Asus has unveiled at CES 2025 what it bills as the world’s first Thunderbolt 5 external graphics card and one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docking stations. The new product uses a new 80Gbps bi-directional connection. This allows for more efficient use of one cable for different purposes.
The Asus XG Mobile 2025 features the most powerful mobile graphics card ever, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, which significantly improves gaming performance even for lightweight and thin laptops. The device also provides up to 140 watts of power, dual monitor capability, a USB hub, SD card reader, and 5-gigabit Ethernet. It has HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 for video output and a pair of 10-gigabit USB-A ports. The Asus ROG logo also features programmable RGB backlighting that can be customized with Aura Sync.
The previous version of the XG Mobile could accommodate an Nvidia 4090 graphics card. However, the application possibilities of this eGPU were limited due to the use of a proprietary port that was only available on a few Asus devices. This limitation has now been eliminated with Thunderbolt 5.
Asus spokesperson Anthony Spence said that the Thunderbolt 5 connection provides up to 64 Gbps of bandwidth for Nvidia graphics – more than USB4 and on par with Oculink.
It is worth noting that the new version of Asus XG Mobile 2025 also has a built-in power supply. The whole structure is housed in a small body weighing just under 1 kg with a folding stand. Asus says that the new product is 25% lighter and 18% smaller than the previous proprietary model.
Asus XG Mobile 2025 will be launched in the first quarter. The top-end version with the RTX 5090 mobile chip will cost $2199.99. Nevertheless, Asus plans to sell a cheaper version for $1199.99 with a mobile Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti.
Source: The Verge
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