Are external GPU's viable now ?

[Silent_Scone]

In fairness if you're going that extra mile and using an external screen, you may as well just go desktop.

 

[Bantu]

Having an external display is just a good quality of life change.. at work for example we have laptops with docks connected to kb+m and 2 screens.

I like the external enclosures as it means you don't have to sacrifice portability for performance. You can have an easy to carry around laptop for work and such like and then come home to a powerhouse (less of an issue now with the Pascal GPUs).

 

[JediFragger]

Having an external display is just a good quality of life change.. at work for example we have laptops with docks connected to kb+m and 2 screens.

I like the external enclosures as it means you don't have to sacrifice portability for performance. You can have an easy to carry around laptop for work and such like and then come home to a powerhouse (less of an issue now with the Pascal GPUs).

Agreed, must be convenient (and as you say, the mobile Pascal chips are powerful enough to run a good quality monitor now )

 

[Bantu]

As the average age of gamers increases ( i believe it's in the 30s now) i only hope we see more and more "sober" gamer laptops.

 

[varkanoid]

Having an external display is just a good quality of life change.. at work for example we have laptops with docks connected to kb+m and 2 screens.

I like the external enclosures as it means you don't have to sacrifice portability for performance. You can have an easy to carry around laptop for work and such like and then come home to a powerhouse (less of an issue now with the Pascal GPUs).

This is why it fails though. External GPU's are only attractive to laptop users. Desktop users dont want them. They spend all their time making the rig look beautiful even when most of its hidden inside the case and you cant see it. No way are they going to want a fugly box plugged into it.

That leaves laptop users. When you can now get laptops with a GTX 1080 inside who's going to want an external GPU even if they are bigger ? Its been tried before and no one buys them. Portability you might say. Trouble is numbers again there wont be many wanting to buy it for this reason.

Nothing to do with external GPU's but who would want one in a laptop when you can get something like this

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ROG-GX800VH/

 

[Combat squirrel]

In fairness if you're going that extra mile and using an external screen, you may as well just go desktop.

No not at all - Im a full time photographer videographer - if i can do some work on the road then just plug in at the office then have bigger screens and pick up my work exactly where I left it - thats what I want.

Having an external display is just a good quality of life change.. at work for example we have laptops with docks connected to kb+m and 2 screens.

I like the external enclosures as it means you don't have to sacrifice portability for performance. You can have an easy to carry around laptop for work and such like and then come home to a powerhouse (less of an issue now with the Pascal GPUs).

Agreed and my point above - its quality of life in the office - and also as mentioned i can just pick up where i left off, right now i have to keep to copies of all files on a project on both machines - several hundred gb's usually, then when you open the save file you have to relocate the files

ONE PC PLEASE lol but powerful ! lol

 

[Bantu]

Nothing to do with external GPU's but who would want one in a laptop when you can get something like this

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ROG-GX800VH/

You're probably right that the market is small.. but i see it being distinctly different from those who would buy the Asus notebook...
That's a 17'' 4kg 4cm thick laptop. I see an external enclosure being more for someone who owns the macbook pro or the Asus zenbook.

Small, light notebooks for everyday, with the ability to be extremely powerful when docked.

 

[Bantu]

No not at all - Im a full time photographer videographer - if i can do some work on the road then just plug in at the office then have bigger screens and pick up my work exactly where I left it - thats what I want.



Agreed and my point above - its quality of life in the office - and also as mentioned i can just pick up where i left off, right now i have to keep to copies of all files on a project on both machines - several hundred gb's usually, then when you open the save file you have to relocate the files

ONE PC PLEASE lol but powerful ! lol

yep.. it's the future! eventually.

 

[Combat squirrel]

Nothing to do with external GPU's but who would want one in a laptop when you can get something like this

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ROG-GX800VH/

That's not available, I don't see it for sale.