In an interview with X-bit labs Rene Haas, General Manager of
the notebook business unit at Nvidia, said that the company believes
external graphics for notebooks are a bit opportunity for further
growth.
Haas told X-bit's Anton Shilov that Nvidia has two strategies: putting
graphics everywhere and finding more ways of integrating discrete chips
into products. "I think it is a big opportunity... I think there is
definitely a
place for [external graphics cards for notebooks], no question," said
Haas.
Haas claims the company is looking into whether to go with GPUs in
docking stations or other external devices. Judging by that, it doesn't
seem Nvidia is close to finalizing any design in this department. AMD
announced its external graphics standard, dubbed external graphics port
or XGP almost two years ago, but AMD failed to score many design wins
for its concept. In fact, it got just one, the same one we saw during
the Puma launch in mid-2008. Therefore it is safe to assume Nvidia is
in no rush to launch a similar standard.
Haas did not go into specifics and did not comment Nvidia's plans, but
it is obvious Nvidia is getting ready to enter the market. AMD recently
showcased a DirectX 11 XGP unit and if it manages to secure more design
wins this time around, we have no doubt Nvidia will follow suite, as it
can play it safe and wait for AMD to make the first move.
Mind you, Intel still dominates notebook graphics and neither Nvidia or AMD will be able to upset its position anytime soon, as most consumers simply go for Intel's IGPs and shy away from costlier notebook SKUs with discrete graphics. However, having the option of upgrading Intel's horrid IGPs or recently introduced on-CPU graphics would give users quite a bit more choice, flexibility and upgradeability.
More
here.