Zotac is the latest PC hardware company set to launch an external graphics dock that allows you to add a desktop-class graphics card to just about any laptop or desktop computer that has a Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C port.

The company plans to showcase the device at the Consumer Electronics Show, where Zotac will also reveal new ZBOX mini PCs.

There aren’t a lot of details about Zotac’s new products yet, but the new mini PCs are expected to include Intel Kaby Lake processors, Thunderbolt 3 ports, and some models may support Intel vPro features and/or NVIDIA GeForce graphics.

Zotac’s new graphics dock is basically an external case for a graphics card. There’s a PCIE 3.0 slot, a 400 watt power supply, three normal USB 3.0 ports, and one more USB 3.0 port that also supports Quick Charge 3.0 for rapidly charging a phone, tablet, or other devices.

Insert an NVIDIA or AMD graphics card in the PCIe slot, plug the dock into your computer, and you’ve got discrete graphics.

Acer, Asus, Razer, and Dell/Alienware have already released similar graphics docks, although Dell’s model uses a proprietary connector rather than Thunderbolt 3, so it only works with select Alienware systems.

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2 replies on “Zotac teases external graphics dock, new mini PCs ahead of CES”

  1. Where can we actually buy these? All these announced GPU docks and I can’t find a single one anywhere.

  2. This better cost US$99 or under.
    Would be viable desk/htpc solution with a US$230 RX 480 (8GB) card.
    And a $1,200 Laptop/Ultrabook with a Quadcore.
    Something along the lines of a 6700HQ, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB M.2 SSD, and 2TB external slim drive.

    Total cost:
    $99 + $230 + $70 + $1,200 = $1,700.

    If anyone’s interested, MSi has gone a similar way with their GS30 Package:
    https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GS3

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