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Can you name a laptop that meets your expectations and lets me connect an external GPU? (not for gaming)
by 111111IIIIIII 3y ago
Can you name a laptop that meets your expectations and lets me connect an external GPU? (not for gaming)
- scarface_74 3y agoI hate to be that guy. But why do you want a laptop for that? While my above list of requirements is basically implying a MacBook, if I wanted a really performant computer with a good GPU either internal or external for a high end use case, I would get a non-Mac desktop.
- 111111IIIIIII 3y agoWhy own a macbook when you could just have a non-Mac desktop instead?
- lockhouse 3y agoMaybe they prefer macOS or need it for iOS development. Also, there really isn't anything out there like a MacBook Air. Thin, light, fast, fanless (silent), and truly all day battery life.
- Aerbil313 3y agoDamn Apple. Macs have no single drawback except repairability, not even vendor lock-in (you can flash Asahi). That’s it. I’m going for a Mac except the Framework I previously planned for. Single digit battery life shouldn’t be thing in 2023.
- 111111IIIIIII 3y agoNo CUDA support
- lockhouse 3y agoThe lock-in for that is on Nvidia's side, not Apple's.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- 111111IIIIIII 3y agoNo it's not. macOS explicitly will not support external GPUs of any kind. It's not limited to Nvidia, although Nvidia is clearly the target.
- lockhouse 3y agoCan I use CUDA without an Nvidia graphics card? That was my point, just like Apple they’ve locked this functionality to their hardware. Which is fine, they developed it, it’s their right to do so. I’m well aware of the limitations of discrete graphics on Macs.
- scarface_74 3y agoBecause a desktop isn’t portable? When I go into either one of my corporate offices (rarely) or a client’s office, it’s nice to be able to just plug my laptop in the night before and not have to worry about a finding any place to plug it in during the day, going back and forth between conference rooms, etc. I also go home to see my parents for a couple of weeks sometimes and work from there. And I realize this is a very esoteric case. But I also do the whole “digital nomad” thing half the year.
- 111111IIIIIII 3y ago> Because a desktop isn’t portable It almost sounfs like you knew the answer to your question the entire time.
- scarface_74 3y agoBut once you’re asking about an external GPU, portability isn’t the most important thing is it?
- 111111IIIIIII 3y agoI'm not sure what you're talking about. My external GPU enclosure is extremely portable. My everyday backpack fits a laptop with external GPU and a weekend's worth of luggage very comfortably.
- diffeomorphism 3y agoBecause I don't want two devices? Your answer of "just buy another $1000+ computer" is a bit out of touch.
- Turskarama 3y agoHow many people need a device that's both portable AND needs an external GPU? That's incredibly niche.
- Dylan16807 3y ago"has thunderbolt or full-fledged USB4" shouldn't be niche.
- nomel 3y agoThe nice thing about an eGPU is your portable becomes much more portable, since portables with reasonable GPUs are heavy, big, and hot. The bad thing about eGPUs is they're ~$250 on top of the GPU cost, which is a little to close to a second desktop PC. I gave up and went with cloud (ShadowPC).
- 111111IIIIIII 3y ago> That's incredibly niche. Irrelevant given how easy it is to do. In macOS it's literally the equivalent of a feature flag.
- rtpg 3y agoThe intel Macbook Airs let you plug in an eGPU.
- 111111IIIIIII 3y agoYes, and there is no excuse for why mac silicon does not
- nl 3y agoDefine "connect an external GPU? (not for gaming)" I can connect to an external GPU via SSH or Jupyter from my MBP fine. The internal GPU is also surprisingly capable for machine learning (which is the only usage I'm really interested in).