Asus shows the future of graphics

EVEN THOUGH THE SHOW hasn't started yet, I will go out on a limb and pre-announce the INQ's CES award for the most useable and computer-experience changing product out there.

You might think that I am nuts, but this product is pretty much the herald of the future and we know at least one executive in the industry who will be thankful for it.

Asus has shown us the XGstation, or an external case for PCI Express graphics cards. Yes, when this pup comes out, we won't be stuck in a living hell called Intel Extreme (slow) Graphics or that integrated graphics thing which barely shows Windows, yet alone something more complicated.

XGstation connects the graphics card tucked in a external box with any laptop that can fit an ExpressCard. Box right now comes with 120W PSU, but the guys are evaluating 150W ones as well. Because of the better cooling environment, this box could prove to be an ideal house for the 8800GTS graphics card, or the upcoming R600XL board, thus offering extreme graphics performance on a notebook.

With this baby, you could forget about desktop computers, because now even a sub-notebook could serve you well. Imagine having a 12.1-inch laptop with on a road, and a 24-inch monitor, surround speakers and everything else you need for gaming - back at your desk at home.

All of the R&D is being finalised now, and mass sampling should start in April/May. Expect that this product will be a big hit at CeBIT 007, with availability set around Computex Taipei in early June.

As far as I can see, the XGstation has only one problem. The design of the product is so typically Taiwanese, I cannot imagine carrying it around with my Samsung notebook, or Asus' spanking new Lamborghini,or their gaming notebooks.

Guys, put some carbon fibre style casing and dim the colours a bit and you'll be fine. µ