Ask any self respecting gamer as to why they’d prefer to get their gaming fix on the desktop and you’ll get the same answer - superior performance in every sense of the word. Desktop computers have much more horsepower, and when it comes to games, you can’t really argue with a top end video card which is far too large to squeeze into a standard laptop design. Magma has decided to do something about this situation, offering an easy to use device which enables your notebook to experience the joys and wonder of a desktop-only PCI Express card. Known as the ExpressBox1, this device looks very much like an external drive enclosure save the fact that is was specifically designed to hold a PCI-E video card.

There are two flavors available - a smaller version that supports cards up to 6.6″ inches in length, while the Pro version enables you to fit in 12.18″ video cards. These cards are connected to a laptop through the ExpressCard/34 modile and a PCI-E cable. Magma boldly claims that you won’t be affected by latency issues through this connection, thanks to the theoretical maximum throughput of 250MB/s in each direction. At point of writing, only single-width video cards that consume a maximum of 55 watts of power can be used with the ExpressBox1, although there are plans to accommodate double-width cards which require auxillary power in future iterations.

You will have to be pretty loaded if you want to pick up the ExpressBox1 though, as the standard version retails for a jaw-dropping $729 while the Pro version is slightly more expensive at $749. Bear in mind those are just the prices without including that of a video card yet…

Source: OhGizmo!