Gigabyte M1405 spied hauling around its external GPU
By Ross Miller 
posted February 8th 2010 3:45AM
posted February 8th 2010 3:45AM
posted February 8th 2010 3:45AM
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That's some wagon its draggin'.
Obligatory 'I like, big, butts and I cannot lie......' comment.
@TC I hate big butts on my laptops, the adamo's is as big as I'd go
@thunderbollock GIGABUTT?
@thunderbollock Specs for the device go a little something like this: 14-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution TFT LED, Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300, Up to 4GB memory and 500GB storage Windows 7, Intel GMA 4500MHD in addition to the external GeForce GT220. More Info: http://bit.ly/giga-laptop-for-you
How does that dock connect via PCI x16?
@thescreensavers The necessary hardware was probably added for this dock and laptop unlike normal laptops which were never designed to have and external card to be tacked on.
But in reality, people have been able to hook up a desktop graphics card through a regular laptop's express-card slot or even the mini pci-e slot (sometimes both for x2) and get really good performance from the setup.
Google: Vidock 2 which costs $200 w/o card, or if your really ballsy, Google DIY Vidock which costs from $77 to $180 depending on how ballsy you are.
@joebob i checked out vidock, looks damn cool, but sadly not available in the UK, which is where i am. damn.
@brrip
You could always try a diy vidock...
Go Here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418851
These guys figured out how to do it for half the price (A little more and you can do PCI-E x2), all you really need is a laptop made in the past few years, this part, a video card, a power supply, and the willingness to try it out.
@joebob
Wow very interesting
My Toshiba A300 does have an express card slot, and this could be a great way to get crysis to run better! hehe
I dont see anyone else using a Toshiba A300, but Ill look into it more. How did I not know about this before :O
I don't think I'd mind the donk if it was packing say a radeon 5850 or better, or a GTX285 or better, but a GT220? wut... they minus whale have gone the integrated GT2X0m or GT3XXm route
@(Unverified) Minus whale? Might as well?
@inimicus ah, that must be it
@Luffy
While I agree with you for the most part, you also need to consider the fact that an SU7300 would severely bottleneck a GTX285 or HD5850. A GT240 or GTS250 would have been a lot better, though.
@Luffy
Epic spelling fail
@toast
No, epic grammar fail. I think he meant to say "they, minus the whale, have gone the integrated GT2X0m or GT3XXm route". I guess the whale isn't interested in this technology.
@Luffy I said minus whale on purpose. It's a running joke on a forum I post on, and I know I've abused it when I intentionally say minus whale outside of that forum
@Luffy Well, there's little point using an "inside" joke "outside," isn't there?
@Luffy u oh?
So the Alienware 11x can pack a GT335m in what essentially is a 12in body, but this 14in machine can only pack a GT220? I find something wrong here.
@Patlex Took the words right out of my mouth...
@Patlex Actually, it only packs intel integrated graphics. The rest is in that cancerous growth.
@Ducman69
Its only cancerous due to the small plutonium reactor's poor shielding.
a 20kilo brick for a gt220m? ha? what?
@Patlex
Presumably they think some people might rather buy this to have both a practical notebook and a gaming machine in 1, over buying a small, light and underpowered netbook for on the road plus a dedictated gaming system at home. Alienware laptops aren't exactly known for their portability, battery life or price.
But I do have to agree that it's a pretty stupid idea
@drange I already posted this but it didn't come up. Asus has a nearly identical specs model save for hybrid graphics with a Geforce 210. Its not quite as powerful as the 220 of course, but its a thin and light device, its always with you, and scales well w/ the processor (which has a built in overclocking option as well).
@drange Someone needs to educate themselves on the M11x as well as the engadget comment system
@Broderbund
Are you serious? I'm looking at the M11x right now but I wouldn't even consider thinking about taking that monster with me on a train or something. But then again, I never got the point of a portable game system anyway (except for handhelds of course).
1st post here by the way, which is why I missed the reply buttons :-/
@drange Why? It's smaller than this laptop on its own AND the graphics card is twice as good as the external one for this... Are you not getting something? Unless you simply mean you aren't a fan of it's aesthetics.
@Shokz
I like my laptop to be small, light, to run cool, and to last long on a battery, while still packing enough CPU power and peripherals to be able to run everything *except* games. Beefing up a laptop so it can play games is silly (or at least that's what I think), at home you're better off with a normal PC or a console, and on the road I don't play any games that need a big fat GPU and an ugly case to accomodate all the noisy fans inside.
Laptop for games = only downsides, if you ask me. You'll get an expensive system that compares badly to much cheaper laptops for common tasks, compares badly to (again much cheaper) desktop PC's for gaming, and will probably be outdated for many games within a year or 2 anyway.
@drange You must have looked up the wrong device, the M11X is tiny, much smaller than this 14" machine.
Its so small that people were even mistakenly calling it a netbook, but it has the performance of much larger laptops.
Interesting thing but I'd prefer external removable PC video card with extra laptop cooling fans made in the form of a laptop stand.
But can I mod in a gtx 285?
Looks like I'm still waiting for a lappy with a good dock for external graphic. I personally love the idea, everyone is hungup on the graphics card, I care about the screen. Put one of the best screens in a laptop and I'll buy it with an average graphics card if it's an external that I can scrap the graphics card dock in a few years, then I still have my lovely screen that I've invested in. So, I'm maintaining a budget, while allowing myself maximum ability to upgrade going forward, however part of this actually also relies on packing more than just the graphics card in the dock but my brother, who works in IT, was only a few months ago giving me wet dreams about such things.
@juanvaldez
Thinkpad T series have integrated, discrete, or hybrid GPUs and docks with user replaceable external graphics cards. Latest T series support 2 external monitors, and probably another 2 on dock.
@sdduck I think I'll also be waiting for prices to come down on the use of docks, it'll have to hit close to mainstream prices. 220 for a dock is a lot to me, especially without other compelling features such as on-board hosting of a CPU. Only way I'd guess that would happen is if desktops are out for the future, then consumers wake up and start asking for a way to conserve their $ and their waste system waste upon upgrading. Manufacturers aren't going to randomly start to push these when it isn't really in their long-term interest/business model. Therefore, it may be another endless wait for me.
I doubt theyll be selling many of these.
At least it's a dock. I think we've seen better. To be honest this would be a solid idea if there weren't better solutions. Discrete graphics would remain on larger laptops while thin and lights only got GMA. Thank God for Ion.
This is gonna be the new trend, external graphic.
Its quite disappointing to see the hardware producers show little interest in this.
@Tsu Wont help their business-model & profitability to push it, which is all capitalism is good for, maintaining and growing profits. This trend will need to be consumer-driven, a green solution, and/or get new competition into the mix that has this as their model.
External graphics on laptops is a tech that just has to keep coming, and keep getting better. Solid gfx is pretty much the only thing big bulky desktops have going over laptops anymore. Once laptops can dock to powerful external gfx chips, then desktops can go out to pasture.
Of course this particular one is a joke. That is a huge box for a 220. It has 'kludge' written all over it.
@glennS "Solid gfx is pretty much the only thing big bulky desktops have going over laptops anymore."
I think you forgot: price, upgrades (at least I can show my parents how to do most things in a desktop without getting a glazed-over their eyes look), form factor that doesn't produce as much waste assuming you plan on keeping it for upgrades, cooling ability, amongst others.
@juanvaldez
No, I am not forgetting about those things. I just don't put as much value on those as much as I do on the compactness and power efficiency of a laptop. I know that you can build a quiet, efficient desktop. I've build a few of those for HTPCs.
But, about the only parts in a laptop that you can not expand/upgrade are the CPU and the graphics. If you can now upgrade the graphics, then I think that is pretty good. I've been building PC for over 20 years, and most of the time when I have been ready for a CPU upgrade, most of the rest of the system had to be upgraded as well anyway. If not because of a cpu socket change, then just because the other components had also become obsolete.
@juanvaldez
How about an upgradeable dock.
An external GPU, and the GT220 is the best they can do? That's really pathetic.
@FuturePastNow
Not really, if they are using the same bridge thats used for express card and mini-pcie, which is PCI-E1, thats probably the BEST they can do, any more would be wasteful.