To make a presentation for school or work, work with some numbers, or do some extensive watching of movies or tv shows on Hulu, Netflix, or other entertainment providers, ultramodern or ultrasmart looking laptops or notebooks are alright. But when the job description for your favorite notebook or laptop changes dramatically, for example, playing games or designing 3D models or working on AutoCAD, etc., they will not sit well with your laptop or notebook. In this article we will give a complete guide about external graphics card for laptop.
In case you find that you are suddenly in a situation where you have work with graphics-heavy software for 3D rendering or HD video processing, you will need a muscular graphics unit. As a result, you now have an external graphics unit that can be attached to your favorite ultrathin and ultramodern notebook or laptop via a Thunderbolt 3 port. Once a unit is attached to your laptop it turns things around, and you suddenly will have a killer machine with a killer external graphics card for laptop. We have arranged a list for your convenience to read about the available and mostly used or mentioned external graphics cards for laptop.
External graphics card for laptop: Asus ROG XG Station 2
The size and weight of the price of Asus ROG XG Station 2 are bigger than its peculiarly and unusually bulky size. But that is it for an initial ‘price tag’ shock of the millennium. Once you are over with the numbers on the price tag and have opened the box, you will find an external graphics card for laptop that is awesomely packed with ports and features. We will look into the details now.
Design
Asus works really hard to showcase their skills in surprising its customers. They can even create potential customers from occasional window-shoppers. The package has such an impact that it will make you try it out for once in your lifetime. Asus ROG XG Station 2. The external graphics card for laptop is inside a box with thick lines going haywire as a design printed on the back, sides, and front of it. It is to show that the circuitry of the card inside the box has gone wild and is like a massive scale massacre. It is senselessly powerful.
The box’s outlook is as if it is from the future; it is stylish and chick. But that is not all. The real experience starts when you plug the monster into your notebook or laptop. Once you start the laptop the red colored Tesla coils come to life like a three-headed Cerberus. The inside of the box is lit crimson with light, which is pulsating red.
External graphics card for laptop cheap: Ports & Accessibility
There is one Thunderbolt 3, four USB 3 ports, one type B USB 3 port, Gigabit Ethernet port, and a power port in the rear. With a powerful GPU, you will be able to support HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
This GPU is one of the external graphics cards for laptop that can be easily opened. All you need to do is slide the long button at the top right side and slide the button in the direction of the rig’s back. The two sides are far apart—enough space to slide in the graphics card unit.
Compatibility &Value
It is fully compatible with Lenovo ThinkPad T470.
This is one of the most expensive external graphics cards for laptops in the market at USD 549.99. But with only 40 more USD, you can find actually a station with a built-in GTX 1070 GPU. With the ROG station, the price will add up to USD$ 969.98 in total.
Razer Core X
Razer becomes more affordable and streamlined after a visit to the lab. Now at USD$ 299, Razer Core X will give you a chassis bigger in size, and the size of it is just perfect to fit in massive cards such as Nvidia GeForce Titan V, but there will be no ethernet or USB ports. Core X external graphics card for laptops works really well with Mac computers. Core X does not have any color customization feature.
Design
The size of the station is something to be surprised about. The laptop’s external graphics card will give you quite a surprise with its 14.3 pounds weight and a dimension of 14.7 x 9.1 x 6.6 inches. It is the best-suited enclosure for the humongous Nvidia GeForce Titan V card. But the change you will see is not just the size. There is neither any USB 3 ports nor any Ethernet at the backside. It has a Thunderbolt 3 port and a port for power input. It has a three-headed snake emblem and a grate, and the whole thing is made of CNC aluminum.
Ports Compatibility& Value
There are only a Thunderbolt 3 port and a power input point at the Core X’s back.
Just like Core V2, the external graphics card station for laptops will work with Thunderbolt 3 notebooks. This also is the first external station that supports MacBook.
Razer’s Core X is one of the most inexpensive external graphics card stations for laptops at USD$ 299. With this, you will get a box that can house some fierce and viciously powerful graphics cards out there. But the absence of color lighting customization and USB and Ethernet ports may disappoint you. This is the most affordable option you will ever find in the market. You cannot swap the default card, and that is why you may want to buy another one in the long run.
Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box: External graphics card for laptop
Design
The external graphics card enclosure for laptop – Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box is, without a doubt, is one of the cutest and best-looking external graphics card station for a laptop. It weighs only 5.2 pounds, and its dimension is 6.4 x 8.4 x 3.7 inches. As we can see from the previously discussed enclosures for external graphics card for laptop, it is the smallest in dimension.
It is made of aluminum black matte in color. A logo that is chrome and silver in color fashions on top and front of the box. The grates on both sides of the enclosure ensure nice airflow in and out of the system. This also acts as a see-through for the viewer to take a peek inside the box. It has a mini carrying case in case if you want to carry this with you.
External graphics card for laptop cheap: Ports &Accessibility
Although its size is not that big, it sure comes with a lot of ports on it. As usual, there are 3 USB 3 ports, one orange USB 3 for fast charge, one HDMI, two of DVI 2 ports, one DisplayPort. One power port and one Thunderbolt 3.
This external graphics card station for laptop is not like the others. It has a card by default installed. It is sealed, and that is why you do not have the option to change the card in the future if you wanted to.
Compatibility &Value
This external graphics card enclosure for the laptop was only compatible with ThinkPad T470. Neither the Blade Stealth nor the MacBook pro 13 recognized the enclosure.
At first look at the price tag on the box for the external graphics card for laptop, without prior knowledge, you may think of it as one of the priciest tags on just a case! But wait a minute! There is also a full-fledged graphics card inside of it. Therefore, including a powerful card, the box for the external graphics card for laptop stands at USD@ 589.99, and it turns out that it is one of the cheapest in the market.
External graphics card for laptop in 2020: Sonnet EGFX Breakaway Box
With Sonnet EGFX Breakaway Box, you do not really get a fancy box for an external graphics card for a laptop in terms of design and port. But it is super easy to open the box and then install the external graphics card for a laptop. It is just alright for the people who do not care about the best looking or the best one out in the market and want to play some games.
Also Read: Asus Rog Zephyrus G15
DesignAccessibility &Ports
This box will not give you a jaw-dropping experience in terms of features or ports or design. It only has a bit of soft rounded at the edge design with an ‘S’ shape design lighted with blue backlight. Its dimension is 13.4 x 8 x 7.3 inches. It weighs 7.1 pounds. This enclosure feels very wide and needs some mentionable space on our table. Latices that metal makes sure that there is enough airflow in and out of the box.
It is very minimalistic in terms of ports. There is only one Thunderbolt 3 and one power input port on the box.
It is effortless to get inside the box. Just unscrew to bolts that are black from the back and take out the top to slide your favorite external graphics card for laptop.
Compatibility & Value
Again, in terms of compatibility, only ThinkPad T470 worked wonders with this enclosure. You may need to install the driver to get the box work with your laptop to recognize the laptop’s external graphics card.
This enclosure for an external graphics card for laptop is the winner of the price, which stands at USD 258.99. The next is to install a good external graphics card for the laptop, and your cost will stand somewhere around USD 680.
AKiTiO Node
This enclosure for external graphics card for laptop is something you get exactly what you pay your money for. The design is very dull. Besides, it worked only with two different laptops run on Windows out of all the ones we tried. It hardly has any ports.
Design
In the beginning, we had boxes like Razer Core and Asus ROG, and at the end of the list, we have AKiTiO Node. It isn’t easy to understand exactly was the company is trying to achieve. This box is made of black aluminum, and the only attraction it has is the ‘A’ sign in front of the box that stands for Avengers of Marvel, and for what reason this box uses the ‘A,’ it is not understandable. But it is very spacious with a dimension of 16.9 x 8.9 x 5.7 inches. Itt has enough openings for nice airflow in and out of the box. Another aspect is its serious weight at 10.8 pounds. So, in the list, it is the longest external graphics card enclosure. You will have to make way for this and remove some objects from your desk if you want to use this.
Also Read: Gigabyte Aero 15 Oled
External graphics card for laptop cheap Ports& Accessibility
Just one Thunderbolt 3 and one power input port are all that this box has to offer to you.
Opening this enclosure for an external graphics card for laptop is a serious headache. There is large handle that makes you think of pulling outward than pushing it inward. After installing the graphics card inside, there was another ordeal putting everything back together as they were from the beginning.
Compatibility & Value
At this point, it would seem to you that all the companies fascinated the ThinkPad T470 when they were building all the enclosures. Again, this box only works with the ThinkPad.
Again, this box wins with a price tag of USD 268, and there is no graphics card inside. So, once you buy and install one, the price will jump up to USD 688.98, and then Aorus Gaming Box will beat it in price tag.
Also Read: Dell Xps 13 Review
