Alienware’s Concept Polaris Is a Beautiful eGPU That Couldn’t Have Arrived at a Worse Time

At CES 2022 on Tuesday, Alienware revealed an idea that it believes to be the following era of eGPUs. It’s simply the ‘GPU’ half that is likely to be an issue.

For the uninitiated, an eGPU is an exterior piece of {hardware}, sometimes a big field, that connects to a transportable laptop computer to spice up graphical efficiency so you may, say, play Cyberpunk 2077 on an XPS 13. Or, you recognize, strive to play it.

It’s a intelligent answer for overcoming {hardware} restrictions to let you’ve got the perfect of each worlds: an ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight laptop computer while you’re on the transfer and a strong gaming rig at dwelling. As nice as that sounds, eGPUs, for numerous causes, haven’t caught on—however Alienware isn’t giving up simply but.

The firm’s new launch is known as Concept Polaris, although “concept” is a stretch right here since there doesn’t appear to be a lot standing in the best way of Alienware making this factor (although lots may change between now and a possible launch). So contemplate this announcement extra an try to gauge buyer demand than to showcase transformative applied sciences of the long run.

Either manner, it’s a number of steps ahead from the Alienware Graphics Amplifier launched in 2014. Remember that huge rectangle? It was big, costly, and used a proprietary PCIe/USB cable as a substitute of the ever present Thunderbolt 3. Concept Polaris tackles these issues by eradicating the built-in energy provide and utilizing twin 330w (and even 425w) AC adapters as a substitute. This won’t enable you to transport the eGPU any simpler, but it surely retains the scale of the field down and saves you desk house.

I fairly just like the design of the Concept Polaris. Actually, I hope Alienware doesn’t make any modifications to the outside ought to it ever go to market. Where most eGPUs are massive black rectangles, Concept Polaris borrows from Alienware’s “Legion 2.0” aesthetic, so that you get the RGB gentle ring, rounded edges, white surfaces, and hexagonal patterns. It’s basically a shrunken-down Aurora R12 desktop and can enchantment to those that gravitate towards the stereotypical gamer look—you recognize, glowing rainbow hues and peculiar futuristic sci-fi components.

It could look small, however the body permits for a full-size desktop graphics card that may be liquid cooled utilizing Alieware’s Cryo-Tech cooling system, which consists of 240mm followers and Element 31 (gallium liquid metallic). Best of all, Polaris drops the bullshit Alienware-only connector and replaces it with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, and USB-4, so you need to use the eGPU on a wider vary of laptops. Along with these ports, you get USB Type-C, USB Type-A, and Ethernet ports.

Let me reiterate that Polaris is much less an idea than the others Dell/Alienware introduced at CES 2022 (Nyx, Pari, Luna) contemplating many of the expertise already exists to get this factor off the bottom. Hell, because of the continuing chip scarcity, the one factor conceptual about Concept Polaris is the concept that its homeowners may purchase the desktop GPUs wanted to make it perform. Oh nicely, no less than it’ll look good sitting empty in your desk.