Gigabyte Notebook Features External Graphics

Gigabyte Notebook Features External Graphics

Gigabyte has introduced its M1305 notebook, which features external graphics via a docking station. The Booktop M1305 has a 13.3-inch screen (1366x768), Windows 7, and is available with Intel Core 2 Duo, Pentium, or Celeron ULV processors. The notebook itself features integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, however its docking station features an Nvidia GeForce GT 220 graphics card.

Other features of the notebook include an eSATA/USB combo port, HDMI, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 320 - 500GB hard drive. The M1305 weighs four pounds and measures 13" (H) x 9.1" (D) x 1.2" (H) with a six-cell 3800mAh battery. Gigabyte claims it can get up to six and a half hours of battery life. There is no word on availability or pricing at this time.

Full Story (DVHardware.net)
Via (Engadget.com)

 

I like how you can easily swap the optical drive for more battery life. We need to see more companies do this, beside Lenovo, and the few other that offer it on their business line.

 

I feel like I have seen that notebook somewhere before in another brand's clothing...

 

This is what many users are looking for. They may not want to have a gaming laptop that is a monster and so purchase a notebook like this that has all the "gaming-ready" components except for a powerful GPU and is still mobile. Then they can just connect it to a docking station and it becomes a gaming system.

This offers a lot of flexibility and who wouldn't want that?

 

Interesting concept.

I am wondering the range of the GPUs you can use on this, cause the GT220M is not much of a power thing.

 

External graphics as a GT220 that's embedded in the docking station. Not external graphics as in connect whatever GPU you want.

 

Then the point of this is just to up a little the graphics?
I thought it was like the ViDock that at least has a good GPU inside and IIRC can be upgraded

 

Although this dock does have ViDock-type capabilities, I think that was not really the point of it. The main focus of this dock, is, well, just a dock - except in making the dock, they decided to add another feature to it, to make it even more useful for consumers.
Think of it as if Lenovo added a GPU to its UltraBase for Thinkpads - at heart, the main purpose is still a port-dock, with video-out along with a plethora of other ports, not a ViDock device.

I do wish this was more of a trend - putting a powerful external graphics solution in a notebook's dock, so one can have 3D capability at the desk, and long battery life on the go. The advantage of this solution over switchable graphics is that then the laptop would not be limited by cooling constraints that a switchable graphics solution would still impose on laptop design.

Imagine a small Thinkpad X200 docked on an UltraBase with a top-of-the-line GPU for powerful CAD rendering at the desk, while maintaining ease of portability for the business user, letting him take it easily to the next meeting.

 

First it was Fujitsu now its gigabye.

Can we get this thing in a mainstream brand option? Man, i hope Dell, HP, Asus or someone actually makes the jump to utilize this tech

 

Product page says GT220 in the dock - not GT220M:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Notebook/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=3233

Really need to see the inside of the dock to draw any conclusions.
Even if the card is soldered in, it might be easy enough for a laptop tech to desolder it and add a PCI-E x16 slot like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Flexible-PCI...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5189d68ca9

 

The only nVidia product that has GT220 in the name is a mobile product. The desktop line up is purely GTX and GTS.

OOPS...I appear to have been corrected!

 

Here's nvidia's product page for GT220:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gt_220_us.html
Looks to me like a desktop card.



This picture from gigabyte's site suggests interesting things. Most of the connectors are on the left side including the power connector. On the video you can see the other side of the dock - there's a DVI port there. A suspiciously long gap is left between all the connectors/psu and the other end of the dock.
I'll say it again - need to see the inside.

 

Here's the other side of the dock:


Here's the suspicious gap with cooling in the middle:


Notice how DVI and HDMI sit together like on a desktop card.

 

Any internal pics yet?

 

From Gigabyte's specs:
Dimension 328.7 (W) x 230 (D) x 29.3 (H) mm
Dock is at least 15mm wider than the laptop on each side so its' width would be at least 360mm or around 14.2 inches

From Nvidia GT220's specs:
Height 4.376 inches
Length 6.6 inches
Width Single-slot
The gap shown in the last picture takes half of dock's width if not more, which works out to be around 7.1 inches - desktop card should easily fit into the space.

The "stencil" uncut dvi and hdmi slots on the back of the dock could be there for GT220M as that would be the amount of space required for an MXM card.

 

That would be an interesting concept in fact.

But that would destroy tons of laptop with GPUs...you get a cheaper IGP, and good CPU and screen, plug it in to an external GPU and there you go...i think that is the reason why it has not been implemented yet...

 

I don't know about anyone else, but this could easily be my next laptop. It has all of the advantages with non of the disadvantages. Great battery life with an extra battery slot, very thin form factor, and great graphics to boot.
Sure the graphics can only used when you have it docked, but i have a feeling that most people wouldn't be using them with out having their computer plugged in at their desk anyway. So much versatility out of this little guy.

And as Red Dragon mentioned, other companies really need to start doing this. It lets us have portable computers during the day when we need them but still go home to something that can play Crysis.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=gt+220&x=0&y=0

 

Sure would be sweet if it were a small form factor desktop card. Mucho power for a laptop. Relatively speaking.

I like this idea too. Put all the heavy cooling pipes, fins, and fans in the dock. Let the computer remain light and efficient when not at home.

In the link above, the small form factors do have the DVI and HDMI placed right next to each other, with the VGA connected via cable. Hmm.

 

This puts things inperspective.
Now i am fairly certain that it is a desktop card.
The question remains as to how it gets connected to the chipset (GS45).
Connection to NorthBridge at more than x1 would be wishful thinking
In any case, it looks like with some dock butchering skills and a separate power supply you should be able to add any card you like.

The other thing is that it doesn't seem to need an external monitor to utilize GT220. This suggests that the desktop card inside the dock has an LVDS port in addition to DVI, HDMI and VGA. Unless, of course, there are custom drivers involved, which i very much doubt...

For more pics see:
http://translate.google.com/transla....oc.com.tw/ocitview.asp?gitid=1096978&prev=hp

 

Well, then imagine the potential for a major OEM to implement something like this and introduce it to the mainstream - if it were made well and marketed properly, I'm sure many people would buy such a product, especially nowadays as main-stream consumers are losing interest in desktops and turning to laptops.

Lots of profits for whoever does it well and does it first!

 

I actually kinda like the idea Midnight Sun described as an option for folks who would be interested in it ... but I wonder how many people would actually purchase it? I can't picture businesses buying these things en masse, so that leaves the non business consumers. Possibly too small a market?

Still - I think it is a good idea.

 

Some bad news from here:
http://www.mybestlaptop.org/gigabyte-m1305-laptop-feature.html#more-3357

Don't know where the guy has the info from but he states that the video card is only wired at x1 - no good.

 

Then it's just a copy of the Vidock.

No point getting it if it's only 1x.

Better to buy a light notebook and rig together a DIY vidock (possible 8x bandwidth) or buy a Vidock.

 

I won't be impressed with these docking stations until they really start pushing what kind of graphics is in the dock itself to top of the line. The Fujitsu Amilio did a great job of doing that, despite the meh performance of using an AMD Turion system. This isn't that impressive graphics wise, but a good step. Funny thing is though, you can get one of those new Sony 14" widescreen computers with a GT230M, 4 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD, T6600 C2D for under $900, not to mention the white one they got is really pretty *sparkle eyes* It's not as thin, but it's got more umph on the go.

 

I agree with mobius.

This thing needs to be pushed to have at least a good mainstream (dreams with ATI 5770HD) GPU inside.

 

The GT220M is no slouch. It's either directly re-branded or similar to the 9650M GT, which should be considered well above any basic media machine and into a true gamer's option. It may not run games like Crysis all maxed out but it will still run modern games to an enjoyable level. For a 13" notebook that's not too shabby This is very cool indeed, imo.

 

it's on sale now, the GT220 is the desktop version and uses a proprietary PCI-E 4x connection, wich should supply plenty of bandwidth... according to this japonese site it scores 5237 in 1280x1024 resolution:

http://translate.google.com.br/tran...c.com.tw/article/1001/readarticle.asp?id=7063

 

Wait, so this will allow to use the actual laptop screen to game while connected to the dock? Or am I just completely mistaken......

 

no, in the use of the docking station you must connect an external monitor.

 

I'm really interested in this laptop. Does anyone have it and can do an in depth review or know of some decent reviews? The only vendor I have found for it (in the US) is Amazon. Are there other options?

Also, I'm looking for a laptop for light use on the go, but can drive two 1080p monitors at home. I do some gaming, but nothing more demanding than SC2. Any other options I should consider?

 

consider this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html

 

I started reading that thread. It looks interesting, and I'll spend some more time looking it through.

I'm curious how people are liking using a ViDock as the only docking station. I imagine you'd need a hub to connect to kb/mouse, sound, etc. And you wouldn't be able to get ethernet or power. Also still interested in seeing decent M1305 reviews if anyone knows of any.

Thanks!