Thunderbolt external NVidia graphics comes to Macbook Air (sort of)

[Andrew Reid]

Since the advent of very high speed ports like Thunderbolt many have speculated as to when external graphics adapter cards are coming to laptops.

Well with $250 worth of parts it is possible to do already.

[url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/10908/thunderbolt-external-nvidia-graphics-comes-to-macbook-air-sort-of]Read the full article here[/url]

[JHines]

https://www.facebook.com/VillageViDock

 

Here's a cleaner solution. 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6ma4xjNPU

[Bruno]

And another one I had posted in the new Mac Pro thread:

 

http://www.magma.com/expressbox-3t

[JLemos]

This could also be useful with Blackmagic or Aja PCIe Cards, if you already have one and need to have some portability.

[HurtinMinorKey]

I think the ViDock comes in with built in GPU performance that doesn;t have enough memory to help with editting raw and the like.  I think it's mostly there so your laptop can support multiple monitors.

[Dr. John R. Brinkley]

Instead of a laptop, I wonder if this could help make the Mac Mini more video editing friendly. The Mini seems like one of the few good deals that Apple has to offer, with the caveat that it's Achilles heel is the GPU.

[HurtinMinorKey]

Instead of a laptop, I wonder if this could help make the Mac Mini more video editing friendly. The Mini seems like one of the few good deals that Apple has to offer, with the caveat that it's Achilles heel is the GPU.

 

I don't see why it wouldn't. It's got the same ports and a better CPU.

 

I doubt we'll see official solutions anytime soon though. This would do some serious damage to Apple's meticulous (and highly annoying) product differentiation.

[Bruno]

I doubt we'll see official solutions anytime soon though. This would do some serious damage to Apple's meticulous (and highly annoying) product differentiation.

 

I don't think they would care at all. A macbook air with a huge external device like this attached to it is hardly a serious competitor to a macbook pro, not if you're looking for a portable solution.

They even promoted this kind of upgrades when they introduced the thunderbolt ports, the only reason you don't see more of them in the market already and much cheaper is because there's not much demand yet.

[HurtinMinorKey]

I don't think they would care at all. A macbook air with a huge external device like this attached to it is hardly a serious competitor to a macbook pro, not if you're looking for a portable solution.

They even promoted this kind of upgrades when they introduced the thunderbolt ports, the only reason you don't see more of them in the market already and much cheaper is because there's not much demand yet.

 

 

But even the MacBook Pro only offers nerfed mobile GPUs. Right now your only Apple solution for a serious desktop GPU is the (gasp) Mac Pro.  And the only 2GB card they offer on anything else is on a $3000 iMac, and even that is just a suped up mobile card.

[Dr. John R. Brinkley]

I don't see Apple promoting the Mac Mini with a viable external GPU. Instead, I see them promoting people to buy an Imac.

[Bruno]

They don't really ever promote using third party accessories right off the bat, they want to promote their products as self contained computers, but people have always used external hardware with any computer, the point is, as long as you're buying their computers, I don't think they will have a problem what you're plugging them into. Why is it different than a hard drive? All macs come with a hard drive, it doesn't mean they don't like you plugging in an external bigger hard drive.

[HurtinMinorKey]

They don't really ever promote using third party accessories right off the bat, they want to promote their products as self contained computers, but people have always used external hardware with any computer, the point is, as long as you're buying their computers, I don't think they will have a problem what you're plugging them into. Why is it different than a hard drive? All macs come with a hard drive, it doesn't mean they don't like you plugging in an external bigger hard drive.

 

Because hard drives don't really differentiate  product lines for Mac.   One of the only reasons people still buy Mac Pros is for access to high end GPUs

[Andrew Reid]

Do the solutions pointed out by Bruno and JHines support OSX or is it a case of bootcamp, Windows 7 and lot and lots of freeware to force it to work?

[Kays Alatrakchi]

I still feel that anyone who is serious about heavy duty video/graphic work but who has an allergy to Windows should consider building a Hackintosh. For a little more than the cost of an iMac, it's possible to build a machine which rivals and exceeds the top priced Mac Pros (and likely outperforms even the upcoming Tube Pro).

[anchoricex]

I'm still cut deep that they didn't include a discrete GPU in the new mbpro 13" 

 

Like.. I'm still hurting from that

[Bruno]

Do the solutions pointed out by Bruno and JHines support OSX or is it a case of bootcamp, Windows 7 and lot and lots of freeware to force it to work?

 

Check out the testimonials section, it looks like it does work on OSX.

 

However, check the FAQ too:
"The GPU must be supported by the Operating System AND have a compatible Thunderbolt Driver."

 

I think it's way overpriced though, if this becomes popular I don't see why it should cost more that $100-200.

[mtheory]

I'm not editing on that tiny screen, no matter what the GPU is.

[Giovanni Bertani]

I assume that you will be able speed up rendering by adding these boxes and using OpenCL.

 

This could be the killer expansion at $ 200-250: 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7040/computex-2013-thunderbolt-graphics-from-silverstone

 

Cheers

[Amro Othman]

Apple have always offered shitty outdated graphics in all their systems, except for the latest iMac with 680MX. 

 

They are far more interested in profit margins over giving their customers decent graphics cards. As Kays said, if you hate windows but still need the beef, hackintosh is the way to go. 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Another solution..

 

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresschassis.html