Possibility of dual graphics in a 15.6 chassis?

Is there any news on plans for a 15.6 laptop to have sli? only ones that offer it so far are 18.4 laptops, which aren't exactly mobile, same with a 17.3 incher.

 

The 15.6" units have pretty decent cooling, but it would take some impressive miniaturization to be able to physically fit 2 video cards in a small chassis like that. Generally the ability to run RAID, dual video etc - is only a concern for the folks for whom portability isn't really an issue, so the larger units with full-size keyboards and keypads are desired.

 

you could with 14nm chips, maybe with 28nm? thats wishful i would say, def in the near future, 2013 or so , so heat becomes less of an issue

 

Personally, I'd rather they somehow manage to find the room for a 2nd hard drive bay rather than a second GPU which needs extra power, extra space, and extra cooling ability. Still, if it meant a larger chassis, I think I'd rather keep the smaller size than make the sacrifice. ASUS has the giant chassis segment handled so I appreciate Clevo handling the "balance" area well.

 

True, 2 hard drive bays would be nice, but imo being able to replace the optical drive is fine for me, I would just like to have both portability and major power all in one package. I guess its maybe not going to happen next year. Do you know if they will bring back a normal 17.3 laptop cpu with sli?

 

I didn't see a new Chief River one on this page saying it had SLI, but I don't know.
Clevo | Channel Authorized Manufacturer Showcase

 

i have an idea long time ago....
maximize the space usage of 15.6 chassis: remove odd bay/hdd drive(use mini pcie msata ssd)
and increase its height to fit the m980nu/x8100/p180hm type vga cooler if necessary
then a 15.6" dual graphics laptop born

 

I remember there had been a D700F (maybe D700C, forgot) with 17' SLI under development, but it had been discontinued, never sold public.

 

so far we have only the option of the integrated gpu plus the discrete one via optimus in the next refresh.

 

Gwilled yup 2nd ssd drive would make a big impact on the gaming performance in raid0, not as much as 2nd gpu.

Agreed with the wasted ODD space, can rather have something else use that space and give a external $20 ODD via usb3 or something.

@OP the only other option is a EGpu "External Gpu" see the hardware forum for more info.

Going from 15" to 17" is not that big a deal, unless you plan to run on battery during a flight in that small cramped seats most airlines have, think only European airlines still have internet since 2004, not sure what they do here in the USA.
Most of the time when I fly internationally my complete wheeled laptop case is about 13KG or 30Lbs with a 17" laptop + few things I need. So 15" 10kg to 17" 13kg is not that big deal for me and I need the power of the laptop. You can carry this with 1 or 2 fingers.

My girlfriend might complain it is uncomfortable to carry the 17" laptop around the house but you are not a women so 17" weight should not be that big a issue for you + having a decent keyboard / sized screen far outweighs the size and weight issues of 17" vs 15" .

I am sure one of the more intelligent re-seller here has a picture of 15" on top of a 17" so you can see the size difference, maybe thumb width longer usually.

 

In my opinion, a VERY POWERFUL single GPU is always better than dual cards...

I hope in the near future we can get low power/heat GPU that could run games like say Crysis/BF3 at Ultra-AA-VSync-1080p-3D minimun 60FPS and still more room to sqeeze extra performance...

I believe it is possible, but its all about heat/power!

 

Maybe some kind of Hybrid SLI will come out utilising both the on-board GPU and desecrate GPU (I am sure that "they" have thought of this already).

 

its like saying lets put a kerosine oil motor in a BMW turbo charged 6 cylinder engine to compliment it !

 

Well they do that already in Hybrids (the current form work more like Optimus where it is either eco mode or full power) so maybe something that is a little more tag team like (off load physic like the old Physix cards did perhaps?).

 

Well, don't the AMD Llano APUs do this with certain Radeon cards already? If the Ivy Bridge's IGP is really as powerful as they say it is, then a similar implementation (hypothetically speaking of course) could give at least modest improvements I suppose.

 

Yes, I think this is with the 6620G equivalent.

Not too much in terms of performance, but significant in that it opens up lots of options and possibilities.

Well I'd also drool over a 15.6" Dual graphics setup, but I still think SLi and CFX aren't scaled to be perfect.

 

yep more stable though

imagine the pricing if possible, if only just like we can attach an external hdd or other device via usb 2 or 3, we could attach an external gpu only if or when we want to use it. crazy idea but I bet it would cost an extra $300-400.

 

Onboard GPUs are not yet powerful enough to positively compliment even a GTX 260M, so we're far away from that dream.

They just don't have the bandwidth to matter next to a powerful GPU.