CES 2007: First Ever External Video Card (And Other Asus Goodies)

Mon Jan 8, 2007 7:18PM EST

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This bizarre contraption takes quite a bit of explaining, and it's hardly something that every consumer is going to rush to buy. Listen: It's an external video card. Bear with me. I'll explain.

Say your notebook doesn't have 3D graphics (as is the case with many a crippled business machine). But you want to play Oblivion nonetheless. So you just hook up the an external video card (called XG Station, at least for now) via your laptop's ExpressCard slot, and run a cable to an external monitor.

Close the lid and boom, the monstrous XG Station takes over and does all the graphics processing instead of the lame chip inside the laptop. Because ExpressCard has very high available bandwidth, this is now a real possibility.

I saw the XG Station in the flesh, attached to a low-end notebook alongside that same notebook with the XG. Talk about night and day. The XG-equipped machine was running heavy-duty 3D benchmarks without much stuttering. The non-XG machine looked like it was about to catch fire. Whoosh!

As for the dial, it lets you adjust the fan speed, among other things, depending on how hardcore your gaming plans may be. The readout shows temperature, volume, and other stats. No pricing or release date, but it's targeted for a Q2 release.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Asus's hidden little cave of a booth, I got to check out new laptops, including the W5Fe (the one with the tumorous SideShow display, which lets you play music, look at pictures, and even read email headers while the notebook is not only closed but completely shut down) and a whole host of designer notebooks clad in leather of various colors. The high-end Asus Lamborghinis were also on display, along with a sub-two-pound notebook that uses LED backlighting. Nice!

I saw much more but don't have space to blog it all here. Once again, Asus proves itself to be the coolest company with the quietest voice. Watch my blog for more coverage of Asus in 2007!

Comments on CES 2007: First Ever External Video Card (And Other Asus Goodies)

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  • 6 Posted by swgneni on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is EXACTLY what i've been waiting for. I don't have the new money to buy a new laptop and my video card can't be upraded. This will be perfect for me and i can't wait to see the specs =D

  • 7 Posted by elli_yan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:53PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is a wonderful must-have, especially for my laptop with a lame 32MB shared video memory, in running graphics-intense applications like that of windows vista. The bad side on the other hand, I still have to look for a new external display. Shouldn't the developer created one that can still make use of the LCD built-in (and an option to hook it up to an external display and support dual-view) and literally passes off the processing from the on-board chip to the external processor.

  • 8 Posted by masterfurbix on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    something tells me that i will be buying this isn the near future... hopefully it isn't as pricey as im sure it will be if I get one of these then it will be finally worth it to upload my PS2 bios to the PC.... well its either this or the XPS, OR BOTH!!! would that be a sexi combo or what! wellll... i am sooo buying one of these if its affordable

  • 9 Posted by d_dark_prince on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    This thing sounds pretty cool,and expensive:)Totally usefull and practical too(mrmistermarty,u wanna take it to the cafe with you?).Asus rock!

  • 10 Posted by guardianangel071 on Tue Jan 9, 2007 10:17AM EST Report Abuse

    I was just thinnking about this concept the other day. I have a core solo, and in order to keep my battery time to four hours, they stuck in a crappy Graphics card that does me almost no justice, but with this, holy crap, you'd be able to bring it to LAN parties, it will usher in a new era of laptop gaming.

  • 11 Posted by yo4bros on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    its better to ask the geek before bying a computer, if they say if work or i may work in bestbuy still dont trust them ask them if i buy this computer would u help install the game if they do good if not ask one of ur friends.

  • 12 Posted by algertsula on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    It defenetley beats the purpose of having a laptop. Connect it to another screen? What genious invented this. Why would I play a game using my laptop as a keyboard only? Why not use a desktop? Beides you need a suitcase to carry that thing around. Lap top bag won't work. I think it's a dumb idea. Def not a gadget to consider.

  • 13 Posted by xlr829k on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:53PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think this is a decent idea, but you still need an external monitor, this video card (which doesn't look THAT small), your laptop, your laptops AC adapter (as well as the external monitors), and mouse. This is probably a good alternative for people who only have laptops (people who should have bought a full on gaming laptop) If you could run this external video card back to your laptop screen (which you most likely can't) then it would really help laptop owners with integrated video. Just my $.02

  • 14 Posted by neandrithal1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    seriously... hook to another screen? let's think about this concept before we stick it on the market. Loop the signal back to my perfectly fine 15" wide laptop screen and i MIGHT consider it.

  • 15 Posted by paul121784 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    i don't see this making my labtop into a portable gaming system. What i do see it doing is allowing me to play high end games on my laptop whose grpshics card has never been up to par, WITHOUT BUYING AN ENTIRELY NEW SYSTEM. i'll probably be the first in line to get one of these

  • 16 Posted by davidiadarola on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have been waiting for this for years. I will buy one ASAP. When and where?

  • 17 Posted by eagleeatfish on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    My laptop is my work laptop and my gaming laptop. I have a flat screen monitor on my desk so I can share it with my laptop screen. I can't see spending the money that this thing will cost when I spent the money on the laptop. For those with low end laptops, this thing makes your laptop a desktop (since you need a monitor) which I bet you could go out and buy a decent desktop system. By the way, folks that bought the low end desktop was because they lacked funds which will be a hit on this device.

  • 18 Posted by lloydmcfarlin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been hoping for something like this for a long time. For those that don't get it, the idea isn't to haul your laptop with this device in tow to Starbucks. For portability, you would take your laptop without the external graphics. When you're at home, however, you could use the same laptop and play your games. If LAN parties are something you do, it's still less to carry than putting your whole desktop with monitor and peripherals into the trunk of your car. Those that think this is a dumb idea must also think that having a desk, external monitor, backup drive, and base station for your laptop is a dumb idea too since you'd have to haul all of those items with you everywhere you go. Think about it.

  • 19 Posted by smithersprime on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is a terrible idea, first of all the bandwidth of the slot that the vid card plugs into on the laptop wont have the 16x bandwidth as the external slot will. Second of all, mxm, which is mobile express modual is a video card for laptops, which can be easily replaced, and it is a 16x speed. Some laptops have been using these slots for about 2 years now, and because of it, it makes it faster to put laptop video cards on the market. There are also 3 different sizes of mxm slots, according to the sizes of laptop. MXM 3 cards, which are in some 15 and more 17 inch laptops are les expensive than these external cards. For around $400 you can get a 7900 gs with 512 MB of ram from this dude http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/store.html .Basically this concept is ok, but anyone who has a brain should have done their research and bought a laptop with mxm graphics.

  • 20 Posted by correcto_jonas on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    Can anybody tell whether you can connect this gadget to a 32" LCD TV and play games using your laptop's keyboard?

  • 21 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    HOLY COW!!! I NEED 10 OF THESE!!!! HOORAY!!! I CAN FINALLY USE MY OLD LAPTOPS!!!

  • 22 Posted by fantasiajd09 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    I was amazingly excited when I first read the headline, but requiring a hookup to an external monitor drastically cuts down both on the usefulness of this and its potential market. Who is going to buy this? 1) Someone only with a laptop who wants to play games, who will buy a monitor, 2) Someone with a laptop that has higher processor/ram specs than their desktop. Two very very small categories of PC gamers. Like someone else said, make it work on my laptop's screen and I will buy one of these in a heartbeat

  • 23 Posted by slimjunks on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    well, is it portable? imma guess not... but it's still a great idea... when i get one imma throw my whole desk away and sell the desktops...

  • 25 Posted by fujitsu_frank on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    I was wondering when this was going to happen, think about it we have external drives!! Why not a graphics card! Its about time! Its a Playstation on a small scale! Frank

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