External graphics for notebooks, revisited?

Ahead of NVIDIA’s GTC conference next week, rumors are swirling that NVIDIA is working (again) on a flavor of an external graphics box most likely connected via PCI express. Fudzilla, quotes the general manager of the notebook group saying that “[NVIDIA] was working on its version of external graphics.

External graphic processors (GPUs) are not a new topic. For years, NVIDIA and ATI have explored building  powerful external GPUs that would augment a laptop’s capabilities to turn it into a powerful gaming machine (or workstation). With SSDs, processors like Core i5/i7 and with 8GB of DDR 3 costing about $200 (I just got some), uber-fast GPUs seem to be the “final frontier” for some users.

However, although the idea is interesting, the implementation involves a box as big or bigger than a high-end graphics card and an external power supply. In the end, we would like to see someone try it, but we’re doubtful that this is “the future” of laptops. Things aren’t going to get bigger and hotter, but in the meantime it might be a small niche. Now, try convincing laptop makers to add an external PCI port.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers, Top Stories