I want an External Graphics Station for my iMac and MacBook Pro
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Apr 11, 2008 at 6:22am
PNY is purportedly working on an “External Graphics Station” that, sources tell me, “will likely speak to both Mac desktops and notebooks.”
I don’t have any details, but let’s hope it does come to the Mac and works akin to the Station from Asus (shown). According to Asus, the purpose of the product, which connects via an ExpressCard slot, is this: “When traveling, users prefer thin and light notebook designs and long battery life. At home, they prefer the video processing power a dedicated graphics card brings. With the XG station, users can enjoy the best of both worlds.”
Here’s what Island Gamers had to say about the Asus product: “I’m thinking whether this capability could be used for Desktop machines. Imagine simply purchasing a single unit and plugging it into your desktop to expand your graphics capabilities, rather than having to dig into the internals of your system and pull out the existing graphics card to install a new one.”
Imagine what a product like this would mean to iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, MacBook Air and MacBook users, who can’t upgrade their graphics card. For example, the so-so GPU that Apple ships with the iMac is one of the main complaints about the consumer/prosumer system. An external graphics station that could be connected to the computer when needed for gaming or intensive video work would beef up the computer’s potential while allowing Apple to maintain its svelte design. Ditto for its laptops and the Mac mini.
Of course, I’m not sure how an external graphics station would connect to Macs that have no ExpressCard slot. However, imagine this scenario: a future iMac that has such a slot and a joint Apple/PNY or Apple/Asus or Apple/Nvidia or Apple/ATI external graphics station that connects to it and is sold as an option. Of course, there may be a simpler way to do this, but you get the idea.
Thoughts? Write me at dsellers@macsimumnews.com
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Yacko Says:
I hesitate to mention this cause I don’t want to shill for the companies but Villagetronic already has something like that and Sewell has this:
http://sewelldirect.com/USB-to-DVI-External-Video-Card-High-Resolution.asp
If your USB bus is loafing then you can pump data to a monitor through it. I don’t know how either product compares to a high end video card, but now, with the Sewell product, even a Mac mini can handle two monitors.
Posted on April 11, 2008