External graphics docks or eGPUs will inevitably be a growing threat to gaming laptops

[Redaktion]

The current chip shortage is preventing eGPUs from becoming mainstream. Once it's over, however, we suspect that many gamers will opt for an affordable eGPU over paying 2x to 3x the price for a full-fledged gaming laptop of similar graphics performance.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/External-graphics-docks-or-eGPUs-will-inevitably-be-a-growing-threat-to-gaming-laptops.538181.0.html

[Nick Kuzba]

eGPUs have been out for a long time, but their prices have not fallen significantly.

More importantly, laptops like a a dell or Razer with just an i7 and TB4  have very high prices, which is the reason eGPUs have not taken off yet.

[Dorby]

Not really, at least not until

1. Ryzen U15 and H35, 8C/16T CPU Ultrabooks get Thunderbolt support to be able to take advantage of their speed
2. Thunderbolt gets PCIe Gen 4.0 x8 Lane upgrade to remove bottleneck
3. eGPU cases become a lot more affordable at around $50-100 price point
4. Ultrabooks with iGPU and Thunderbolt gets MUX switches designed specifically for eGPU use
5. Desktop dGPU prices return to normal MSRP and hopefully lower, after the chip shortage ends and AMD RDNA2 becomes more competitive with Nvidia GPUs for Ray-Tracing and DLSS

When this convergence happens all at once in the future? Then surely why not. Who knows, maybe Apple will start making their own discrete graphic cards before that happens.

[Anynome]

I'd certainly buy one if the prices were rational.

[adt_link_R43SG-TB3]

Intel scammy misleading 2 PCIe lane thunderbolt has kept eGPUs from becoming popular in the past. We need AMD to step up.

[Honza]

It makes a lot more sense to just get a second computer. eGPUs are expensive, it's not sure your laptop will support it (and what about the next laptop) or whether you will be able to use the next GPU in it and why would you store games on the laptop's ssd when you need to dock it to play them. You will need a display, keyboard and mouse anyway. I got a second hand fractal node 202 with 1060 for 300 bucks and I'm super happy

[_MT_]

That depends on what you want to do. I can imagine some people using an ultrabook with an eGPU when they need something portable and game only at home. It could potentially also make sense if a mobile chip wasn't enough for you (subject to the limitation of used connection). However, if someone wants a mobile gaming computer (e.g. a frequent flyer), I don't really see them lugging around eGPUs (not to mention monitors). If you don't mind lugging boxes around, you can build a compact gaming desktop. I use Corsair One as a transportable desktop (not cheap but neat). And in your cost analysis, if it can be called that, you're forgetting the cost of a laptop. Many gaming laptops can be used on the go instead of an ultrabook. Yes, it's a compromise. You save some money and you pay with comfort and convenience.

[xpclient]

More than an eGPU, I would like VPU (dedicated Video Processing Unit) that has the best quality hardware encoder for AV1. I would buy that as an add-on for my laptop or desktop.

Even HEVC CPU encoding at x265 Slow for 1080p and 4K finishes in reasonable time but CPU encoding for AV1 is just too painful and processors are unlikely to make double-triple digit gains in encoding it.

[bpse]

Intel scammy misleading 2 PCIe lane thunderbolt has kept eGPUs from becoming popular in the past. We need AMD to step up.

Bitch please , dont blame the limitation of pcie lane on intel. Amd cant even sort out their pcie controller problem for simple usb application.

[ZODD]

Not really OP.
They have been out for a while and they haven't really caught on yet.
The idea is solid but until the get rid of more performance loss when using a laptop internal screen and reduce price  it will always be a niche thing .

[_DOC]

I tend to agree with this article, and would encourage the adoption of more eGPUs, but Notebookcheck needs to start calling laptop makers out for providing inadequate cooling for laptop CPUs.

A laptop maker should not sell you a $450 1185g7 (just the CPU cost) in a laptop with an 18w cooler. It's a scam.

The all-core turbo on an 1165g7 consumes about 50w at 4.1ghz.

[Astar]

 Yet another crap piece of writing by Allen. What will drive eGPUs will be the rollout of USB 4 when AMD will be able to offer it! Simple!

[vertigo]

Personally, I'm really looking forward to getting a USB4 AMD laptop for this very reason. The iGPUs have come a long way, and can handle much of my gaming needs, especially on the go, but it would be nice to be able to have a compact, lightweight, long-lasting, portable laptop that can do handle most of what I throw at it on its own but can have an eGPU attached to be able to play more demanding games. Of course, that would only be something I would use at home or occasionally when traveling (e.g. friend's house, hotel, etc) when I would be able to hook it all up to a TV or external monitor, not when on the move. But it would allow me to just have the one computer (laptop) and no longer need a desktop. Assuming, of course, the laptop manufacturers ever start offering decent amounts of RAM, ideally 64GB but at the very least 32. And a 2.5" slot (or two) would be ideal to be able to make that happen as well, though that's a lot to ask in a compact laptop.

[Gagarin235]

eGPUs are kinda crap ... so far the drop in FPS is significant and  microstuttering is not fully solved even by gsync. I am not sure whether even higher bandwith is ever gonna change that.

[holy]

the comment above is correct, they are crap. they are heavy & slow, you can literally get away with getting a corsair one or msi slim gaming machines. there is no way you can make your notebook more portable-ish with this setup.