The Asus's ROG XG Station 2 is one of our favorite eGPUs, but it's rather expensive, at $550, and targets gamers with its attractive, but loud aesthetic. The company's newest external graphics amp, the $329 XG Station Pro is aimed at creative professionals on both Macs and PCs. We'll learn more about it at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.
eGPUs, also known as graphics docks or graphics amps, provide a great way to play games or run graphically-intensive apps on a thin and light laptop. Provided that your laptop has a compatible Thunderbolt 3 port, there's a good chance that you can get the power of a high-end graphics card while you're docked at your desk.
On Windows 10, the eGPU supports both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, while it will only work with AMD Vega GPUs on macOS. Asus says that the XG Station Pro will work on "other platforms and hardware" that have not yet been announced.
At $329, the XG Station Pro is one of the cheaper eGPUs around, though you'll still need to supply your own graphics card. The case, made by In Win, is a dark gray and far less exciting than the ROG version, but you can still trick it out with different colors using Asus' Aura software.
Asus says it will release in Q1 of 2018, but we're still waiting on an exact date.
