Fujitsu AMILO GraphicBoost Tested: It Works, But Questions Remain

On its own, Fujitsu's AMILO Sa 3650 notebook is par for the course; its claim to fame is the GraphicBooster box the company offer with it.  Packing an external ATI Radeon HD 3870 video card and dual outputs, Fujitsu boast a whopping 470-percent increase in video performance over the notebook's standard ATI Radeon HD 3200 on-board graphics.  Electricpig have tried it out, and while it works they still have questions about its practicality.

For a start, GraphicBooster only works with external monitors, not the Sa 3650's own 13-inch display.  That immediately limits it to desktop situations.  However once you've added up the cost of the notebook, the GraphicBooster unit, one or two monitors to use it with and the hassle of all the cabling, Electricpig can't see why you wouldn't just go for a standard desktop PC or a super-powerful gaming notebook.

On a more positive note, the system works pretty much as promised.  Crysis on the Sa 3650 alone runs painfully too slowly to even play, with cut scenes stuttering along at five frames per second.  Plug in the GraphicBooster box and an external monitor, though, and Crysis is full playable.

In the end, it'll all come down to how much Fujitsu charge for the setup.  Pricing is still unknown, and the GraphicBooster's usefulness is limited by only working with the Sa 3650 notebook.