Lets see, collaboration with Apple and ONLY sold by Apple. It's an Apple product in every way except name.
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Hands-On With Apple's New $699 Blackmagic eGPU
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I. Don't. Get. It.
This is designed for pro users, your average Apple buyer has no idea what a GPU is or what an external one is used for. That taken into consideration, this is a product made for professionals, who will end up being a better and most likely upgradable eGPU at the same or most likely a lower price. AND this isn't a state of the art eGPU either for the asking price (that is to say price / value proposition isn't there).
This is designed for pro users, your average Apple buyer has no idea what a GPU is or what an external one is used for. That taken into consideration, this is a product made for professionals, who will end up being a better and most likely upgradable eGPU at the same or most likely a lower price. AND this isn't a state of the art eGPU either for the asking price (that is to say price / value proposition isn't there).
If Apple had wanted to make an eGPU, they would have.
And there are other products available exclusively at the Apple store. That’s a sales and marketing strategy, and doesn’t make any of them Apple products.
You’re entitled to your own (wrong) opinion, but not your own facts.
- Colgate’s new smart toothbrush is exclusive to Apple Stores
- Mophie unveils new powerstation collection with Lightning connector exclusively at select Apple stores
- Samsung's Sexy Printers to be Sold Exclusively at Sexy Apple Stores
- Philips Hue digital lighting system will be exclusive to Apple Stores
- Special edition of the popular BB-8 Star Wars droid can be bought only from Apple
- Hover Camera Passport Drone sold exclusively at Apple retail stores
- $15,000 RED Raven Camera Kit Now Sold Exclusively Through Apple.com
- Fender Squier Stratocaster USB guitar available exclusively at Apple Store
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Do you really think Apple wants all the negative publicity generated by thermal throttling to keep people from buying $3,000 machines, just so they can sell more of a $700 eGPU made by another company?
I thought this was something cool and then remembered its the same card thats in my iMac... and I haven't been overly impressed by the speed increase from my 2013 imac to the 2017, even with 40gigs of ram....
This might be acceptable for those who travel a lot and want to play a game, or two, or need more gpu power in 3d animation at their office, or in a hotel room. If you're mostly home though and have the cash it's a much better idea just to buy a pre-built gaming desktop, or build your own. For 700 bucks you can already start out with a GTX 1070ti, and a high quality motherboard. For 600 more you could get an 8700k, 16gb ddr and 1tb ssd. All upgradeable.
If I were in the market for an eGPU, I would definitely get a PCIe enclosure with a standard PCIe slot for swapping out cards. $700 for a year-old mobile graphics card seems a bit much to me.
But for a professional with a demanding workflow in need of an eGPU - and that is clearly the target customer for this product, IMHO they really shouldn't advertise "supersmooth gaming" - the guaranteed support, reliability, low-noise, and the fact it also functions as a hub may be worth it.
Its something like 6 Tflops. There are faster cards, and slower ones too.
Blackmagic has some excellent products; for instance I’ve heard Davinci Resolve described as the “gold standard” for color grading. If I were a pro who used one of their products that this eGPU would accelerate, I’d probably think I’d make back my $700 in short order.
Being blessed by the makers of my HW, OS and applications SW has value, as does the 85W USB-PD charging capability, the very quiet operation and the HDMI and USB ports.
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FYI that GPU can run VR. If you got one you' be able to run the Oculus Rift in Windows+Steam on your MacBook.
Not made by Apple. Try reading the articles before commenting.
In the Windows realm the total flops are usually higher than nVidia cards, but they still preform lower in overall game and synthetic benchmarks. For example the Vega 64 has a peak of 12.6 GFLOPS, but gets destroyed by a 1080ti with 11.3. It's about equal to a 1080, which is about 8.9 GFLOPS.
It's already kinda obsolete; it's a Radeon 580. A Vega 56 would be more understandable for the price, but would still have the same problem, i.e. non-replaceable.
Not sure you understand what a GPU is or what it's used for; your RAM has no relevance here. A Radeon Pro 580 significantly outperforms a GT 775M, which it ought to since it's years newer. (This benchmark says ~10X faster for bitcoin mining, which is the most extreme difference, but it's still quite a bit faster in general.) It would be cool if a) it was priced a lot less and b) the card was replaceable.
--Eric
Are you expecting a Vega card or something? The card alone would cost more than this.
By the way, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...6&cm_re=radeon_580-_-9SIA73M78V9256-_-Product
Markup is insane? $70 over that?
Problem is when you compare it to an nVidia card it's overpriced. A 1070ti is 500 dollars and destroys that card in almost all aspects.
Boom! 100 bucks less and look at the difference. AMD can't compete: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1070-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-580/3943vs3923
Hmm, could the point be HAVING an external video card? I don't know...isn't that what you're buying here? The hyperbole around here is deep.
I really like it. I'm a bit curious about the whole 'as quiet as 18db. I'm wondering how loud it gets when pushed, but I'm guess far more quiet than most of the other eGPUs, which is why I'd pick this one.
I'm seriously considering getting a 2018 13" MBP and one of these... as I'm guessing the combo would keep both relatively quiet for most things (as the internal GPU wouldn't have to work hard).
The non-upgradability is a bummer, but quite is crucial. I wish some other eGPU manufacturers took that aspect more seriously. You'd think one could pull off the same kind of thing with higher-end GPUs as well with the right design.
And a base priced 1070ti costs almost as much as this full package, imagine if it were souped up with superfans? $750.
There isn't a problem other than people's perceptions of what things should cost that they can't buy elsewhere.
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Yeah, so maybe you don't know the price of an enclosure? They range from around $250 to $600 without ANY video card.
And please, I don't think you understand the "pro" market. Pro does not mean "Pro gamer" or "Pro IT", these devices are intended for people whose professions have nothing to do with upgrading components to get a few more fps.