It’s not a secret anymore: gaming laptops running Windows are cheaper and often more powerful than the current MacBook Pro. Many of us have wished that we could upgrade some parts of their MacBook to boost the performance, but unfortunately, with each new release, it seems like Apple is making it more difficult. Instead of waiting for Apple to change their policy if they ever do, why not look at other options? Mantiz recently released an eGPU solution that is compatible with MacOS, and it might just be what we’ve been waiting for.
Upgrading the GPU of a laptop is next to impossible. But Windows laptops manufacturers have found a solution with eGPU, short for external GPUs. These devices will bring the power of an external graphic card to your laptop. So if your Adobe Premiere is running a bit slow or Photoshop is not as fast as you’d like, perhaps such a device could help out when working on a laptop.
eGPUs have existed for Windows laptop for quite a bit of time, but none had been compatible with MacOS yet. The Mantiz Venus shown in the video above by the guys at Unbox Therapy is, however! But, because there had to be a but, Apple does not fully support such systems for now. You’ll need an external monitor for it to be useful or wait until spring 2018 when MacOS will be fully compatible. The Mantiz Venus also doesn’t come with a graphic card included, so the price might be a bit steep for many users. Still, it’s a solution, and I’m sure many video editors will be more than happy to learn about it.
[via Unbox Therapy]
I love this idea. Since Apple is all about slick looking products, why don't they sell monitors with and without graphics cards installed? So you could come home, plug in 1 cable, and have dual monitors and desktop performance.
I need this
I wonder if this would work well for Mac Mini too. The integrated graphics leave me wanting sometimes.
Mac mini doesn't have thunderbolt does it?
Just TB 2. Apparently, you need TB 3. Bummer!
You can pick up an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter (https://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-t...) which allows you to connect it to Thunderbolt 2 Macs. There is a bit of a performance hit ~20-30% but the performance gain over integrated graphics is huge.
I've recently setup my late 2015 Retina iMac (with Radeon R9 395X) with an external 1070 GPU and some great performance boost for games.
There's a few guides and reviews on https://egpu.io about setting up external graphics cards with Macs.
Ooo, I really appreciate that! That's a huge help!
This for Alex Cooke your and mine Mac mini does not have TB 3 and for e gpu's to work on the mac you need newer mac's with TB 3 I believe.
Cheeper option https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XKKSNTS/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_147_3?ie=UTF...
Nice
Great finding! Thank you :)
Planning on this exact upgrade when Mac OS fully supports it later in the year. I'm hoping that I can have a 13" MBP, and then an eGPU/monitors on my desk.