I can't begin to say how cool this thing is...External graphics adapter for lappys

[dug777]

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

That is totally awesome, game when you want, batterylife when you want it...

Now i just need a laptop...and a PCI-E gfx card...

 

[PingSpike]

I dunno...you need to use an external monitor which means you can only practically use it at home anyway...like a regular desktop. Given that the graphics card is the most expensive part of a gaming machine, I don't know how much money you're saving with this thing. At the very least, it doesn't let you have your cake and eat it too: The setup itself isn't really any more portable then a small desktop computer.

I can see the appeal to have one machine do it all for you...but I'd rather get a cheaper laptop and make a dedicated home gaming desktop to work along side it.

 

[bennylong]

It will probably cost too much to make it not worth buying.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

I thought about this awhile ago... It's definitly a great idea. donno how well it would catch on though.

 

[KeithTalent]

would be absolutely fantastic if you did not need to hook it up to an external monitor; completely defeats the purpose for me.

KT

 

[BassBomb]

i dont think you will have to connect to another monitor, i think it was just for show that you can do that also

i dont think it would be able to be customizable where you could just buy an enclosure and put any pcie card you want (due to space)

and how is it cooled?

good idea, but i think it wont be implemented well yet

 

[CurseTheSky]

Not a bad idea.

I have a laptop that's about a year, maybe a year and a half old (Moble Athlon64 3200+, ATI X200 Xpress, 512 DDR, 100GB HDD, etc.) It obviously can't handle Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Oblivion, FEAR, or anything of that sort, but it's not bad for playing less demanding games like World of Warcraft, Warcraft III, Dungeon Siege 2, etc. Being able to carry around a graphics card with me would allow me to play games that I normally can't play with it.

I'm sure a more recent notebook (Core 2 Duo, 1GB DDR2, other decent components) would have no problem handling some more recent games, even if you only connected a 7900GS to it.

Not bad for being bored at college between classes

 

[Schadenfroh]

Didnt Matrox have something like this a few years back?

 

[Avalon]

If you have to connect it to an external monitor, and you're already using a keyboard and mouse at home, plus buying this GPU (which will be more expensive than its desktop variant), you might as well just get a decent gaming desktop rig and use your laptop only for simple web browsing or on the go type stuff.

 

[flexy]

do it all for you...but I'd rather get a cheaper laptop and make a dedicated home gaming desktop to work along side it.

thats actually down to the point what i commented on the page


Oh..and btw lets not forget that a HALFWAY nice notepbook usually costs MORE than a desktop...so....now you have an extensive laptop with external docking station, expensive gfxcard, BRICK, cabling, MONITOR....as well as speakers and the whole game.

You will still have bottlenecks (cardbus: pcie-ex 1x !) and otherwise bad components (slow notebook HDs) and otherwise a pretty weird gaming-semi-desktop/notebook...which will end up costing you AT LEAST moret han a decent desktop and will perform WORSE with (probably) a bunch of incompatibilites.

As you said..its much more intelligent to have an el cheapo $399 laptop for your starbucks and school...and then a desktop at home for your gaming.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: bennylong
It will probably cost too much to make it not worth buying.

thats what i was thinking too. this thing wont be cheap.

 

[40sTheme]

This was posted last night as well. Anyways, looks cool, except for the whole external monitor thing.

 

[dug777]

I could have sworn i posted this earlier, but do you have to use an external monitor?

I'd assume that the system would see it as a normal gfx card, and display to the primary monitor as per normal if you wanted?

 

[Zebo]

Pretty lame if you ask me.

To game you still need a real monitor, real keyboard, real mouse...getting close to a deaktop here.. Add the price premium of this stand alone external card you could probably get a CPU and mobo too.

Then there's the 7900GS limitation..pretty lame like 2 years old speeds.

Then you're still strapped down to slow laptop subsystem..mem..bus..disks etc hurting 7900GS experiance even further.

Do the math and you'll see you could get a good desptop and a cheap laptop for same price... (this is what most do BTW)..it's crazy to spend a lot on a basically unservicable laptop needed for gaming thesedays who will always be substandard to a desktop.

 

[jim1976]

As stated above, as long as it doesn't necessarily need an external monitor as well, this is a great idea imho.. But if it does, I don't see the purpose of its existence as well..

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Pretty lame if you ask me.

To game you still need a real monitor, real keyboard, real mouse...getting close to a deaktop here.. Add the price premium of this stand alone external card you could probably get a CPU and mobo too.

Then there's the 7900GS limitation..pretty lame like 2 years old speeds.

Then you're still strapped down to slow laptop subsystem..mem..bus..disks etc hurting 7900GS experiance even further.

Do the math and you'll see you could get a good desptop and a cheap laptop for same price... (this is what most do BTW)..it's crazy to spend a lot on a basically unservicable laptop needed for gaming thesedays who will always be substandard to a desktop.

I'm glad to see that you've no room for innovation or manufacturers to think outside the box

No one has been able to tell be if you need an external monitor, as i understand it, it should recognise and use the card as if it were actually physically inside the lappy?

I think it's an excellent idea, and down the track i can't see why it wouldn't lead to being simply a PCI-E slot that is external to your lappy, allowing you to add whatever card you wanted.

All you'd really need for an excellent gaming machine would be a proper mouse, and who hasn't already got one of them lying around? Most decent lappy screens are more than adequate unless you're a 1337 super hardcore gamer, and i can't see why you wouldn;t be able to use a lappy keyboard (which on 17" models is more than big enough to mash WASD quite happily)...

Anyway, just my 2c

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Zebo
Pretty lame if you ask me.

To game you still need a real monitor, real keyboard, real mouse...getting close to a deaktop here.. Add the price premium of this stand alone external card you could probably get a CPU and mobo too.

Then there's the 7900GS limitation..pretty lame like 2 years old speeds.

Then you're still strapped down to slow laptop subsystem..mem..bus..disks etc hurting 7900GS experiance even further.

Do the math and you'll see you could get a good desptop and a cheap laptop for same price... (this is what most do BTW)..it's crazy to spend a lot on a basically unservicable laptop needed for gaming thesedays who will always be substandard to a desktop.

I'm glad to see that you've no room for innovation or manufacturers to think outside the box

No one has been able to tell be if you need an external monitor, as i understand it, it should recognise and use the card as if it were actually physically inside the lappy?

I think it's an excellent idea, and down the track i can't see why it wouldn't lead to being simply a PCI-E slot that is external to your lappy, allowing you to add whatever card you wanted.

All you'd really need for an excellent gaming machine would be a proper mouse, and who hasn't already got one of them lying around? Most decent lappy screens are more than adequate unless you're a 1337 super hardcore gamer, and i can't see why you wouldn;t be able to use a lappy keyboard (which on 17" models is more than big enough to mash WASD quite happily)...

Anyway, just my 2c

I know I'm digging up an old thread here. (was searching for another post of mine)

The dynamics change if you can use the laptop's screen, it would be marginally more useful. But I saw nothing to indicate it could. The precense of an external monitor suggested it was needed. Additionally, I don't see how the internal monitor could be used anyway. I've yet to see a laptop that had any kind of direct screen inputs. I'm pretty sure the laptops video card and the display electronics are linked to save cost and lose and sort of standard connection in the process. In short...where would I plug the video cards output cable into the laptop?

Obviously it won't ever be serious gaming machine, since the GS isn't to top of the line, and flexy mentioned the laptops deficencies (pci 1x would be a pretty bad hit actually). But with all the trouble, marginal power of the part and additional cost, if you wanted a machine that did it all it seems like you might be better off buying one of those gaming laptops.

Its an interesting gadget...but I just don't think its got much of a market. If it performed well and worked with the laptop display somehow it could occupy a niche in the market even if it cost a lot. But it can't even really do that.

 

[Matthias99]

I've yet to see a laptop that had any kind of direct screen inputs. I'm pretty sure the laptops video card and the display electronics are linked to save cost and lose and sort of standard connection in the process. In short...where would I plug the video cards output cable into the laptop?

You wouldn't. The laptop would see the graphics card as if it was plugged into its own motherboard.

If you designed a laptop specifically to work like this (so you could 'plug in' a PCIe x8 or x16 card externally via some kind of custom connector in a docking station), it might work. But the motherboard/drivers would also need to be able to redirect the output from the 'external' card to the 'internal' display -- in most laptops that display is likely hardwired to the outputs of the onboard video.

 

[Hyperlite]

i think its a great idea, but its slated for sale at $600. Source

and here is the newer DT article on it

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
would be absolutely fantastic if you did not need to hook it up to an external monitor; completely defeats the purpose for me.

KT

 

[LouPoir]

Great idea - just hope it's not expensive --

 

[lavaheadache]

I think you need to use an external monitor. Very hard to tell. Then again they make it sound like you could use the notebooks monitor as well. I'm lost

 

[solofly]

If you wanna play games on the go but a PSP or a Gameboy instead.