Lenovo didn’t want to be left out of the eGPU fun and made a surprise announcement at CES 2018 of its first Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock. This dock follows the growing trend of smaller footprint enclosures with external power adapters. The new Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock reminds me of the Acer graphics dock from a year or two ago.
It didn’t take long to locate the dock once I got inside the Lenovo suite. I immediately went after the external power adapter. It’s surprisingly reasonable in size. I placed my iPhone SE on top of the power brick for scale. A helpful Lenovo representative answered most of my questions about the unit. The output is 170W. Power Delivery is 65W. The graphics card is a MXM GTX 1050 with 4GB of VRAM.
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Here’s what I gathered on the Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock:
- Dimensions: 130 x 248 x 22.6mm (5.12 x 9.76 x 0.89 in)
- Weight: 1.51 lbs (686 g) for the enclosure only
- Full-feature Thunderbolt 3.0 port: data, video & power delivery (65W)
- MXM GTX 1050 4 GB GDDR5 graphics card
- Up to three 4K displays: 1 x HDMI 2.0, 2 x DisplayPort 2.0
- 1 x always on USB 3.0, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0
- 1 x 3.5 mm audio port
- 1 x Gigabit Ethernet port
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Lenovo connected this eGPU dock to one of its new VR headsets. It was running full speed in order for the headset to work. The enclosure felt warm to the touch and the cooling fan was audible through the rear exhaust vents. Lenovo didn’t specify the length of the included Thunderbolt 3 cable. What I saw on display was a .5m Thunderbolt 3 cable.
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MSRP is $399, and it should be available at the end of January. According to the User Guide for this Lenovo Graphics Dock, it’s been in testing since July 2017. The decision by one of the world’s largest PC OEMs to release this product at the beginning of 2018 is a clear sign it’s prime time for external graphics.
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Looks like a cheaper option with integrated GPU. Do you think its possible to run games like Overwatch in 2k 60fps with a gtx 1050?
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1070/3650vs3609
looks like it should be able to.
Love the look of this! If it does as a 1060 or above I’d have my cash in hand… CES is looking exciting.
agreed. the 1050 is a little underpowered imo. atleast a 1050ti would be nice
More powerful GPU = bigger dock size OR more noise / heat. There is always a compromise. If you want better power and don’t mind bigger size, you can get Aorus Gaming Box GTX 1070. This one is for maximum portability. GTX 1050 is OK for running graphics applications and even modern games in 1080p on medium settings.
Yeah what I need the most is in fact the compact size and portability. I don’t have the space to use a huge graphics dock with my Intel Skull Canyon NUC. It’d defeat the whole purpose of getting that NUC. With this Lenovo dock, my NUC PC can sit right on top of the dock. As far as performance goes, the GTX 1050 is more than sufficient for my NUC as far as graphics intensive and gaming applications go. The Intel Iris Pro 580 GPU in my NUC is already pretty decent for an Intel GPU, so a GTX 1050… Read more »
Would it work with a Macbook?
No version without a built-in GPU, bummer.
I’ve had my eye on the ASUS XG Station Pro since they announced it but was excited to see another new contender enter the fray (especially one with a slim form factor and minimal design).
WIll it work with Macbook pro natively with High Sierra + Davinci Resolve ? If yes, please take my money now.
@bryanl Nvidia eGPU in macOS requires a workaround so unfortunately it is not a natively supported solution.
Thanks for the info. The work around seems easy ……right ? Any how mostly i just want a small footprint to be used main for davinci resolve to render videos faster. Does this work for this reason ?
I found the official Lenovo documentation for this eGPU, but it claims that it doesn’t support other non Lenovo 720S devices. Is that just Lenovo saying they don’t officially support this device on other PC’s or will it physically not work on anything but a Lenovo 720S? I’m very interesting in getting one for my Intel Skull Canyon NUC and I remember awhile ago Acer made similar claims about their own now-discontinued graphics dock but it turned out that it still worked on quite a range of non Acer devices. I don’t think this Lenovo graphics dock is on sale… Read more »
Thunderbolt 3 is a complicated standard for sure but I have yet to hear a TB3 compliant device not working with a compliant host. I mean, I heard of it but all of them turned out to be PEBKAC.
In other words, I have a ThinkPad 25 and I will buy this dock and I know it will work.
Posted by: chx Thunderbolt 3 is a complicated standard for sure but I have yet to hear a TB3 compliant device not working with a compliant host. I mean, I heard of it but all of them turned out to be PEBKAC. In other words, I have a ThinkPad 25 and I will buy this dock and I know it will work. Alright, hopefully it does work then cause I could really use a graphics upgrade for my Intel Skull Canyon NUC since the Intel Iris Pro 580 on it can only do so much. I might also get it… Read more »
Any word on when this will be released? They said end of January and it’s pretty much around that time now.
I have not heard any updates on availability.
Alright, hopefully there’s more information soon. I’m worried that this will end up being vaporware like a lot of things shown at CES in the past… The Acer graphics dock had a similar fate and was almost non existent.
It’s available on the USA and the Canada sites now. Promises 5-7 business day shipping time. I put my order in 🙂 we will see.
This Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock is now available on Amazon too.
I posted first impressions and unboxing pics to https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/80zm6x/lenovo_graphics_dock_mixed_first_impressions/
Were you able to charge your Lenovo with the dock?
@chx Thank you for sharing your first impression and unboxing. Can you confirm the power delivery wattage? How’s the cooling system? When I was at Lenovo booth, this dock was running some VR app with a headset. The fan was going full blast.
I do not really know how to measure the PD wattage. Is there a program which shows how many watts the laptop consumes? Perhaps I could borrow a kill-a-watt and check the difference when the laptop is plugged in and when it’s not (my laptop has separate power input, not just USB C).
One more thing which I haven’t tested yesterday: after sleep-resume, the dock didn’t come back online, needed a power cycle (I guess replug would’ve worked too). I am not happy with that.
@chx I’ve used a few software in Windows but haven’t found anything good. It’s much easier in macOS but that’s irrelevant. I’d recommend getting a USB-C Volt & Amp meter such as this one from Pluggable.
Alas, after spending 500 CAD+ on the dock and another 500 CAD+ on the warranty for my new laptop any more spending for the foreseeable future will go through a very strict evaluation and rejected (by myself).
Like, the dock doesn’t come up after restoring the laptop from sleep and I considered buying a power outlet with individual switches but that’s another 40 CAD and — nope. Need to stop. That 25 CAD toy would be nice, sure but then again, it’s more spending. Need. to. stop. 😀
I hear you. I will check for the wake from sleep behavior when my unit gets in tomorrow.
@chx I let the Razer Blade Stealth in sleep mode overnight with the Lenovo TB3 eGFX plugged in. It woke up fine and resumed working normally.
This morning it woke as well. First morning it did… usually it doesn’t.
Hi CHX. Thank you for sharing your experience. I suspect this eGPU may solve a frustrating problem with my setup – I would love your input with the following questions: Does the eGPU accelerate a normal Windows desktop? Or is it only activated when running a demanding application? Can you force the eGPU to run regardless of the application? What kind of fan noise would the eGPU generate in this scenario? BACKGROUND INFO FOR CONTEXT: I use a Lenovo X1 Carbon 5th Gen (i7-7500U CPU, 16GB, HD620) running Windows 10 with latest drivers. This light PC is almost a dream… Read more »