ASUS ROG XG Station 2 Increases Notebook Graphics Performance

By Immanuel Decano

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of companies manufacturing gaming laptops that will run our favorite (and graphic demanding) titles. The downside of these gaming laptops is their inability to upgrade. This poses a problem for those of us who drop the money on a good gaming laptop but are limited to keeping their built in graphics rather than switch out to a newer and more powerful GPU. So, as time goes on our built in graphics for out gaming laptops will eventually become outdated. ASUS just announced the ROG XG Station 2 (press release) houses a graphics card and can be connected to select laptops another other devices with a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Asus ROG XG Station 2

The ASUS ROG XG Station 2 connects to notebooks via Thunderbolt 3 ports and, unfortunately, those of us without it are out of luck. Additionally only a few notebooks are currently compatible with the ROG XG Station 2. ASUS’ list of notebooks that are compatible with the ROG XG Station 2 include the ROG G701VI, ROG GL502VM, ROG GL70VM, T303UA, and T305CA. Also, although the list may be limited, ASUS plans on updating the amount of laptops that will be compatible with the ROG XG Station 2 in 2017. We first saw this external graphics docking station device at CES 2016, so this has been coming for over a year!

ASUS ROG XG Station 2 Specifications:

  • Ethernet Connection: Gigabit Lan 10/100/1000 Mbps
  • I/O Ports: 4 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 Type-B port
  • RGB Lightning Control
  • ASUS ROG AURA supported
  • Power Supply: 600W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply
  • Dimensions: 45.6 x 15.8 x 27.8cm
  • Weight: 5.1KG
  • Graphics Card Support: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 9/10 series and later/AMD Radeon R9/RX and later
  • Internal Graphics Slot: Provides support for a single full-length PCIe x16 slot

We hope to see the list of compatible notebooks to extend beyond the ASUS brand of gaming laptops and become compatible with other gaming and basic use laptops that utilize the thunderbolt 3 port. The ASUS ROG XG Station 2 will be available worldwide in the beginning of 2017 at an unspecified price point.