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Apple has a pretty decent summary of the feature in this support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544 See

by ovao 9y ago

Apple has a pretty decent summary of the feature in this support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544 Seems to be limited to AMD GPUs at this time.

simongray 9y ago
And limited to Macbook Pro. Damn, I was hoping they would include support for Macbooks.
- navidfarhadi 9y ago
  Macbooks don't have a TB3 port
  - tomca32 9y ago
    Which is a shame. This is the only reason my wife still uses old 11" Mac Air. She has an Apple Thunderbolt screen which she doesn't want to replace and is unusable on the Macbook. Pros are just too big for her, so she keeps on using the old Air.
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      The current MacBook similar size bigger screen, but wow is the dongle life a horror.
      - nkkollaw 9y ago
        It's not only a horror, it's idiotic and completely avoidable. Some people say it's an upgrade, but I don't see why they couldn't upgrade and keep the other ports around, since people need those daily. For sure I've used my 89-euro dongle a lot more than I've used the USB-C port (which is never), until I got sane again after 8 years of getting overcharged by Apple and switched to Microsoft hardware running Xfce Linux (which are both wonderful).
        saagarjha 9y ago
        What dongle is €89!?
        nkkollaw 9y ago
        The one I bought with the laptops so that I could use my external monitor and plug my cell phone.
        saagarjha 9y ago
        This one is $69 and has USB C, HDMI, and USB A: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-a.... Does it not fit your needs?
        Symbiote 9y ago
        Add a typical European VAT and the price is similar.
        saagarjha 9y ago
        €89 is around $110. Is VAT really 60%?
        antnisp 9y ago
        https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?fnode=8b https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91... Here it is. Right from the mother-ship.
        Symbiote 9y ago
        I guess I meant that was an equivalent price for electronics. Around 20% is normal. The USD has slipped further than I thought compared to the Euro, and prices are usually a bit higher here. There are various explanations: * Higher staff wages * Government-mandated warranty * Willingness to pay more The same product is €79 in Germany: https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91c-digital-av-multiport-adapter https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91... (or ~87€ in Denmark!)
    - rsynnott 9y ago
      The next version of the MacBook will likely support Thunderbolt. Current Intel chipsets require a rather large (and power-hungry) chip for Thunderbolt (MBPs actually have two of them!), but it'll be integrated soon; they'll get it for 'free'.
- armadsen 9y ago
  It also works on 2017 iMacs and iMac Pro. ie. Macs with Thunderbolt 3.
- ctime 9y ago
  Not exactly, here are the specifics: eGPUs are supported on MacBook Pro notebooks released in 2016 and later1, iMac computers introduced in 2017 and later, and iMac Pro.
- sulam 9y ago
  And iMac + iMac Pro.
ggregoire 9y ago
Any idea why this is limited to AMD GPUs?
- striking 9y ago
  macOS doesn't currently have Nvidia drivers from this generation (from what I remember). It supports a handful of mobile cards and no more, which is the extent to which Nvidia has been implemented in Apple computers as of late. Meanwhile, the past few generations of graphics gear in Apple computers has been a pretty wide range of AMD stuff. Vega, Polaris, FirePro have all been represented in the last 5 or so years. All they had to do was modify the driver to be able to read from the TB3 PCIe device rather than just an internal one.
  - pzduniak 9y ago
    ... but Nvidia has their own drivers for even the most recent graphics cards that work perfectly fine. Writing this from a OSX setup with a GTX1080.
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      I take it this is a hackintosh? Are you able to use it ok without signing into any iCloud services, or have you found a way around that?
      - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
        AFAIK you were already able to use external GPUs via 3rd party thunderbolt enclosures, it just wasn't officially supported.
      - kristofferR 9y ago
        iCloud works perfectly fine on Hackintoshes.
        lostlogin 9y ago

by ovao 9y ago

simongray 9y ago

And limited to Macbook Pro. Damn, I was hoping they would include support for Macbooks.

navidfarhadi 9y ago
Macbooks don't have a TB3 port
- tomca32 9y ago
  Which is a shame. This is the only reason my wife still uses old 11" Mac Air. She has an Apple Thunderbolt screen which she doesn't want to replace and is unusable on the Macbook. Pros are just too big for her, so she keeps on using the old Air.
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    The current MacBook similar size bigger screen, but wow is the dongle life a horror.
    - nkkollaw 9y ago
      It's not only a horror, it's idiotic and completely avoidable. Some people say it's an upgrade, but I don't see why they couldn't upgrade and keep the other ports around, since people need those daily. For sure I've used my 89-euro dongle a lot more than I've used the USB-C port (which is never), until I got sane again after 8 years of getting overcharged by Apple and switched to Microsoft hardware running Xfce Linux (which are both wonderful).
      - saagarjha 9y ago
        What dongle is €89!?
        nkkollaw 9y ago
        The one I bought with the laptops so that I could use my external monitor and plug my cell phone.
        saagarjha 9y ago
        This one is $69 and has USB C, HDMI, and USB A: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-a.... Does it not fit your needs?
        Symbiote 9y ago
        Add a typical European VAT and the price is similar.
        saagarjha 9y ago
        €89 is around $110. Is VAT really 60%?
        antnisp 9y ago
        https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?fnode=8b https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91... Here it is. Right from the mother-ship.
        Symbiote 9y ago
        I guess I meant that was an equivalent price for electronics. Around 20% is normal. The USD has slipped further than I thought compared to the Euro, and prices are usually a bit higher here. There are various explanations: * Higher staff wages * Government-mandated warranty * Willingness to pay more The same product is €79 in Germany: https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91c-digital-av-multiport-adapter https://www.apple.com/de/shop/product/MJ1K2ZM/A/usb%E2%80%91... (or ~87€ in Denmark!)
  - rsynnott 9y ago
    The next version of the MacBook will likely support Thunderbolt. Current Intel chipsets require a rather large (and power-hungry) chip for Thunderbolt (MBPs actually have two of them!), but it'll be integrated soon; they'll get it for 'free'.
armadsen 9y ago
It also works on 2017 iMacs and iMac Pro. ie. Macs with Thunderbolt 3.
ctime 9y ago
Not exactly, here are the specifics: eGPUs are supported on MacBook Pro notebooks released in 2016 and later1, iMac computers introduced in 2017 and later, and iMac Pro.
sulam 9y ago
And iMac + iMac Pro.

ggregoire 9y ago

Any idea why this is limited to AMD GPUs?

striking 9y ago
macOS doesn't currently have Nvidia drivers from this generation (from what I remember). It supports a handful of mobile cards and no more, which is the extent to which Nvidia has been implemented in Apple computers as of late. Meanwhile, the past few generations of graphics gear in Apple computers has been a pretty wide range of AMD stuff. Vega, Polaris, FirePro have all been represented in the last 5 or so years. All they had to do was modify the driver to be able to read from the TB3 PCIe device rather than just an internal one.
- pzduniak 9y ago
  ... but Nvidia has their own drivers for even the most recent graphics cards that work perfectly fine. Writing this from a OSX setup with a GTX1080.
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    I take it this is a hackintosh? Are you able to use it ok without signing into any iCloud services, or have you found a way around that?
    - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
      AFAIK you were already able to use external GPUs via 3rd party thunderbolt enclosures, it just wasn't officially supported.
    - kristofferR 9y ago
      iCloud works perfectly fine on Hackintoshes.
      - lostlogin 9y ago