I’m extremely surprised that there hasn’t been any mid-range work done on this for laptops with either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt. I know from personal and work experience that a dual-out box that can push the GUI around better than the DualHead2Go would be fantastic, similar to a USB-based video card but with a less bandwidth-constrained environment. Right now, there’s only certain Dell laptops using an E-port that do anything similar.
Seems like the manufacturers are doing really high-end stuff, like Magma’s 3-port 220w beast, which is overkill and over-priced ($700 for the enclosure) for pushing two externals.
Sony VAIO Z [1] does exactly this - it uses Thunderbolt-over-USB-plug to connect external Radeon 6650M and Blu-Ray Burner.
But I'm also waiting for cheap ($200 max) Apple-compatible PCIe enclosure, so I could play newer games on my 13" MBP. I don't really want bigger screen and more weight and don't really need more power that 15" gives, but playing some game from time to time would be nice.
How many with macbooks are up with paying $500 dollars for everything (including the thunderbolt cable?) and $300 for normal people with expresscard slotted laptops (mpcie is tricky, but same price)?
I've been following the project since it was first announced, and while it's interesting, I don't find it particularly useful... I mean, I got a laptop for its mobility, I knew I was sacrificing a bit of graphics performance (although these days the performance loss compared to desktops is unsubstantial). I also don't want a device bigger than my whole computer, with its own power source, sitting on my desk...
As for extending the life of old laptops, well, laptops get old and cheap so fast these days that it's not worth it - the difference between a Quadro FX 770M and FX 880M (which are what, 1-2 years apart), for example, is more than 50% in performance...
I have a laptop as my only computer, and I would love to eliminate its largest flaw relative to a desktop machine. Not to say that you're wrong, just that I think there's a market for something docklike as more and more people have only a laptop.
Agreed. I bought a cheap laptop when my previous computers hard drive failed. Now I have more money, but I don't want to buy a desktop just to play games and then never use my perfectly functioning laptop.
i am waiting for the new Thunderbolt enabled Vidock which will finally put an end to the USB2DVI or DualHead2Go performance and usability restrictions.
Also it will finally enable Macbook owners to just plug in one cable and have a full fledged docking station with Dual Monitor output and good GPU performance without making the macbooks fans spin like crazy!
Other specialized processing boards will probably also have a place when using Thundebolt. I know a couple of people looking to use Red Rocket cards with a external chassis on their MacBooks.
Seems like the manufacturers are doing really high-end stuff, like Magma’s 3-port 220w beast, which is overkill and over-priced ($700 for the enclosure) for pushing two externals.