External TB Graphics Card Coming Soon

Sounds interesting.

Would be great if Nvidia actually worked on a card that was specifically designed to take advantage though, that could be really really useful.
 
Yes, if they can get the size and price right. It would be better if someone (Apple?) came out with a Thunderbolt display that had a GPU built in, though. It would create less clutter on a desk.

Oppressed said:
Per new post on Engadget a company is working on developing an external graphics card solution for thunderbolt equipped Macs. MBA to be the perfect machine?
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Credit where credit is due, however. AnandTech broke this story.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4569/...mises-graphics-card-enclosure-for-thunderbolt
 
With the way the PC market is shifting, or at least trying to shift, in the direction of ultra books I can see this being an extremely profitable venture for AMD and Nvidia considering they are blocked out of Sandy Bridge chips. I hope it picks up. Stinks that everyone else has to play catch-up to the innovative ideas of Apple.
 
Home entertainment while having the same machine to become portable powerhouse when needed. Apple's brilliant on implementing thunderbolt on their laptops!
 
Oppressed said:
With the way the PC market is shifting, or at least trying to shift, in the direction of ultra books I can see this being an extremely profitable venture for AMD and Nvidia considering they are blocked out of Sandy Bridge chips. I hope it picks up. Stinks that everyone else has to play catch-up to the innovative ideas of Apple.
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I doubt ultra books are able to catch up with Apple's idea, they've just somewhat successfully copied everything except the thunderbolt. Apple's ahead of the game IMHO.
 
It is an interesting idea.

Apple could cut the cost of the laptops and sell the graphics cards separately.

There really isn't much to build there for Apple they could just put them in a small aluminum box with TB input and output. And make the graphics upgrade available for all the laptop models.
 
Expecting this to be somewhere in the range of $299.99 to $499.99. And carrying it around defeats the purpose of having an Air.

If I needed extra power like that, I'd have a desktop as well. And I do.
 
PaulWog said:
Expecting this to be somewhere in the range of $299.99 to $499.99. And carrying it around defeats the purpose of having an Air.

If I needed extra power like that, I'd have a desktop as well. And I do.
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The point is that you can put it on a desktop and use it with an external display for when you want to play serious games or need the power of the GPU. It isn't meant to be carried around.
 
PaulWog said:
Expecting this to be somewhere in the range of $299.99 to $499.99. And carrying it around defeats the purpose of having an Air.

If I needed extra power like that, I'd have a desktop as well. And I do.
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Ya, but with an Air (or comparable machine), you have the ultraportable, with a desktop setup you plug into (complete with beefier graphics card) at home. Desktop no longer necessary, laptop-with-massive-graphics-power no longer necessary.
 
jackyyeow said:
I doubt ultra books are able to catch up with Apple's idea, they've just somewhat successfully copied everything except the thunderbolt. Apple's ahead of the game IMHO.
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The Air IS an ultra book. Intel and Apple worked together heavily on the Air design.
 
KPOM said:
Yes, if they can get the size and price right. It would be better if someone (Apple?) came out with a Thunderbolt display that had a GPU built in, though. It would create less clutter on a desk.



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Actually that's a really interesting idea. Think about it from the concept that a Mac Mini could potentially become a gaming machine (albeit processor limited) just by adding a bigger monitor, if the graphics cards scaled with the monitors that could be powerful technology indeed...
 
I may be really excited about this, but I have a couple questions that I haven't had much luck deciphering with Google.

First how hacky is this going to be? I don't want to spend half my time debugging this device.

Second, what cards can I actually use with my Macbook Air? Am I going to essentially be restricted to buying Mac Pro cards short of hacking another "compatible" card (See above for complaints).

Ultimately all I want is a card that will allow me to get dual 27" ACDs going, is there a card on the market that will let me do this?

The real hindrance here I think will be finding Mac compatible cards right? There just aren't that many use cases for a Mac PCI Express Graphics Card short of the Mac Pro.
 
To the thunderbolt Guru,

Does the half size thunderbolt on the macbook air(Eagle Ridge) cause it to not work as well as the thunderbolt found on the other macs(Light Ridge) in this particular instance of acting as an interphase for an external display card? If so what kind of external graphics card are we restricted to on the macbook air considering that the maximum bandwidth would be less that the full size thunderbolt, and how does it compared to the best external card that we can run on the macbook pro 13 assuming we don't want to exceed the bandwidth of the thunderbolt port. I know its a mouth full but would really appreciate some enlightenment in this area, thanks. :confused:

P.S. I think it is an amazing idea to be able to add an external graphic card for extra graphical power when connected to an external display, can't wait to get my hands on something like that! :D
 
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