If there’s a downside to laptops is that they don’t have the space to fit large-sized GPUs. This means that laptop OEMs need to rely on smaller GPUs that can fit into their computers which can sometimes result in large and heavy laptops, but we suppose that’s the price one has to pay if they wish to game on the go.
That being said, Alienware has recently unveiled the Alienware Graphics Amplifier. This is a large box that weighs around 8 pounds and it basically adds more GPU power to a laptop, such as the Alienware 13 laptop that will be released alongside the Graphics Amplifier. The device will be able to “trick” the laptop into thinking it runs a high-end GPU.
The supported GPUs include NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 600 series and AMD’s Radeon HD 5000 series and will be priced at $299. The downside? Well it seems that the Graphics Amplifier will connect to the Alienware 13 via a proprietary USB/PCIE cable, which means that if you have another laptop, you’d be out of luck.
The upside is that Alienware has hinted that it could be forward compatible in the future, so if you do plan on buying Alienware laptops down the road, we guess the $299 Graphics Amplifier could be a good investment. The Alienware 13 and the Graphics Amplifier will be available for order starting tomorrow, but the amplifier will not ship until mid-November.
[Image credit – The Verge]
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