With just one Thunderbolt 3 port, can your “ultrabook” instantly transform into a gaming laptop or even a workstation? You might think it’s a fantasy or scoff at it. But in reality, it can indeed give your “ultrabook” 3D graphics performance comparable to a desktop PC, and its artistic design ensures that whether placed on your office desk or home study, it will blend harmoniously without feeling bulky or unattractive.
Today, let’s take a closer look at the ASUS XG Station Pro, turning a MacBook into a workstation. Here comes the moment of witnessing a miracle!
Design Analysis
MacBook has always been synonymous with elite business laptops, but it falls short in the gaming arena. Especially for ultrabooks like the MacBook Air, which focus on extreme thinness and lightweight performance, gaming or workstation-level performance has always been a luxury. For a long time, many manufacturers have been trying to enhance the 3D graphics performance of ultrabooks. Despite the increasing performance-per-watt ratio of CPUs and GPUs, for ultrabooks like the MacBook Air that pursue extreme compactness, their 3D graphics performance remains the weakest link.
External graphics cards may be the solution all manufacturers think of, but limited by the bandwidth constraints of external interfaces, there hasn’t been much progress over the years. With the gradual spread of Thunderbolt 3 in laptops, especially in consumer and business laptops, its bandwidth comparable to PCIe x4 has reopened the door for external graphics cards. Many manufacturers are developing or have developed Thunderbolt 3-based external graphics card solutions, with the ASUS XG Station Pro being one of them.
▲ The main PCB continues ASUS’s high standards in craftsmanship and materials, providing power interfaces for two fans and extending 8Pin+8Pin graphics card power connectors to meet the power requirements of all current graphics cards.
▲ The internal structure is relatively simple, with the main PCB located beneath the graphics card box, designed for a single PCIe x16 slot. Compared to the first two generations of the XG Station family, the XG Station Pro appears more refined and compact, better meeting modern work demands for both performance and aesthetics, especially for MacBook users. The design of the XG Station Pro, measuring 375mm×109mm×205mm, has maximized volume efficiency, and it can still accommodate a full-size non-reference graphics card occupying 2.5 PCIe slots.
ASUS is not the first company to propose an external graphics card solution for laptops based on Thunderbolt 3, but among the many similar products on the market, the XG Station Pro stands out for its excellent industrial design. I would even say it is “unmatched”. It combines the aesthetics of technology and power, with a design that is cool and deep, not ostentatious or flashy, yet leaves a steady impression.
▲ The side of the chassis faces the independent graphics card back plate, where ASUS has installed two 12cm diameter quiet Polaris fans. The fans are arranged to blow outwards, creating an excellent cooling airflow cycle in conjunction with the graphics card’s own cooling fan, greatly aiding the overall cooling of the graphics card.
▲ The side “ASUS X IN WIN” logo indicates that this is a high-end product designed by ASUS and manufactured by IN WIN. IN WIN’s design and manufacturing capabilities are well-known in the gaming community, and the X not only signifies a collaboration between ASUS and IN WIN but also represents the X Alliance initiated by ASUS, which includes IN WIN, Kingston, and other manufacturers targeting high-end gamers.
▲ Both sides feature numerous round ventilation holes, with the hole area accounting for about 70% of the total area of the side panel.
▲ The simple front only has the XG Station logo and a white LED power indicator.
▲ The back features various interfaces and the rear panel for the PCIe slot.
▲ The power input module is connected to the main PCB as a separate sub-card, allowing for a purer circuit and optimizing the overall architecture layout and miniaturization.
▲ The bottom nameplate shows that this external graphics card box has an input power of about 330W, meaning it can fully support graphics cards like the Titan Xp.
▲ The side panel and top cover use a snap-on sliding slot design, making it very convenient to use without screws. Additionally, it can be seen that the inside of the side panel is equipped with a dust filter, showing thoughtful design in the details.
Practical Testing
The use of the XG Station Pro is quite simple: open the side panel and top cover, insert the graphics card and secure it with screws, then connect the power to complete the setup. It is important to note that there are two Type-C ports on the back panel of the XG Station Pro; one is Thunderbolt 3, and the other is a USB Type-C data port. Users need to ensure they connect the Thunderbolt 3 port with the lightning symbol to the Thunderbolt 3 port on the laptop for the XG Station Pro to function properly.
▲ Make sure to connect via the Thunderbolt 3 port with the lightning symbol to the laptop.
▲ The XG Station Pro supports hot-swapping, allowing for plug-and-play under Windows.
Additionally, it is important to remind MacBook users that as of the time of writing, the support for NVIDIA graphics cards in Mac OS X is still insufficient, so I strongly recommend that MacBook users choose AMD Radeon RX 500 series or RX Vega series graphics cards when using the XG Station Pro. Alternatively, if you must use an NVIDIA graphics card, I suggest installing Windows 10 alongside Mac OS X in a dual-boot setup for gaming.
▲ Like most gaming laptops, once the XG Station Pro is installed on the ultrabook, the system will correctly display a dual graphics card configuration. Users can set the priority between integrated and discrete graphics in the NVIDIA or AMD control panel, with the default setting being automatic detection by the system. However, there may be instances where the external graphics card is not activated during high-load applications, so it is recommended that users make the necessary settings to ensure proper operation of the external graphics card.
▲ In Mac OSX, NVIDIA graphics cards cannot be recognized, but AMD graphics card drivers can be installed normally. I tested mainstream AMD discrete graphics cards including RX 560, 570, 580, and RX Vega, all of which worked properly under Mac OSX. For users looking to turn their MacBook into a workstation primarily for design and modeling, I recommend choosing the Radeon Pro series professional graphics cards. However, for NVIDIA graphics cards, compatibility with Mac OSX is currently not very good, leading to issues with unrecognized cards and lack of driver support, so Mac OSX users should avoid using the XG Station Pro with NVIDIA graphics cards and focus on AMD cards for now.
In fact, if gaming is your main focus, the gaming experience under Windows 10 will be much more enjoyable. Of course, for those whose work focuses on design, Mac OS X may be more convenient, so choosing AMD Radeon RX Vega series discrete graphics or Radeon Pro professional graphics cards is also a great option.
Testing Platform
ASUS ZenBook 3 (8th Gen Core Platform), MacBook Pro, ASUS XG Station Pro, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 570
Comparison Platform
Gaming Laptop: ROG Strix S5AM (GTX 1060)
Desktop Platform
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2400
Storage: 256GB SATA3 SSD
How much of a 3D graphics performance boost can the XG Station Pro bring to ultrabooks and MacBooks? With this question in mind, I tested the ASUS ZenBook 3 ultrabook and MacBook Pro based on Windows 10. Additionally, to compare how much performance the XG Station Pro can unleash from desktop graphics cards, I also paired it with two platforms very similar to the XG Station Pro + ultrabook setup, one being a gaming laptop based on the GTX 1060 and the other a desktop platform based on Core i5 8400 and GTX 1060. Through this detailed testing, we can clearly see how much of a 3D performance boost the XG Station Pro can bring to MacBook and ultrabook users.
It can be said that with the increasing popularity of Thunderbolt 3, it has laid a solid foundation for the performance enhancement of external graphics boxes and their practical application. From the various theoretical test scores of 3DMark, in the TimeSpy test, the combination of XG Station Pro and GTX 1060 achieves about 80%~85% of the performance compared to the desktop platform discrete graphics. In the FireStrike and FireStrike Extreme tests, it also comes close to 80%~85% of the desktop platform’s performance, and in the FireStrike Ultra test, it even reaches nearly 90% of the desktop platform’s performance.
In comparison with discrete gaming laptops, the XG Station Pro + GTX 1060 discrete graphics + ASUS ZenBook 3 combination shows that in terms of 3D graphics performance, it is basically on par with gaming laptops equipped with built-in GTX 1060 discrete graphics, with very limited difference. In fact, in some test items like 3DMark FireStrike Ultra, it even surpassed gaming laptops with the same level of discrete graphics.
In actual gaming performance tests, the combination of XG Station Pro + GTX 1060 + ultrabook still demonstrated qualities similar to gaming laptops with the same level of graphics configuration, with very limited differences. However, when compared to the same graphics configuration on desktop platforms, I found that the performance gap widened from 80%~85% to 70%~75%, indicating about a 10% performance drop in gaming experience. Clearly, the main reason for this performance drop is the difference in CPU performance.
Mobile platforms with low-power, low-frequency processors naturally lag behind desktop platforms, so this performance drop is entirely expected. However, regardless, with the addition of the GTX 1060 mainstream discrete graphics card, the ZenBook 3 or MacBook ultrabooks indeed achieve overall performance comparable to gaming laptops. From my actual testing, under maximum quality settings and 1080p resolution, the combination of XG Station Pro + GTX 1060 discrete graphics + ultrabook can run major games like “PUBG” and “Tomb Raider: Rise of the Tomb Raider” very smoothly, maintaining over 50fps, which is quite satisfactory performance.
Of course, cooling performance, closely related to stability, is also a key concern for players. After loading the reference GTX 1060, in a closed graphics card box environment, I used FurMark software to push the GPU load to 100% and kept it running for 15 minutes, with the GPU temperature maintaining around 76℃, a result almost indistinguishable from barebone platform tests. This undoubtedly shows that the XG Station Pro’s cooling structure optimization design is commendable, eliminating players’ concerns.
Overall, the XG Station Pro undoubtedly brings a glimmer of hope to MacBook and ultrabook users, allowing them to instantly transform their MacBook into a powerful workstation with discrete graphics for design, modeling, or graphics processing tasks. For ultrabooks, the combination of XG Station Pro + discrete graphics can instantly turn them into super gaming laptops, with more flexible performance expansion, allowing users to choose the level of 3D graphics performance they need based on the discrete graphics card they pair it with.
Furthermore, in terms of design, the XG Station Pro has significant differences from its predecessors, featuring a more technological and fashionable appearance that blends harmoniously with your desk or office setup. For players using ultrabooks or mini PCs who desire strong gaming performance, the XG Station Pro is undoubtedly a very good choice—giving your slim laptop the wings of 3D performance, allowing it to soar freely!
