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“I think it is a big opportunity. We have two strategies at Nvidia: one is to put graphics everywhere, the other one is to [find more ways to] integrate discrete chips into the box. I think there is definitely a place for [external graphics cards for notebooks], no question. We continue to look at whether this is a GPU [docking stations] or external devices,” said Rene Haas, general manager of the notebook GPU business at Nvidia, in a brief interview with X-bit labs.

A high-ranking executive from Nvidia Corporation. said that it considers external graphics adapters for notebooks a big opportunity even though the company does not offer such products at the moment.

It’s not everyday that we can say there’s external laptop GPU love in the air, but right on the heels the appearance of the Gigabyte M1405 with its GeForce GT220 dock, NVIDIA is expressing interest in external laptop GPUs as well. Manager of notebook GPUs Rene Haas told X-bit Labs that he thinks external graphics adapters for laptops are a “big opportunity” for NVIDIA, though he noted the drawback of their high price tags. We assume he is referring to AMD’s ATI XGP box (or Fujitsu Siemens’s Lasso) which is the only one available — the ASUS XG station (pictured above) that seemed to vanish into thin air after its brief appearance at CES 2008. Either way, Haas very clearly states that the large market appeal of affordable external GPUs is just his opinion, though we’re going to assume his opinion holds a bit of water in Santa Clara.

“I think, the issue that has to be solved for something like that is the right price-point that hits the right segment. There is definitely a lot of interest in it and [this is] something we are keeping our eye on to be able to offer something there,” said Mr. Haas.

Unfortunately, Nvidia does not reveal any concrete plans on the matter and it is unclear when the company could introduce its own external graphics technology for notebooks. As a result, the only thing for sure is that Nvidia is keeping an eye on such market opportunity.

“This is my opinion, I cannot say much about our plans,” added general manager of the notebook GPU business at Nvidia.
Source:engadget.com,xbitlabs.com