Apple External GPU Dev Kit is CHEAP!

[Miller1218]

Apple talked a bit about their added external GPU support yesterday and announced a Dev Kit would come to market immediately. I when to apples developer website and found the purchase page for the Dev Kit, and ITS A GREAT DEAL!

The kit for $600 comes with:

1. Sonnet external GPU chassis with Thunderbolt 3 and 350W power supply - ?
2. AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics card - $260
3. Belkin USB-C to 4-port USB-A hub - $50
4. Promo code for $100 towards the purchase of HTC Vive VR headset - $100

Doing the math, this is a great deal for that means that even though we don't know how much the chassis will cost, it has to be below $190, because of the prices of the other accessories.

Even if you buy with the intention of not using the $100 toward the Vive, thats still 290 for an external Thunderbolt 3 GPU dock. Thats compered to the other popular Thunderbolt 3 dock the Razor Core at $500.

[Zando_]

Do they support external GPUs on MacBook Pros now? Or is it just the new iMac Pro?

[captain_to_fire]

4 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

The kit for $600 comes with:

1. Sonnet external GPU chassis with Thunderbolt 3 and 350W power supply - ?
2. AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics card - $260
3. Belkin USB-C to 4-port USB-A hub - $50
4. Promo code for $100 towards the purchase of HTC Vive VR headset - $100

Looking at you Microsoft!

4 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

Thats compered to the other popular Thunderbolt 3 dock the Razor Core at $500.

And that doesn't include a graphics card. I think what Apple did is a good bargain. 

[Miller1218]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

Do they support external GPUs on MacBook Pros now? Or is it just the new iMac Pro?

Any Apple product with Thunderbolt 3

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

Do they support external GPUs on MacBook Pros now? Or is it just the new iMac Pro?

9to5 Mac made it work even with a NVIDIA graphics card. And yes, every Mac with Thunderbolt 3.

 

[Zando_]

Just now, Miller1218 said:

Any Apple product with Thunderbolt 3

 Awesome! So now can people stop complaining about the GPUs in MacBook Pros and iMacs being so weak? 

[Miller1218]

1 minute ago, hey_yo_ said:

Looking at you Microsoft!

And that doesn't include a graphics card. I think what Apple did is a good bargain. 

Yeah, I'm super happy about it because I have the newest MacBook Pro and even with everything MAXED out, the GPU still is only good for some GPu acceleration, not gaming so with something like this, it turns my laptop into a gaming power house.

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

 Awesome! So now can people stop complaining about the GPUs in MacBook Pros and iMacs being so weak? 

In this forum which is roughly 95% Windows users, many of them will bitch and whine about all things Apple, even when they do something good. 

Just now, Miller1218 said:

Yeah, I'm super happy about it because I have the newest MacBook Pro and even with everything MAXED out, the GPU still is only good for some GPu acceleration, not gaming so with something like this, it turns my laptop into a gaming power house.

I guess I should've gotten the 2016 13" Touchbar MacBook Pro last year.

[tom_w141]

3 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

 Awesome! So now can people stop complaining about the GPUs in MacBook Pros and iMacs being so weak? 

 

2 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

Yeah, I'm super happy about it because I have the newest MacBook Pro and even with everything MAXED out, the GPU still is only good for some GPu acceleration, not gaming so with something like this, it turns my laptop into a gaming power house.

Its a good short term move but lets not forget external GPUs are limited by TB3 throughput. Nowhere near the level of PCIe. They still need to improve onboard dGPU

[aki99]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

 Awesome! So now can people stop complaining about the GPUs in MacBook Pros and iMacs being so weak? 

I don't know if it'll stop people complaining cause in the end isn't this just another added expense on top of an already costly machine?

[Miller1218]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

 

Its a good short term move but lets not forget external GPUs are limited by TB3 throughput. Nowhere near the level of PCIe

Yes, but gpu's don't usually use the full throughput of PCIE

[Zando_]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

 

Its a good short term move but lets not forget external GPUs are limited by TB3 throughput. Nowhere near the level of PCIe

Yup, but stick high end desktop GPU in a MacBook Pro.... wait, it's impossible*. The TB3 may not give it as much bandwidth as a PCIe GPU, but it will beat the internal dGPU every time. 

 

*besides, it'd heat up so much it'd either set the room on fire or melt through your desk, and then set the room on fire. 

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

 

Its a good short term move but lets not forget external GPUs are limited by TB3 throughput. Nowhere near the level of PCIe

I think the next iteration of Thundebolt will do double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 at around 80 Gb/s so multiple 5K displays at 60 to 120 Hz or one 8K display at 60Hz. But yeah, PCIe would still be better.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Mr_Voorakkara said:

I don't know if it'll stop people complaining cause in the end isn't this just another added expense on top of an already costly machine?

BUT.... It isn't a proprietary connector, is it? As far as I know, it's a normal USB-C/TB3 connector, so it shouldn't be locked to only Apple machines. Also, since no one seems to notice this, Macs are not expensive compared to the competition. Get any other one piece machined aluminum PC, with a high-end i7 and decent work (not gaming) dGPU, and it'll be around the same price point. 

[mrchow19910319]

13 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

In this forum which is roughly 95% Windows users, many of them will bitch and whine about all things Apple, even when they do something good. 

yeah.... I think most of the people are fine... just don't drag yourself into the mac vs pc debate...

[mrchow19910319]

We are still not sure how apple is gonna play this. 

 

I think next year we will see a apple branded dock for eGPU. 

[mrchow19910319]

One thing for sure, just as apple demoed it, those game developer that uses unity engine and unreal engine can finally consider mac as a platform. 

 

But I think in the short future game devs wont consider mac. Cos most of them are getting used to PC/windows platform, and not to mention that most of them are gamers. 

[Miller1218]

1 minute ago, mrchow19910319 said:

We are still not sure how apple is gonna play this. 

 

I think next year we will see a apple branded dock for eGPU. 

Maybe, I'm interested to see if they will support other docks even if they release their own hardware.

I mean they can't just go and stop supporting the Dev Kits.

[TidaLWaveZ]

16 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

yeah.... I think most of the people are fine... just don't drag yourself into the mac vs pc debate...

At least he optimized his comment by using recursion.

[mrchow19910319]

10 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

I mean they can't just go and stop supporting the Dev Kits.

Could you amplify ? I dont understand what you mean.

 

I thought the "dev kit" is just a temporary thing while apple let all the devs to test some water. 

Like :" here, use these hardware to develop and see where it goes" 

While the real dock is coming later. And it will be more unified, it will work on all apple laptops/all in ones. 

[goodtofufriday]

So like. Does it work on computers with thunderbolt 3 or what

[captain_to_fire]

20 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Macs are not expensive compared to the competition. Get any other one piece machined aluminum PC, with a high-end i7 and decent work (not gaming) dGPU, and it'll be around the same price point. 

With Apple, they ship all their Macs with a single version of macOS and you can run Windows on a Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, or VMWare Fusion).

 

Microsoft on the other hand ships their beautifully crafted laptops with a highly redacted Windows 10S which doesn't make sense because all of it's promised features like security are already available in the Group Policy settings in the Pro, Enterprise and Education versions of Windows and a single type A USB without the option for faster IO.

[JoseGuya]

Just now, goodtofufriday said:

So like. Does it work on computers with thunderbolt 3 or what

Don't know why it couldn't 

[captain_to_fire]

19 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

yeah.... I think most of the people are fine... just don't drag yourself into the mac vs pc debate...

I love being a bystander when debates like that go haywire. 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, hey_yo_ said:

With Apple, they ship all their Macs with a single version of macOS and you can run Windows on a Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, or VMWare Fusion).

 

Microsoft on the other hand ships their beautifully crafted laptops with a highly redacted Windows 10S which doesn't make sense because all of it's promised features like security are already available in the Group Policy settings in the Pro, Enterprise and Education versions of Windows and a single type A USB without the option for faster IO.

Yup. Apple may be filled with idealists, but they aren't idiots.