The Alienware Graphics Amplifier is a box which can house a desktop-class graphics card, which you can then hook up to a supporting Alienware laptop. This will allow you to connect external displays to the installed GPU, which are then powered by the desktop-class graphics card, or you can use the GPU to power your built-in display. Inside it you're able to place any desktop-class graphics card, be that from AMD or Nvidia, with TDPs of 375 W or less. It connects to the laptop through a proprietary sleeved cable. The power supply is user-replaceable, so if you're aching for more power, you can certainly make that happen.
One of the questions that we asked Dell was whether the device would support hot-swapping, to which the answer was, as we expected but still unfortunately, no. This isn't surprising though, as you also cannot just pull a graphics card out of a desktop that is switched on, and the GPU is directly wired into the PCI-Express lanes of the laptop. Dell did build in a safety feature though, where if you do happen to make the mistake of pulling out the connector cable with the laptop switched on, it will switch off for you to ensure no damage is done. This is done through a piece of software.
The graphics amplifier itself is rather simple inside, too. It has a simple PCB with two PCI-Express ports. One of them has an expansion card with the cable input and a handful of USB ports, while the other slot is open for the graphics card. The input card looked like it was a PCI-Express 8x card, and upon asking we were told that it was actually operating over just four lanes, which we fear can have a notable impact on performance for higher-power graphics cards due to the more limited bandwidth.
On top of the USB ports, the Graphics Amplifier doesn't actually have any additional gear. There are no audio ports or an Ethernet port, so you won't be able to use it as a docking station. With just a single connector, you still need to plug other cables into the laptop to get Ethernet and sound, meaning you cannot get away with only plugging in the docking cable and power to station the laptop on your desk.
This brings us to a thought: Seeing this after MSI's unit yesterday, we're actually a tad disappointed. MSI's unit operates as a full docking station, which even has additional storage and speakers built in. MSI's unit really acts as a full-fledged docking station that you can pop your laptop into and gain GPU power, storage and connectivity, while Alienware's Graphics Amplifier will only give you extra graphics power and a couple of USB ports. Connecting it also isn't nearly as convenient.
Where we do have to give points to Alienware is that this product will work with more than one model of Alienware laptop. Currently, it works with the Alienware 13, and it was shown working with an Alienware 15, too. Additionally, Dell informed us that in the future the company hopes to put the proprietary port on many more Alienware laptops for even wider compatibility.
You can also buy it as a standalone, and it carries a price tag of $299. This does not include a graphics card.
Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
