Lenovo joined the external graphics enclosure party at CES 2018, revealing a new Thunderbolt 3-powered graphics dock with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 inside.
The Lenovo Thunderbolt Graphics Dock is designed to connect to a thin and light Ultrabook (Lenovo recommends the IdeaPad 720S). The GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5 MXM graphics card inside can provide mainstream graphics performance, and the boost is enough to get the device well-past the Windows Mixed Reality door (Lenovo claimed it supports WMR at 90Hz). Although it won’t handle the top-end VR HMDs (and we're somewhat speculative of the company's claim of 90Hz WMR performance), the Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock is ideal for average users looking for a little more GPU horsepower at the desk.
The new dock is powered by a 170W AC adapter and connects to your PC via a USB Type-C cable. The dock offers up to 65W of power for attached PCs, but the only currently certified device is the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S. However, the company showcased the new dock with a ThinkPad X1 attached, indicating that more devices will likely be added to the dock’s compatibility list in the coming days.
The Lenovo graphics enclosure is much smaller than competing devices that require end users to purchase their own graphics card, measuring in at 5.12 x 9.76 x 0.89" and weighing around 1.51lbs. The gun metal chassis gives it a sleek look that would mesh well with a home office, and you can use the three USB ports (two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0) to connect additional peripherals and storage to your PC without using all of your ports or having dongles dangerously dangling from the sides of the PC.
You can connect up to three displays to the dock using an HDMI 2.0 port or two DisplayPort 1.3 interfaces. It also sports a gigabit Ethernet port and a headphone-out/mic-in audio combo jack.
The Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock will be available sometime this month for $399.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Lenovo Thunderbolt Graphics Dock |
|---|---|
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5 MXM |
| Ports | - USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 (Connect to PC)- USB 3.0 x2- USB 2.0 |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Dimensions | 5.12 x 9.76 x 0.89” |
| Weight | 1.51 lbs. |
| MSRP | $399 |
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