desktops looked that nice.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry Last year, notebooks made up almost 2/3 of notebook sales.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry Last year, notebooks made up almost 2/3 of notebook sales.

I'm with Dex here. I'll go out on a limb and say notebooks made up 100% of notebook sales :-)