Here are a couple of Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure options out there for those considering this upgrade path, and the relative merits of each.
#APPLE EGPU MACBOOK AIR SOFTWARE#
But for anybody looking to extend the life of their existing Mac for a few more years to wait and see how the Apple Silicon transition shakes out, updates from Apple and key software partners make an eGPU a great choice.
#APPLE EGPU MACBOOK AIR DRIVER#
But while Apple has directly sold a few eGPUs, and natively supports AMD graphics cards without any special driver gymnastics required, it’s still mostly a niche category. These have very high throughput, making it possible for a GPU in an internal enclosure to offer almost as much graphics processing capability as one connected internally. Existing Macs with Intel chips will still be useful long after the transition is complete, however, and software porting means they might even support more of your existing favorite applications for the foreseeable future, which is why adding an external GPU (eGPU) likely makes more sense now than ever.Īpple added support for eGPUs a few years ago, made possible by the addition of Thunderbolt 3 ports on Macs. And while new Intel-powered Macs will be released and sold leading up to that time, it does mean that the writing is on the wall for Intel-based Apple hardware. That process is meant to begin with hardware to be announced later this year, and last two years according to Apple’s stated expectations. This subreddit is not endorsed or sponsored by Apple Inc.Apple recently announced they would be transitioning their Mac line from Intel processors to their own, ARM-based Apple Silicon. If you'd like to view their content together, click here. This fundamental difference in audience is why we support two communities, r/Apple and r/AppleHelp. Apple SubredditsĬontent which benefits the community (news, rumors, and discussions) is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, etc.). Not sure what to buy?Īsk in our Daily Advice Thread or in our dedicated sister sub /r/AppleWhatShouldIBuy! See also the iPhone Upgrade Wiki for more information. Comments that are spreading COVID vaccine misinformation/claims are not allowed.Ĭheck here to see if any Apple services are down.These belong in the beta subreddits listed below. The proper place for advice is /r/AppleWhatShouldIBuy. No posts or comments relating to buying, selling, trading, giveaways or asking for advice about any of those topics.No content related to piracy or illegal activities.
Before posting, read the detailed rules here. Self-promotion is allowed on Sundays only, strictly reserved for app developers and must be in the form of a self-post. We may approve your post if it is a high-level issue that can't be found through searches, or if it affects a large amount of people. No support questions outside of the Daily Advice Thread.No posts that aren’t directly related to Apple or the Apple eco-system.No rude, offensive, or hateful comments.No editorialized link titles (use the original source's title if applicable).Posts must foster reasonable discussion.No memes, direct images or contextless image/video posts.If you have a tech or buying/selling-related question, please check out our Daily Advice Thread or r/AppleHelp! CommunityĪ more in-depth version of the rules can be found here Welcome to r/Apple, the unofficial community for Apple news, rumors, and discussions.