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Comment by lewisl9029 | Hacker News Reader

Anyone here have any experience with the new generation of TB3 External GPU docks like the Razer Core?

$500 is pretty steep for what's essentially just a tiny case + power supply, but if it works as advertised with no serious pitfalls, I might be tempted to make a splurge for the extra flexibility.

Though I wish someone could make a smaller, cheaper graphics dock that's built specifically to house less power hungry, single-slotted cards like the RX 460. Something like that would be more than enough to handle my modest gaming needs for the foreseeable future.

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I wrote up my initial experiences here: http://vitor.io/razer-blade-stealth-core-gtx-1080-12h

Works pretty well, no insurmountable issues. I haven't done any 3D engine-related dev on it yet, but am not expecting issues.

Thank you for that very informative write up!

Very glad to hear the tech basically just works.

I hadn't bothered to look up the dimensions and weight on the Razer Core until you mentioned it though, and realized it's barely any more convenient to move around than my current desktop PC case (SilverStone FTZ01, only about 150mm more in a single dimension), which removes a lot of the appeal it had for my use case, unfortunately.

I honestly wouldn't mind a non-upgradable version that uses one of the laptop cards listed in this article if it means they could make it appreciably smaller and more discrete than a slim-SFF desktop case. I mean, the dock itself is a modular component that can be upgraded as a whole anyways.

I also appreciate the review, but I think it's a case of too little, too late and too expensive. For that price you can simply build a spare HTPC in a box of similar size or get a powerful laptop with good GPU built-in.

The problem with either of those setups is you don't get the flexibility of being able to use the same portable, quiet and power-efficient laptop for both work on the go and for gaming at home, so you never have to worry about keeping things in sync between multiple machines (which is easy enough if you just need files, but often impossible if you also want to sync arbitrary settings for frequently used applications).

For many people like myself, the TB3 laptop + GPU dock combo is worth a lot more than the sum of its parts.

This is far more interesting to me than a cut down 1080 in an oversized laptop that takes its design cues from Transformers. I'd like to know too.

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