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AMD external graphics booster appears at CES

High-end graphics in a 13.3" (or smaller) netbook/notebook? It might sound …

One of the technologies AMD's graphics division was showing off at CES 2009 was its external graphics booster. We covered the impending launch of the product as part of Fujitsu's Amilo series of laptops several weeks ago, but there's always a difference between seeing images of a product and the product itself. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a good news / bad news situation. The good news is, Fujitsu-Siemens is already offering the graphics booster as an accessory to its Sa 3650 notebook. The bad news is that it's only available in Europe, the Sa 3650 is the only system where the graphics booster is an option, and at €1199 (on sale) it's not cheap.

The Amilo Sa 3650 has a 13.3" screen and measures 12.5" long, 9.25" wide, and 1.43 inches thick. The graphics booster itself is, well, smaller.

In theory, AMD's graphics booster could allow gamers to select smaller/lighter systems without having to entirely sacrifice gaming performance. Unplug the graphics booster and the integrated (and low-power) graphics system kicks in flawlessly, plug the booster in, and the hardware necessary for gaming is suddenly available. The booster also allows a laptop to run up to three monitor; a relatively rare feature in a thin-and-light.

I'd like to see more companies offering the graphics booster as an option, but there are two significant problems standing in the way of widespread deployment. First, the booster is based on a Radeon Mobility 3870, a product AMD is effectively replacing with the launch of its new Radeon Mobility 4000 series. Second is the fact that laptops must be specifically designed to use the graphics booster.

The booster from the side, with the bottom cooling vent visible. I don't have exact measurements on the booster, but my recollection is that it is taller than the laptop, though not dramatically so.

The good twist on the latter point is that the connector itself is rather simple; laptop manufacturers only need to run a PCIe 2.0 x8 connection to an external port. As far as added costs go, that's probably not a large one, but AMD has never done all that well in the mobile market. Fujitsu's decision to roll the product out on such a limited basis indicates that the company has its own doubts about just how attractive the graphics booster is and isn't willing to risk a full deployment until it has hard data on how the system+booster combination sells.

Personally, I like the concept of an external graphics booster, but I doubt AMD is in a position to popularize the product as even a niche feature in the mass market. A perfectly compatible NVIDIA solution would help; giving users the option to upgrade the box with better hardware would be even better. The big question, and the one that will likely make or break the external graphics booster concept, is whether ATI-built booster technology will be available on Intel laptops. AMD hasn't given any guidance on that question— for the moment, it remains the elephant in the living room.

Update:  I spoke with an ATI product manager this morning (1/14) who confirmed that AMD's external graphics booster will work with an Intel-based product, provided the OEM adds the appropriate PCI 2.0 lanes and external ports. 

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