Gigabyte shows off Aorus GTX 1070 Thunderbolt XConnect box

[HEXUS]

It's quite different to the Gigabyte branded external GPU enclosure from Computex 2016.

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[GinoLatino]

If you need an external box for more power on your laptop, why not get a desktop anyway?

[shaithis]

If you need an external box for more power on your laptop, why not get a desktop anyway?

Because some people MUST have a laptop for everything regardless of whether its the best tool for the job.

It's a mindset that drives me nuts at times.....

[Raven74]

For the persones who already have a powerfull cpu on the laptop(and needs a laptop) and to cut them for the expenses of an powerfull cpu and ram and motherboard and PSU you just pay for the gpu and enclosure which will cost you around 60% of an powerfull PC (with a high end videocard).

[this_is_gav]

It's a very thin market (hence why they've not taken off) but there will be some that want the portability of a laptop but the option to play decent games when at home/uni.

It makes some sense, but as said they'll not sell many and what they do sell won't be cheap.

[Tabbykatze]

The only reason I can see these being employed in is for persons like Graphics Designers or of similar ilk. When they're working, they can get more oomph when doing their job but if they need to present, they can take it to the customers and can make minor/medium changes while onsite if they still have a decent spec in portable mode.

Gamers purchasing this baffles me, enterprise users not so much

[whatif]

I have a Skull Canyon NUC (for my part time work) which I can easily take with me from place to place (a lot smaller and lighter than any laptop/notebook, etc - plus always a monitor or TV I can plug into), and perfect if I wanted to play games instead of taking my big desktop set-up (and worrying about any transport damage), so I thought I could get a eGPU case to give me better visuals.
Even though they have been for sale overseas for quite a while now, these eGPU cases are impossible to buy in Australia.
Example - the US razer site has had them listed since last year, when we do a search on the Aussie site, it initially goes to the US site with the search results. So I click on the core, it then has a epileptic fit, while trying to find it on the Aussie site, then the Aussie store comes up with no core. The only mention anywhere on the Aussie site is on the Blades Stealth webpage as something which is compatible (but only offers a "Notify ME" link instead of a webpage or anywhere to buy. Then try getting a response out of them takes at least a week - quite often longer - always the same answer, "Coming out soon".
Or powercolor's devil box was not able to be sent here until recently. But now it has gone up in price (US$70 over the RRP), shipping costs are extremely high, and to top it off, no Aussie warranty (has to be returned to the US with the same expensive shipping costs both ways even if it is faulty).

So along comes Akitio to the rescue with their small eGPU - the Node - B&H inj the US has it for sale (released shortly) at a fair price and low shipping costs. They offer worldwide warranty (shipping costs covered it the product is faulty) and have a excellent customer service team (have always replied within 1 business day to all my messages).

Whereas razer just keeps saying that it is coming soon, which has left all those here with a discount voucher (from buying the Blade Stealth) very angry and bitter. Then there is the worst of the worst - powercolor has never replied to any of my 40 -50 messages (approx) - eventually managed to get a reply on their facebook page after I posted a very scathing tirade about their non-existent customer service, but their reply were of absolutely no assistance.
The level of concern towards potential customers shown from these 2 companies does not inspire any confidence in their products or them looking after the customer when a problem occurs. After all this, I could not validate any reason to buy any products off either razer or powercolor.

So, to those of you overseas who have the opportunity to easily buy these (and lots of other products we never see), but wish to put these products down, you should thank your lucky stars you actually have easy access to them even if you don't want them.

[DDY]

While the LEDs are a bit bright, I'm glad Gigabyte haven't done the "gaming" red angular plastic tumour job like others.