ASUS Unveils first External Graphics Card

[michail iakovou yos]

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=5602


The ASUS XG Station is connected via a dongle to the notebook ExpressCard
interface
ASUS introduces the world's first external graphics card for notebook users

ASUS today introduced a dedicated external graphics card for laptops -- the
XG Station. The XG Station is an external graphics card that allows laptop
users to enjoy high end graphics performance while plugged in. As the XG
Station is an external graphics it can be unplugged when portability is
needed.

The XG Station connects to any notebook's ExpressCard slot and provides a
PCI Express x16 slot for graphics cards. Since ASUS has opted to equip the
XG Station with a standard PCI Express x16 slot, the station can be equipped
with any PCI Express based graphics card: AMD, NVIDIA or even Matrox. ASUS
launched the default XG Station with an NVIDIA 7900GS powered graphics card.

The XG Station is powered externally. A separate power brick plugs directly
into the adaptor.

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.

Expect ASUS to release the XG Station in Q2'07 this year. Pricing of the XG
Station is unknown at the moment.

The XG Station adaptor only interfaces with ExpressCard interfaces at the
moment, but will work with with PCIe ExpressCard interfaces installed in a
desktop PC.

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

Looks cool for new laptops.

 

[Troy McClure]

this is ridiculous and will never, ever work. this product will disappear
faster than a cookie on the counter in a fat persons kitchen. who would
actually lug around this big thing? and not to mention also lug around a
video card??

silly. these companies need to do more research and focus groups before
spending millions on new products

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

Lug around? Not nesessarily. Take dock station as an example. Nobody carries
it around but this doesn't mean it's useless.

I don't see how it is different from dock station idea. Read comments to
original Daily Tech post to find more opinions on how people planning to use
this thing.

 

[Troy McClure]

a docking station sits in 1 place... a desk usually. the laptop gets carried
aroubd with you. when youre at your desk, you plug it into the docking
station. people use docking stations to make life easier... mouse, keyboard
etc.

if the idea is to have this stupid thing next to your docking station and
also plug into that, then its just time to replace the docking station with
a desktop pc. obviously the 2 people that buy this dumb thing will be
carrying it around. and for what? do you really want to play intense games
on your laptop? what else is this good for? laptops are used for work 9
times out of 10... again, this will never fly

 

[michail iakovou yos]

many laptops do not have good graphic cards capable of displaying aero
GLASS.

there is a market.. they are the "vista drones"...

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

a docking station sits in 1 place... a desk usually. the laptop gets
carried aroubd with you. when youre at your desk, you plug it into the
docking station.

people use docking stations to make life easier... mouse, keyboard etc.

I'd put graphics-intense games in these "etc". Why not? Big screen and
full-size keyboard are already there connected to the dock. But onboard
video is crappy. So why not?

if the idea is to have this stupid thing next to your docking station and
also plug into that, then its just time to replace the docking station
with a desktop pc.

And face the sync challenge between your laptop and desktop? Thanks but no,
thanks. The idea is SAME as with dock station - to have ONE computer to have
all your stuff on that you can power up with dock/ext. sound card/ext. video
when you need to and carry around when you need to.

obviously the 2 people that buy this dumb thing will be carrying it
around. and for what? do you really want to play intense games on your
laptop? what else is this good for? laptops are used for work 9 times out
of 10...

again, this will never fly

Well if I didn't have desktop already I'd probably be one of those two
people. Because you see, as a person who has laptop for work, I really don't
mind using it for gaming from time to time. And a good dosen of people I
know who work on laptops I'm not alone. Far from it.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Actually, it's a brilliant idea. There are many, many users who own a laptop
and do not own desktops simply because it's too difficult trying to keep all
of the files, programs, etc, syncronized between the two systems. The one
thing lacking has always been the small screen, integrated keyboard and
mouse, and poor graphics on the laptop. A docking station solves most of
these problems except for the high end graphics.

This product is not meant to travel with the laptop, but is a perfect
solution for use at home.

 

[David Hearn]

Actually, it's a brilliant idea. There are many, many users who own a
laptop and do not own desktops simply because it's too difficult trying
to keep all of the files, programs, etc, syncronized between the two
systems. The one thing lacking has always been the small screen,
integrated keyboard and mouse, and poor graphics on the laptop. A
docking station solves most of these problems except for the high end
graphics.

This product is not meant to travel with the laptop, but is a perfect
solution for use at home.

And don't forget - this allows any PCI express graphics card to be
inserted. One of the issues I have with replacing a home PC with a
laptop, is the lack of high-end graphics cards available for gaming, and
the high cost of higher spec graphics cards for laptops.

Potentially, anyone with an ExpressCard slot can now upgrade their
graphics card for use at home as often as they wish, without having to
replace their laptop.

Nice idea - not needed by everyone, but same can be said about many things.

D