At the Computex 2016, Asus unwrapped the graphics card dock ROG XG Station 2, touting it as an external device that can turn any laptop into a VR-ready machine.
Right off the bat, it works just like any other enclosures of this kind: plug it in, and the laptop will have the power of whatever GPU is crammed inside it; remove it, and the laptop will return to normal.
Now the ROG XG Station 2 connects to a device via Thunderbolt 3, and that means only future-proof laptops will have the chance to take advantage of it. Thanks to that, Asus says that it can boost performance up by 15 percent, describing it as an "exclusive proprietary connector."
As for the other connectivity options, it features four USB 3.0 ports and a gigabit LAN socket to boot.
Meanwhile, with a 680W power supply, it can handle even the most recent Nvidia GeForce GTX and AMD Radeon graphics cards — right in line with the rollout of the two more colorful and powerful Strix-branded GeForce GTX 1080.
That pretty much clears up why the hardware maker is promoting it as a device that can make anyone's laptop VR capable, which is a big deal because only beefed-up computers can power up desktop VR experiences.
"ROG XG Station 2 is an external graphics-card dock that turns a laptop into VR-gaming powerhouse," Asus says.
With that said, the new line of Asus Transformers also took a spot in the limelight, and when the ROG XG Station 2 is plugged into one of them, it will instantly become a high-end gaming machine.
Pricing and availability have yet to be disclosed.
It's worth mentioning that Razer also believes that the external graphics card dock market will soon be booming, and that's evidenced by the Core it released recently.
Hit us up in the comments section below and tell us what you think about the new ROG equipment that Asus is bringing to the table.
