Nvidia: External Laptop GPUs Are "Big Opportunity"
"Nvidia Outside"
Nvidia general manager said that external GPUs are a big opportunity for the graphics company, even though it doesn't offer a supporting line of products (yet).
"I think it is a big opportunity," said Rene Haas, general manager of the notebook GPU business at Nvidia, in a brief interview with X-bit labs. "We have two strategies at Nvidia: one is to put graphics everywhere, the other one is to [find more ways to] integrate discrete chips into the box. I think there is definitely a place for [external graphics cards for notebooks], no question. We continue to look at whether this is a GPU [docking stations] or external devices."
"I think, the issue that has to be solved for something like that is the right price-point that hits the right segment. There is definitely a lot of interest in it and [this is] something we are keeping our eye on to be able to offer something there," said Mr. Haas.
At the Taipei Game Show, Gigabyte showed off its M1405 with external GeForce GT220 (see pictures and video here). It won't be the last of its kind, if Nvidia has any say in it.
Sure they do? They bring quality cards like the 8800GT, 9800GTX, GTS250... wait there all the same cards... Good point!
Don't forget the external LCD to go with it. I highly doubt the external GPU will hook into the laptop's LCD. They should stick to making mobile versions of their GPU's for laptops. Turning a laptop into a portable desktop is not the answer.
Sure they do? They bring quality cards like the 8800GT, 9800GTX, GTS250... wait there all the same cards... Good point!
Wow, so quick to disregard this as gimmicky? As a college student having both a desktop and a laptop, this product would really interest me.
The external GPU isn't meant to be powered off your laptop's battery folks. The idea is to replace your desktop with a fairly portable laptop with an external GPU and LCD for you to dock with on your desk. When you are on the go, leave that stuff and save your battery life. But when you want to come back and play a few games, you can. I hate having my desktop at school, it takes up way too much room. Cosmos S, 26" LCD, G15 keyboard. I have no desk space.
I could see this being a good thing for some people.
But other than that, this idea is totally meh to me. I have never for the life of me understood people that game on laptops (unless they are loaded and also have a superior desktop at home.)
If you are that into gaming but can't afford both, buy/build a gaming desktop and a low end laptop or netbook for portable computing. Total cost there is ~$1500 (+/- 250 or so).
And that's about what it costs to get a good gaming laptop. Which at the end of the day has a bad keyboard mouse and monitor gaming solution, and becomes too heavy to really be that portable.
I know this isn't a popular opinion amongst young techies, but gaming laptops are just stupid. They remind me of that gun in The Fifth Element. Flexibility lowers quality.
External GPUs are great. You get all the portability and mobile productivity you want, but then you can come home and hook up a GPU for gaming. For many people, that would be ideal.
I spent $2300 on my present laptop so i can play games. Thing is i dont want to ALWAYS play games and now i have a power eater laptop.
If I could buy a laptop with built in graphics for on the go and just plug it into my docking station for graphic juice it would be the perfect solution.
Instead, I have a desktop with serious graphic power and a laptop with mid graphic power... I would love to say good-by to my PC and have only a laptop.