ASUS Introduces External Graphics Card

Mike Howes 7 Jan, 2007 at 7:52am ET Article published in Tech

Asus has introduced the worlds first external graphics card for laptops.

The dedicated external graphics card, dubbed the XG Station, allows laptop users to enjoy high end graphics performance by plugging into the laptop’s Express Card slot. When not in use it can be unplugged when portability is needed.

Since ASUS has equipped the XG Station with a standard PCI Express x16 slot, the station can be used with any PCI Express based graphics card. The default XG Station comes equipped with an NVIDIA 7900GS GPU. The station comes with it’s own power supply that plugs directly into the adapter.

An integrated LCD display and control also grace the XG Station. The display is customizable and can display information such as frame rate, fan speed, GPU temperature and more while the control knob can change various settings of the XG Station such as the core and memory clocks.

ASUS is expected to release the XG Station in the second quarter of this year. Pricing is unknown at present.

Source: Daily Tech

Comments

7 Jan 2007 ~ 9:40am Thrax Interesting.

$400 is my guess.
7 Jan 2007 ~ 1:53pm Garg I wonder how much data it needs to transfer on the [strike]cardbus[/strike] ExpressCard, and if that will be a bottleneck.

Cool idea, though. It seems like laptops with decent graphics cards are pretty expensive. This way, you could get a cheap laptop that's good otherwise, and plug in the card when you want to do some gaming.

It'd be even sweeter if you could use this interchangeably between your desktop and laptop

Edit: I realized the difference between CardBus and ExpressCard. 1.06Gbit/s vs. 2.5 Gbit/s PCI Express x1.
7 Jan 2007 ~ 1:57pm rapture

It'd be even sweeter if you could use this interchangeably between your desktop and laptop

Well you could use the same graphics card but I would guess a native PCI-E slot on a motherboard would be quicker than using this adapter.
7 Jan 2007 ~ 2:09pm Garg

rapture-IC wrote:

Well you could use the same graphics card but I would guess a native PCI-E slot on a motherboard would be quicker than using this adapter.

That's what I'm guessing too, but I'm just hoping that the difference will be minor. I'm eager for more info on how it actually works and some benchmarks.

The only time I think I'd actually use the adapter on a desktop is in the situation that I've bought a better card for the adapter (primarily for the laptop) than what I had in the desktop. Hopefully the bottleneck wouldn't be so bad that it'd negate whatever difference there was between the older and newer card.
8 Jan 2007 ~ 12:00am RWB Hrm... I don't think I have an express card slot... but I think my next laptop will have one and if this card works as well as I hope then I can get the laptop for cheap and get a good card instead
8 Jan 2007 ~ 10:20am Sledgehammer70 Regardless of the cost or Speed... this will allow users who own notebooks form Acer, Sony, HP, Gateway etc.. to upgrade their non-upgradeable GPU and keep their laptops for years to come. It will also allow users with Brand new Laptops to easily move to DX10 hardware without dropping another $2K- $3K for a new laptop.

Most people use their laptops as desktop replacements anyways, so the add-on would not hinder many users. I know I would purchase something like this to boost the graphics of my laptop...

I really think the cost will be based on the card inside as I am sure ASUS will only sell them with cards. 7950's, 8800's X1950's, maybe even R600's

To also note... THIS THING IS HUGE!!!!! about 16" Long and about 6" 1/2" Tall.
9 Jan 2007 ~ 10:46am Garg More pics here. Sledge is right, this thing's ginormous! Still, plenty of room to fit it on my desk if it's worth getting

Engadget describes their hands-on demo. Apparently, the thing actually works, but is no substitute for a true gaming rig.
9 Jan 2007 ~ 10:57am primesuspect Downsides:

Cost
You still need an external monitor

What's the point of having a laptop at that point? Most of the time, the hard drives are slower, and if you have to lug that beast + monitor, in that case it's way cheaper to get a sff gaming PC.

The point I'm trying to make is that you really, really can't use the "portability" argument once you go this route. I'd venture to say this is actually less portable than a gaming PC that you carry around. One box instead of two.
9 Jan 2007 ~ 12:32pm rapture

What's the point of having a laptop at that point? Most of the time, the hard drives are slower, and if you have to lug that beast + monitor, in that case it's way cheaper to get a sff gaming PC.

The point I'm trying to make is that you really, really can't use the "portability" argument once you go this route. I'd venture to say this is actually less portable than a gaming PC that you carry around. One box instead of two.

I think the point is you don't have to have both. You have your portable laptop for work and a tricked out entertainment setup when you get home.

I personally like the idea of a central machine which does everything. I don't think this is it, but it's a step in the right direction.
11 Jan 2007 ~ 12:07am RWB The buying point for me is that I don't want a desktop anymore... I like the notebook because it can go anywhere with me... and where I bring my laptop I don't normally game anyways so I don't need this. But when I get home... I can plug it in to this device and play my games much better.

I would definitely buy one of these. Plus I use my external monitor at home anyways, except when I am in the living room watching TV and playing on the laptop
12 Jan 2007 ~ 11:02am Sledgehammer70

primesuspect wrote:

Downsides:

Cost
You still need an external monitor

What's the point of having a laptop at that point? Most of the time, the hard drives are slower, and if you have to lug that beast + monitor, in that case it's way cheaper to get a sff gaming PC.

I currently run my main 17" laptop with a 20" widescreen monitor next to it, while the laptop can run the 2nd monitor; it does not have the power to really push pixels on 2 screens. This solution would fit my needs perfectly; as we are coming into a day and age where having 2 monitors isn't uncommon this tech will target that user group.

My laptop has a great CPU in it and will most likely last for years but my GPU is quickly dropping off from the new games on the market. Now this tech will allow me to increase the gaming life of my laptop for years to come. It's a dream come true...

This is also why I would love to review this product for SM as I have a few older laptops that I could really test this on along with seeing the performance increase I would get over my current setup.

primesuspect wrote:

I'd venture to say this is actually less portable than a gaming PC that you carry around. One box instead of two.

To be honest my Desktop PC "when I had it" weighed in at 63lbs in all its former glory.. and that’s not including the LCD screen I use to carry around with it. This bad boy can simply slip into my already oversized Laptop back pack and allow for me to carry the lappy on my back and the screen in my arms. I do have a sweet Desktop carrier that I used, but even than I couldn't walk around with my desktop for longer than 20 minutes without wanting to put the heavy bastard down.