News - GIGABYTE adds external NVIDIA GeForce graphics to Booktop M1305 notebook

[scaryjim]

Sounds pretty interesting to me, tbh. It's not a perfect solution, but it's got a lot of good points going for it. I personally would still take a desktop + netbook, but this is getting closer to a workable balance of portability on the move, power at home, and convenience of not having to synch many devices.

Until we get reliable high speed mobile internet so we can start storing all our apps and data in "the cloud" (i.e. no additional synching required), there'll remain some kind of market for dockable portable computing...

[Noli]

Really? You guys should check out the ASUS UL80Vt

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3665

It has an Intel CULV 1.3GHz CPU, overclockable to 1.73GHz via a Turbo mode (much faster than atom) and a G210 512MB graphics card (50% faster than 9400M), *as well as* GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics. 14" LED backlit display too. And get this, it has nearly 13 hrs battery (idle) or nearly 9 hrs battery (websurfing). And that's in Turbo mode.

And get this no 2 - the graphics are switchable *on the fly*. So you don't need a dock to play games and it doesn't matter if you're in or out. "Oh I want to play games" - switch G210 graphics on and play. "Finished playing games" - switch off graphics and start saving batteries...

I agree that docking stations can have other benefits but the main one for me would be output to normal monitor, full size keyboard and mouse, so that it's more like using a desktop (when at home). But you could just plug all those into this when you get home anyway.

Sorry to sound like a fanboy but I rarely get enthused about laptops (so many compromises) but I finally think we're at a stage where they have a very good balance between all the things I want (low power but powerful CPU, game playing power and long battery life + portable & light).

[scaryjim]

... and a G210 512MB graphics card (50% faster than 9400M), *as well as* GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics....

... "Oh I want to play games" - switch G210 graphics on and play. "Finished playing games" - switch off graphics and start saving batteries...

I'd be more excited if the G210M wasn't essentially a 9400GT - that means that, even at the relatively low native resolution of the laptop, it'll still be a poor option for modern games. Sure, it'll be better than GMA4500, but it's still no more than an occasional / light gaming solution. I'd be interested to see it compared to a platform-formerly-known-as-Congo notebook, which I suspect could handling light gaming with equal aplomb and lower power drain...

As you say, dockable laptops are far more about connecting up to an external screen / mouse / keyboard: and this is where docking with gfx makes sense: a GT220 is a significant upgrade over a G210, and would let you game @ 1680 x 1050 on an external monitor. The main thing about Gigabyte's implementation isn't the technology inside it, it's that it proves the concept.

[nightkhaos]

The main thing about Gigabyte's implementation isn't the technology inside it, it's that it proves the concept.

Hence why I wish they'd put a graphics card with a bit more kick, just to see what the concept was capable of. Now imagation if Lucid can be make their chips able to add and remove cards on the fly, and couple this with the technology. It will mean that, crazy as it sounds, that you could have a good graphics card, say a AMD 5400 ish, in your laptop, and someting like a 5770 in your docking station, and the Lucid chip will be able to use both of them, giving you the equilevent of say a slightly underclocked 5850 when at home and docked.