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Partially agree. I assume Apple wants to go down the truly portable route and offer an addon graphics card in the size and shape of either an airport extreme o
by ckluis 13y ago
Partially agree. I assume Apple wants to go down the truly portable route and offer an addon graphics card in the size and shape of either an airport extreme or apple tv/mini. This would allow someone with a mini to stack a graphics card under it and have the graphics card inbetween the mini & any other screen.
- Shivetya 13y agoI am/was hoping thunderbolt would provide me the equivalent of a docking station set up for Apple laptops. Hooking up one cable is an acceptable alternative to a docking station. My last Apple laptop setup required four plug ins, monitor, power, keyboard, and mouse. Yeah I know I could wireless the mouse/keyboard but that isn't the point.
- jfb 13y agoApple already sells a Thunderbolt docking station, with a very nice 27" display built in.
- roc 13y agoPersonally I think baking the GPU power into the displays themselves is the more Apple-y approach. As opposed to some sort of additional-stackable-boxes solution. (Which I'd love to see; I just don't see Apple doing it.)
- grecy 13y ago> Personally I think baking the GPU power into the displays themselves is the more Apple-y approach. I don't agree. Any Monitor with built in GPU won't make sense with the new Mac Pro, which (I think) will be the driving force for the new (likely 4K) Thunderbolt cinema displays.
- roc 13y agoBut without the GPU what Apple machines other than Mac Pros will decently drive a 4k display? [1] Apple's left the Pro line to languish for so long, I can't imagine they'd let it limit their ability to differentiate in the larger display business. [1] And of those upgraded MBPs that could hit 4k aren't going to be able to do it on two displays, which is quite popular.
- barrkel 13y agoGPUs become obsolete way faster than monitors.
- roc 13y agoAre you trying to say Apple wouldn't put GPUs in displays because it might accelerate the display upgrade cycle?
- barrkel 13y agoI'm trying to say that customers aren't quite stupid enough to invest in a display that they'll throw out 18 months later.
- roc 13y agoIn a product line-up where a new GPU requires an entire new machine, merely having to replace a display would actually be an improvement. Not that people with those sorts of interests, even when Apple customers, rely on Apple hardware to serve those interests.
- sneak 13y agoAs long as it can be used with a pass-through Thunderbolt mode, it would still be perfectly usable as a display/port expander without using the internal GPU, should you buy a faster machine. Also, Apple stuff seems to last damn near forever, so it'll hold a lot of resale value (even if the GPU is two years old) for those who want to upgrade.
- tsmarsh 13y agoIt would be great if that docking station optionally included an awesome GPU. In the mean time, daisy chaining something like this on to the back looks very interesting.
- dmix 13y ago> monitor, power, keyboard, and mouse + sound Although I use USB hub so 1x usb.
- duaneb 13y ago> addon graphics card in the size and shape of either an airport extreme or apple tv/mini Wouldn't the latency remove any substantial merit?
- akandiah 13y agoSony has done this in the past. The add-on wasn't cheap.