In an interview with X-bit labs Rene Haas, General Manager of the notebook business unit at Nvidia, said that the company believes external graphics for notebooks are a bit opportunity for further growth.

Haas told X-bit's Anton Shilov that Nvidia has two strategies: putting graphics everywhere and finding more ways of integrating discrete chips into products. "I think it is a big opportunity...  I think there is definitely a place for [external graphics cards for notebooks], no question," said Haas.

Haas claims the company is looking into whether to go with GPUs in docking stations or other external devices. Judging by that, it doesn't seem Nvidia is close to finalizing any design in this department. AMD announced its external graphics standard, dubbed external graphics port or XGP almost two years ago, but AMD failed to score many design wins for its concept. In fact, it got just one, the same one we saw during the Puma launch in mid-2008. Therefore it is safe to assume Nvidia is in no rush to launch a similar standard.

Haas did not go into specifics and did not comment Nvidia's plans, but it is obvious Nvidia is getting ready to enter the market. AMD recently showcased a DirectX 11 XGP unit and if it manages to secure more design wins this time around, we have no doubt Nvidia will follow suite, as it can play it safe and wait for AMD to make the first move.

Mind you, Intel still dominates notebook graphics and neither Nvidia or AMD will be able to upset its position anytime soon, as most consumers simply go for Intel's IGPs and shy away from costlier notebook SKUs with discrete graphics. However, having the option of upgrading Intel's horrid IGPs or recently introduced on-CPU graphics would give users quite a bit more choice, flexibility and upgradeability.

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