7 ms·

Just curious what kind of workload your 2016 MB is bottlenecking from? Have you considered an eGPU for graphical based workloads, or a pre-built desktop for wor

by tmpz22 6y ago

Just curious what kind of workload your 2016 MB is bottlenecking from? Have you considered an eGPU for graphical based workloads, or a pre-built desktop for workloads that would function equally well on Windows or WSL2?

minimaxir 6y ago
Current-workload-wise, I do want to do a lot more work with virtualization (if Docker was not announced for Apple Silicon it would have been a nonstarter), plus the ability to play an occasional game or two via Metal. I actually bought a weaker 2016 MacBook Pro when it launched under the assumption that eGPUs would take off; unfortunately, the cost premium turned out to be not worth it, and the inability to use Nvidia GPUs without extreme hacking makes it a nonstarter. (I also planned to use it for training ML models; the massive cost drops in cloud computing make having a local GPU unnecessary) My place isn't big enough for a full-on Windows workstation, plus I'm invested enough in the Mac ecosystem that I get benefit from that synergy. EDIT: Another performance bottleneck in my work is video recording/livestreaming; currently on my Mac I get slowdown when I record HD video for complicated work, so I would prefer to mitigate that.
- pvg 6y ago
  There are Intel NUCs these days that are tiny but run desktop (rather than mobile) CPUs. They're about a fifth the size of a typical eGPU box (or, slightly larger than a docked Nintendo Switch). This can work for the sort of filler needs you're describing - a bit more CPU or graphical oompf, a system to offload some tasks to (say, VMs, streaming/encoding) and putz around with Windows/games or a real local Linux install.
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    This, and I'll expand as I have recently been down the rabbit hole. The Nuc8 (i5 or fractionally more powerful i7) are monsters and much loved by those who get them. Their GPU is particularly powerful. The newer Nuc10 is a leap backwards in GPU power, but has 6 cores in the i7 version. This makes it an excellent ESXi host, and the factory support for 64gb of RAM helps too (though the Nuc8 will run 64, but Intel states support for just 32). The RAM is faster on the Nuc10. For encoding, both are great as they have the same version of Quicksync and I think my Nuc10 matches the performance of the Nuc8 for transcoding video. A downside for the Nuc10 is that that the newer nic isn't properly supported yet by VMWare, so there is shagging about to get the nic to work. With m.2 drives they fly, and are a great little machine.
    - zmmmmm 6y ago
      I'm quite interested in setting up a Nuc as a stopgap / intermediary GPU dev machine while Apple sorts out whatever is going to be the future of GPU support. With that in mind I am curious about your comment wrt GPU - are you referring to the on-board Intel graphics, discrete graphics that can be supported on-board to the NUC, or are there limitations to what can be added externally? I will probably get a chassis and connect an nVidia card via thunderbolt, but I'm interested in what the limitations are around the other options.
      - pvg 6y ago
        Some have discrete graphics by AMD, there's one that even takes a half-sized actual nVidia card of some sort. The bang/buck suffers a fair bit there, I think, unless you're really pressed for space. But if you're considering an eGPU box, you probably aren't quite to that degree.
      - lostlogin 6y ago
        As pvg says, there are the Hades Canyon like which are very capable graphically (and have 2x nic) and were a strange child of AMD and Intel, but I referring to the integrated graphics. The new Nuc9 series have some very serious options but they cost a lot and seem to just be feeding off the Nuc name. They are monsters. They are also about the same volume as 10 traditional Nucs (0.5L versus 5L), though have a built in power supply, which is a huge upgrade imho. Im not aware that they are particularly limited with what can be plugged in as an external GPU, but you don't see many people raving about that option. It seems to come with glitchy behaviour and continual irritation - I haven't got first hand experience. There are a few reddit subs that may interest you - r/intelnuc, r/nuclab r/homelab have some interesting posts.
        zmmmmm 6y ago
        Thanks! Yes, the NUC9 is intriguing but super expensive and limited availability (that I could find). On the other hand, the cost of an eGPU chassis is super high and perhaps offsets most of the cost difference. But in any case, it sounds like if I'm definitely doing discrete graphics your GPU concerns aren't a problem for a NUC10.
Marsymars 6y ago
Different poster, but my 2016 12" MB has both an unpleasantly slow CPU for basic web browsing and not enough RAM (8 GB). (And no Thunderbolt/eGPU support.) As soon as Apple releases another fanless laptop, I'll buy it.

by tmpz22 6y ago

minimaxir 6y ago

Current-workload-wise, I do want to do a lot more work with virtualization (if Docker was not announced for Apple Silicon it would have been a nonstarter), plus the ability to play an occasional game or two via Metal. I actually bought a weaker 2016 MacBook Pro when it launched under the assumption that eGPUs would take off; unfortunately, the cost premium turned out to be not worth it, and the inability to use Nvidia GPUs without extreme hacking makes it a nonstarter. (I also planned to use it for training ML models; the massive cost drops in cloud computing make having a local GPU unnecessary) My place isn't big enough for a full-on Windows workstation, plus I'm invested enough in the Mac ecosystem that I get benefit from that synergy. EDIT: Another performance bottleneck in my work is video recording/livestreaming; currently on my Mac I get slowdown when I record HD video for complicated work, so I would prefer to mitigate that.

pvg 6y ago
There are Intel NUCs these days that are tiny but run desktop (rather than mobile) CPUs. They're about a fifth the size of a typical eGPU box (or, slightly larger than a docked Nintendo Switch). This can work for the sort of filler needs you're describing - a bit more CPU or graphical oompf, a system to offload some tasks to (say, VMs, streaming/encoding) and putz around with Windows/games or a real local Linux install.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  This, and I'll expand as I have recently been down the rabbit hole. The Nuc8 (i5 or fractionally more powerful i7) are monsters and much loved by those who get them. Their GPU is particularly powerful. The newer Nuc10 is a leap backwards in GPU power, but has 6 cores in the i7 version. This makes it an excellent ESXi host, and the factory support for 64gb of RAM helps too (though the Nuc8 will run 64, but Intel states support for just 32). The RAM is faster on the Nuc10. For encoding, both are great as they have the same version of Quicksync and I think my Nuc10 matches the performance of the Nuc8 for transcoding video. A downside for the Nuc10 is that that the newer nic isn't properly supported yet by VMWare, so there is shagging about to get the nic to work. With m.2 drives they fly, and are a great little machine.
  - zmmmmm 6y ago
    I'm quite interested in setting up a Nuc as a stopgap / intermediary GPU dev machine while Apple sorts out whatever is going to be the future of GPU support. With that in mind I am curious about your comment wrt GPU - are you referring to the on-board Intel graphics, discrete graphics that can be supported on-board to the NUC, or are there limitations to what can be added externally? I will probably get a chassis and connect an nVidia card via thunderbolt, but I'm interested in what the limitations are around the other options.
    - pvg 6y ago
      Some have discrete graphics by AMD, there's one that even takes a half-sized actual nVidia card of some sort. The bang/buck suffers a fair bit there, I think, unless you're really pressed for space. But if you're considering an eGPU box, you probably aren't quite to that degree.
    - lostlogin 6y ago
      As pvg says, there are the Hades Canyon like which are very capable graphically (and have 2x nic) and were a strange child of AMD and Intel, but I referring to the integrated graphics. The new Nuc9 series have some very serious options but they cost a lot and seem to just be feeding off the Nuc name. They are monsters. They are also about the same volume as 10 traditional Nucs (0.5L versus 5L), though have a built in power supply, which is a huge upgrade imho. Im not aware that they are particularly limited with what can be plugged in as an external GPU, but you don't see many people raving about that option. It seems to come with glitchy behaviour and continual irritation - I haven't got first hand experience. There are a few reddit subs that may interest you - r/intelnuc, r/nuclab r/homelab have some interesting posts.
      - zmmmmm 6y ago
        Thanks! Yes, the NUC9 is intriguing but super expensive and limited availability (that I could find). On the other hand, the cost of an eGPU chassis is super high and perhaps offsets most of the cost difference. But in any case, it sounds like if I'm definitely doing discrete graphics your GPU concerns aren't a problem for a NUC10.

Marsymars 6y ago

Different poster, but my 2016 12" MB has both an unpleasantly slow CPU for basic web browsing and not enough RAM (8 GB). (And no Thunderbolt/eGPU support.) As soon as Apple releases another fanless laptop, I'll buy it.