We’ve been hearing about ATI’s external graphics schemes for years, but apparently XGP is finally ready to go. The platform houses an external graphics card — ATI-branded, of course — which connects to your laptop via a proprietary 4.0Gbps PCIe 2.0 connector. The new tech is being initially launched with AMD’s new ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800, which can work in a multi-GPU CrossFireX configuration with your laptop’s internal graphics card. The first out of the gate with the tech is Fujitsu’s AMILO Sa 3650, which packages a Mobility Radeon HD 3870 cardbut there’s still no word pricing or exactly when or where this all is shipping. XGP also supports some extra USB 2.0 ports, Blu-ray decoding, and outputs over HDMI with integrated audio and DVI, powering up to four displays.

Sapphire Technologies is showing off some new 3D gear at Computex this week, with a pair of 3D monitors and a new stereoscopic graphics driver on display. The driver works with ATI graphics cards to send a polarized image to the dual-layer monitors, which displays a 3D image to viewers with special glasses. Details on the monitors are pretty sketchy, but Sappire says it’s not working with Zalman and that it’ll have something on the market in the “next couple of months.” Great — now just ditch the shades and we’ll be all good.

ATI XGP allows Puma platform notebooks to game like desktops

ATI made another big announcement at Computex today of a new external video card platform for notebook computers called the ATI XGP (External Graphics Platform). The ATI XGP is an external PCI Express 2.0 graphics device.

ATI says that the device is externally powered and externally cooled so it won’t place demands on the notebook. Bandwidth in both directions is reported to be 4 Gbytes/s; ATI says that other external graphics solutions were limited in bandwidth.

The XGP platform is optimized to work with the new AMD Turion X2 Ultra notebook platforms that DailyTech reported on earlier today. Initially according to ATI, the XGP will use Radeon HD 3800 series graphics cards and the first units will utilize the Radeon HD 3870.

When using the XGP with a notebook featuring integrated ATI graphics, CrossFireX is available to enhance performance further. The ATI XGP also provides additional USB 2.0 connectivity for attaching other USB devices like Blu-ray players and more.

Matt Skynner, vice president of Marketing for AMD’s Graphics Product Group said, “With ATI XGP Technology, notebooks can switch between everyday computing and hard-core gaming with a simple plug-in that’s also portable enough to bring powerful 3D performance on-the-go.

This technology allows users to choose notebooks with slim, lightweight and elegant designs, yet enjoy the full performance of a traditional desktop gaming rig wherever it’s convenient.”

A specially designed PCIe 2.0 self-attaching cable connects the XGP to the notebook. The cable is designed by Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited. The graphics muscle from the HD 3870 should allow users to buy a lower performance notebook including ultra portable units and then attach the ATI XGP for gaming. The XGP also allows the attachment of multiple displays as well. AMD declined to comment on pricing and availability for the ATI XGP.

NVIDIA hasn’t officially backed a similar platform using its technology. However, ASUS did show off an external graphics solution using a NVIDIA video card at CES is 2007 called the XG Station.