What Is Vi Dock?

I'm not sure if this is the right board for this but i've been trying to find out exactly waht Vi Dock is. I know it is an external gpu for notebooks but i'm not sure exactly how it works or where you can get one. Does it up the graphics capabilities so it can be used on the notebook itself or does it have to output from the notebook to a seperate monitor. I ask this because I can't find a laptop that meets my needs so I thought a good compromise to this would be a light laptop for video edit/computer programming in class and an external gpu in my dorm for gaming.

 

ViDock Gfx: High Performance Dual Display Notebook Expansion

Should tell you all you need to know.

If you're serious about CAD as part of your classes, wouldn't you need a fairly strong GPU anyway?

 

it depends on your laptop, and on what card you end up getting; but using a DIY ViDock will be easily $200 cheaper than the one linked previously, and it can enable you to get that gfx power on your internal screen (again, it depends on your laptop, and the card you get)

for more info, read Nando4's post here http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html


But what you are trying to do, is basically what I have done with my HP 2730p (it is a light weight 12.1" system, but it can also play nearly any game maxed out, at about 30frames per second), and a better system can -obviously- do better

 

One of my problems was that I can easily get a powerful laptop (dell xps 15) but it wouldn't be very practical to take to class becasue of its size, weight, and loud fan. What I was considering is a getting a macbook pro 13 because they are very portable and a few of my film classes use the mac os (I like windows better but have no problems with os x). Without the external gpu, it can also play my most frequently played games (Counter strike source, tf2, garrys mod, etc.). I would also plan on bootcamping widows 7 on it for games and office work.