More details surface for Asus' XG Station

Gaming-inadequate lappies will soon have the chance to grace their ExpressCard slots with Asustek's performance-enhancing XG Station to run (something) like a legit gaming machine. Between our own first impressions and Asustek's newly loosed set of deets, this external GPU should give laptops a sufficient boost, as they'll be bundled with a varied selection of ASUS PCIe graphics cards -- barebones enclosures aren't an option. Aside from the heightened graphical processing and Dolby Headphone-supported simulated 5.1 surround, the XG Station's sizeable screen displays vital system info including the system's master volume, GPU clock speed, current GPU temperature, Dolby Headphone feature status, current actual Frames Per Second (FPS) information, and GPU fan speed Indicator. You can also tweak GPU core overclocking with the hard-to-miss control knob. Pricing on XG-specific graphics cards and XG Station bundles are still unknown, but units are planned ship soon to OEMs and channel partners, with availability to eligible customers sometime next month.

[Via Notebook Review]

[rafa @ Mar 6th 2007 12:57PM]

I need not only this external graphics card, but an external monitor also? Who is in the market for something like this? If it played off the laptop then maybe I'd understand, but if you need this and a monitor, I just don't see it.

[hh @ Mar 6th 2007 3:02PM]

Sure, college students especially. they take their laptop to class, come home and hook it up to get their game on. monitors a pretty cheap too.

[TheChaz @ Mar 6th 2007 12:58PM]

Does anyone know what kind of bandwidth express card has? It can't be as fast as an actual PCI-X slot. I'll be really curious to see benchmarks on this. (Rumored ultraportable MacBook Pro + BootCamp + XG Station = the hotness)

[Pal @ Mar 6th 2007 1:11PM]

I've always fantasized about such devices, but I fear the price. I hope that the card is upgradable (physically not a problem, but it might use some custom software, who knows). Go ASUS!

[tim @ Mar 6th 2007 1:53PM]

I could use this to run multiple dual-link DVI monitors off my laptop. I don't care about games, but I will never buy a tower again and there is currently no decent way to run multi monitors (the Matrox dualhead2go is a joke).

[John B @ Mar 6th 2007 4:57PM]

@tim: "there is currently no decent way to run multi monitors. (the Matrox dualhead2go is a joke"

Uh, you're being the joke, right?

I use the Matrox TripleHead2Go and it's fantastic. There's nothing quite like spreading a 3,840 x 1,024 desktop across three panels from a SINGLE graphics output. I haven't used the DualHead2Go, but I'd be shocked if it was all that different from the TH2G, besides missing the third output, of course.

And for gaming? Sh*t -- there is no comparison. "Ghost Recon" or "Unreal Tournament" using three panels in un-f**king-believable, and those games should be able to run on even low-end laptops that were made in the past few years.

I'd like to see this unit with a TH2G attached. :)

[scott @ Mar 6th 2007 2:12PM]

*Crosses fingers for mac compatibility*

[Juaquin @ Mar 6th 2007 4:43PM]

Keep crossing, man. Not gonna happen. Besides, what game needing such a graphics card runs on Mac?

[4cr JaXs @ Mar 6th 2007 2:19PM]

This thing is quite interesting, to bad my Laptop has no slots. (I have four USB ports thats it)

[Scabies @ Mar 6th 2007 4:32PM]

I dunno, it seems to me that this device, as cool and innovative as it is, will be short lived as long as A: they limit internal hardware to ASUS provided ASUS cards, and B: users are stuck with using a secondary display. This sort of contraption may drive analog input on Laptops, or perhaps digital-video-in (something I've wanted for years!)
...if it wasnt for that damned HDCP, this wouldnt be as much of a dream.

Also I have seen PCIx1>ExpressCard adapters, maybe someday they will take a step out and just make an external GPU adapter card. If it makes any difference (and if OEMs are reading) I would buy one instantly.

[Xenoterranos @ Mar 6th 2007 5:54PM]

It all comes down to the premium over an equivalent bare card. And judging by the fancy enclosure, all the extras, and the no-barebones aspect I bet that premium is going to be huge.
I'd say an 80$ premium over the card alone would be as low as we'd see it. Probably even much higher.

[Alex @ Mar 6th 2007 6:21PM]

I want me one of those, though if a decent 14-incher+the card turns out expensive, I just might go with the latest A8j or the G1 (or whatever their latest gaming lappy is called

[farmboy88 @ Mar 6th 2007 9:15PM]

This will be nice for those who don't care anything about whats in their laptop, they just want to play games. Most laptop's cpu's are fast enough but the integrated graphics just don't cut it. Otherwise it seems kinda pointless...

GO ASUS, I got a G1 and it flies!