External graphics for old laptops

Mathew Everett 13 Mar, 2007 at 5:22pm ET Article published in Tech

Just three months ago, word hit the web from CES about ASUS’s new XG Station – an external graphics solution with 5.1 surround sound, USB 2.0, and fancy LCD display. Now, Mobility Electronics, Inc.(MAGMA) has also released an external graphics solution for mid-range laptops named the “MAGMA ExpressBox”. The MAGMA ExpressBox lacks features shown in ASUS’s XG Station, but is another option for laptop users.

The ASUS XG Station has already grown up since January’s CES and is being re-titled the XG1. The XG1 is able to accommodate a double-slot graphics card that requires up to 150W power. It will support two USB 2.0 ports, 5.1 audio channels with Dolby headphones technology, real-time adjustment of GPU clocks, volume control, LCD display of GPU temperature, fan speed and games FPS. That is a nice collection of features for an external device. ASUS plans to release the XG1 with an ASUS EN7900GS and will also release a XG1 box without a graphics card. Those of you with idle GPUs laying around the office will now have new use for them.

The MAGMA ExpressBox is a little less appealing once compared to the ASUS XG1, as the ExpressBox lacks USB, audio and LCD display support, and can only handle a 55W graphics card. It also has a $749 price tag without including a graphics card. The upside is it has internal, adjustable cooling and a rack mounted option. This could be the better solution for companies looking to add graphics to a server setup.

Both products utilize the Express card slot in the same way, in that they take a 16x (16 lane) PCI Express card and force it through a 1x Express slot at a massive 250MB/sec. However, 250MB is still far less than a standard 16x’s 4GB/sec. We know this will show a massive performance hit, but will the hit be more than the upgrade is worth? I guess we will have to wait for CeBIT to find out.

Both the XG1 & ExpressBox will only work with external monitors. If you’re a user who will only use the ExpressBox at home or at a BYOC LAN, this can prove sufficient for you. There won’t be any gaming during long flights, though.

I was unable to reach the sales department for the MAGMA ExpressBox; the website simply has the product labeled as “Coming Soon”. ASUS, on the other hand, has already announced the XG1 will start production next month. Stay tuned for more details on both these technologies as I will be following them closely in the coming months.

Comments

13 Mar 2007 ~ 11:31pm Garg It's too bad that both require an external monitor. A lot of older laptops don't have ExpressCard slots, anyway. The market is looking kind of small for these. Especially at Magma's $750 price point.
13 Mar 2007 ~ 11:46pm Sledgehammer70 ASUS's XG1 is rumored to release at $300 range with a graphics card, and $100 without. But those prices are assumptions. Most of the industry seems to be stream lining their external connections to new Laptops, making this option pointless for people with old laptops. I will for sure get this XG1 if at all possible for testing.

The MAGMA option just seems pointless all together with only 55W support.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 1:16am Winfrey I think that the XG station and even MAGMA are great examples of the Laptop market beginning to merge into mainstream desktop market. Whats great about a desktop is that you can buy some new parts and voila! it's faster and more capable to do what you want to accomplish. What's one of the biggest caveats of laptops? The lack of options for upgrade ability.

Great innovations by MAGMA and ASUS that should only make portable computing power more viable and flexible.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 10:08am Sledgehammer70 I wouldn't call this option all to portable. The XG station is a big item, think of 2 8800GTS's stack on top of each other along with being 4 1/2 inched longer.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 10:42am Winfrey

Sledgehammer70 wrote:

I wouldn't call this option all to portable. The XG station is a big item, think of 2 8800GTS's stack on top of each other along with being 4 1/2 inched longer.

Thats not what I meant, I meant that through developments, such as the XG station, a person can look more towards the Laptop/Notebook market as more viable and flexible. For example right now (before this technology comes out) if you buy a laptop you don't have very much graphics power. If you do have a lot you sacrifice battery life, etc. With the XG station or MAGMA if your sitting at your desk and were wishing you laptop was a lean mean desktop with high-end graphics then you plug-in your XG station and pop in a monster card and your set.

The point is that laptops are pretty inflexible when it comes to upgrade options. With the advent of this new technology the laptop market becomes much more viable and flexible. When I bought my computer I wanted a desktop because I knew I could upgrade it later and extend its life. If I went the laptop route I would be limited. I feel that the current trend is that laptops are merging more into the desktop field through features of improved upgrade ability.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 11:11am RWB Older laptops my ass! Not all older laptops have an Express slot. All I've got is PCMCIA and it's only a year old.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 11:28am primesuspect That's what I was thinking - only very new laptops have express slots
14 Mar 2007 ~ 12:00pm Garg And just think, after all the hoops you have to go through to use these products (having a new-ish laptop with an ExpressCard slot, having to use an external monitor, it not being a portable option, paying out the posterior to buy the gizmo...), you're still limited to a PCI Express x1 link, which is a fraction of the speed of AGP. (11% of AGP 8x for those of you at home keeping score).

Sure, there are certain situations where it would be nice to have one of these. The best thing about these products is that they may inspire more thought on laptop upgradeability, so that one day we can get products with fewer compromises.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 12:13pm Sledgehammer70 Well for the most part I know of 2 companies outside of ASUS who are moving to the new standard of laptop connections. Not being much of a help to current laptop owners with new hardware, but an option for future laptop owner to purchase cheaper laptops with an option for gaming to be added on.

The new cable is called "Cabled PCI Express" a bit more info can be found at VR-Zone here.

and some better detailed images of the XG1 station from VR-Zone are attached
14 Mar 2007 ~ 12:30pm Garg Awesome info, Sledge!

Cabled x16 for me, please
14 Mar 2007 ~ 12:48pm Sledgehammer70 The biggest news to this, is the current XG1 will be able to run a DX10 card so can offer users who want Vista and DX10 gaming when it gets here and option for that...
14 Mar 2007 ~ 4:33pm RWB Currently when you have more than one type of card install your can get driver conflicts, or even when you upgrade from say an older ATi card to a newer NVidia card or vice versa, if any of the old drivers remained, a conflict can occur.

I am curious about how this handles that.
14 Mar 2007 ~ 5:17pm Sledgehammer70

RWB wrote:

Currently when you have more than one type of card install your can get driver conflicts, or even when you upgrade from say an older ATi card to a newer NVidia card or vice versa, if any of the old drivers remained, a conflict can occur.

I am curious about how this handles that.

I am sure it forces Windows to use this card over the internal card. But like I said I will find out soon enough