[ivan_gammel]

I would love to see an external monitor with embedded GPU/extra CPU etc that would serve as an extension to a laptop, tablet, phone or stick. If such devices were popular enough in remote-first offices, coworkings and hotels, it would be a game changer making computing more inclusive. Imagine having a $100 laptop with easily replaceable components that is transformed into $1500 workstation on demand.

[vel0city]

External Thunderbolt GPU enclosures exist and can behave as a dock. A friend has one at his place, I can just plop my own cheap laptop in and it gets a massively upgraded GPU, access to a few monitors, USB PD, a USB hub with all the peripherals plugged in, and wired networking.

Its not all built into the monitor, but IMO having the several hundred dollar GPU outside of the monitor gives really good flexibility. The dock isn't much larger than the GPU and a few hundred watt power supply which you'd need anyways.

The only thing really missing from that equation is the extra CPU power and it being integrated into the monitor. But having a powerful CPU that scales down to be power friendly when on the go seems easier than finding a powerful GPU that doesn't suck the battery dry just rendering a desktop and a browser window.

[acomjean]

Isn't that what "Display Link" usb monitors kinda are (without the powerful gpu and large screen real estate)

I've used a usb-> monitor adapter from time to time (with my own screen). The performance wasn't great, but its not bad and been more than usable for work and such.

with usb3 it should be better than the one I used.

https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics/disp...

[ivan_gammel]

Well, the connector does not really matter, the key is the hardware at the extension. CPU+GPU+screen+network+camera+HDD with some software that you need only in workstation mode etc. The software could be sandboxed by the OS on your device, security of extra CPU and GPU is interesting, but probably solvable problem.

[zozbot234]

That's pretty much an all-in-one PC. E.g. an iMac, or a Surface Studio.

[ivan_gammel]

yes, if all components are present, it looks like an all-in-one PC. But again, I’m talking about an extension, where OS and your data belong to your portable device and run in trusted environment using extension resources when necessary.

[dijit]

I had the same idea before, its basically possible now if you pass through the SSD to a host computer.

I even thought about maybe having an external SSD module which you could swap out the SSD to a beast machine when you need it.

[ivan_gammel]

This solution will work even with good old HDD, but you need a whole host computer and you swap, not extend your hardware.