Is that Samsung one? They put an order for it, but it won’t be for-filled until Middle of 2016. I believe they have something new for the christmas holiday. At least that is whatMary Jo says. She is usually right about these sorts of things.
Yeah Skylake, that is what we need. Broad well barely shipped it was so delayed…
I’d definitely wait for skylake. USB-C connectors will be ubiquitous in all next-generation hardware, and thunderbolt3 could be a transformative technology for gamers.
Also the usual ~10% performance and battery life improvements.
Hum, so it sounds like even with the win10 announcements later this month, the actual sale of Surface4’s isn’t likely for quite a few months still.
So, what’s the hurry? You really need a windows tablet, and prefer that over something like the gorgeouso XPS13?
I need a pressure sensitive pen for artwork. The only other runners up that I’m seeing are HP (spectre 360) nondetachable laptops, but the digitizer isn’t stock, so there’s no real way for me to demo them… the lenovo thinkpad helix2, but the screen is smaller at 11.8" rather than 13… and the Wacom Companion2, but it’s a fair bit more expensive.
Oh, and the hurry is that I spilt saline solution into my old HP TM2’s air vents on my last trip to the US, fried the mobo.
If you get some free time would you be able to elaborate, stusser?
I assume he’s referring to the fact that it will finally enable PCI-Express xWhatever-level speeds to run via cable, opening the possibility for genuinely functional external video card enclosures for laptops.
Ahh, gotcha. Yeah, the surface is the way to go there for sure.
Yes, I’m talking about external GPU enclosures connected to thunderbolt3. This could actually have worked fine with thunderbolts 1 and 2, they also extended PCI-e over a cable, but Intel refused to certify those controllers for eGPU use. Nobody really knows why, it’s a mystery. But they are certifying them with thunderbolt 3.
What this means is you will be able to buy a thin/light/gorgeous notebook like a macbook pro or dell XPS13, and plug-in a single USB type-C cable (thunderbolt3 uses that same USB-C connector) to a little external enclosure with a dual-sized PCI-e x16 slot that provides native enthusiast gaming speeds as well as powering the notebook, storage, and a bunch of external connectivity like more USB ports, chaining thunderbolt, displayport, HDMI, ethernet, etc. Just one cable. No compromises. It will be awesome.
And those enclosures should be available starting under $300. Maybe not right away, although I’m hopeful, but soon enough. They’re a whole new market for OEMs like Asus, MSI, Corsair, etc, to explore. This will be the death of desktop PCs for the vast majority of users. It’s just tremendously exciting.
All waiting on thunderbolt3, which comes with the new skylake intel chipsets on August 5.
Huh. So, not to derail the thread too much, but when do you think we could expect to see console/pc hybrids like the Alienware Alpha (or any other Steam machine) with this tech? Being able to buy a little box to connect to my tv, and then occasionally just update the external video card would be aces.
That depends on how well thunderbolt3 is adopted. Current versions of thunderbolt didn’t see much market acceptance outside of Apple. Thunderbolt3 is fully compatible with USB3.1 and USB-C (and USB can travel over the same port) so my hope is it’s much more common.
If that ends up happening, you could buy a super cheap little laptop and plug in an eGPU. If not, not.
I’d like to see the promise of a (reasonably priced) external GPU finally come to fruition. Been waiting YEARS for that.
Me too, man. Me too.
I would not be holding my breath on this to be working well for a few years.
I also think the market for “add a bunch of clunky extra boxes with fans to your laptop, you know, for videogames!” isn’t that large.
People hacked it together for the past several years and it worked fine. The only real blocker was that intel wouldn’t allow anyone to sell these boxes for eGPU purposes. So they had to be marketed for external RAID controllers and such, and the boxes didn’t have space for dual slots cards or enough power, and people had to hack at them with dremels and add ugly external PSUs. With TB3, intel committed to allowing eGPUs, in writing. They will come out and they will work. Pricing is another question, though.
It’s one extra box that also functions as an all-in-one dock/port expander. Tons of people have USB3 or thunderbolt docks/port expanders. The difference is that now they will also be able to offer native/enthusiast-level GPUs for gaming.
Also don’t get caught up into thinking the form factor must be a large shoebox. It’s totally possible for nVidia and AMD to make their own reference design TB3 boxes with enthusiast GPUs inside and innovative form factors. They don’t need to have full-size PCI-e ports, the whole thing can be neatly integrated. Imagine a little box the size of a sunglass case with the equivalent of a 980M inside. On the back are 2 displayports, 1 HDMI 2.0, 4 USB (2 USB-C, 2 USB 3.1), ethernet, analog and optical audio, and 1 thunderbolt3 daisychain port. It plugs into your macbook retina with a single TB3 cable, USB-C plug, and gives you enthusiast-level gaming, all that connectivity, plus powers the laptop. You can game either on your laptop’s screen or an external monitor (yes, that works too). You wouldn’t be into that?
I would happily pay $600 for something like that. Although I’d prefer the shoebox plus my own GPU personally, for future upgradability.
Alienware already uses this concept in their current gen laptops (albeit not USB-C). No one cares.
As much as i would personally like to finally be able to have a Mac laptop that’s not $2500 base and still game, it’s just not going to happen outside of a few Asian vendors like Asus or MSI (imo).
Alienware laptops are huge ugly beasts that only an enthusiast could love, and their eGPU solution (and MSI’s) is custom and not compatible with anyone else’s hardware-- or likely, their own next-generation. No guarantees.
I want a cool best in class ultrabook like the XPS13, I want to be able to game on it, and I want that purchase to be usable for more than a single meaningful hardware refresh. A standard like thunderbolt makes that possible.
I’m with you, stusser. For the 80% of the time I’m browsing or doing work, a laptop on the couch is sufficient, and the slimmer, lighter and quieter the better. But being able to just plug into my 24" moniter and game without needing a beefy laptop glowing hot and whirring like a madman at all times by plugging in a eGPU sounds just right.
I’m with stusser, too. I’d love to be able to use a laptop for gaming when I want to, and have a GPU that could be upgraded. A T3 eGPU does that perfectly.
Think of it this way: given the recent stall in CPU speeds, how often are you replacing your CPU vs. your GPU? 1:2? 1:3? With a T3 eGPU you could use a laptop as your primary computer, and upgrade the GPU at your leisure. This has always been the Achilles heel for laptop gaming, and, frankly, is the primary reason I still have a tower under my desk for gaming but a laptop for work/travel.
Exactly. A cheap 2011 notebook with an ivy bridge i5 could play crysis4 at 4k resolution, with a 980Ti connected via thunderbolt.