M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini Not Compatible With eGPUs

[MacRumors]

Apple's new M1-equipped MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini do not appear to be compatible with eGPUs, including the Blackmagic eGPU that Apple has promoted alongside other Macs and that is available through the online store.

As noted on Twitter, under the lists of accessories compatible with the new Macs, the Blackmagic eGPU is not listed. In the image above, the eGPU is listed as compatible with the Intel MacBook Pro models still available, but not compatible with the M1 models.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1326265864690298885

The same is true for the Mac mini, which also comes in both M1 and Intel varieties. MacBook Air models have all been replaced with M1 chips, and none of those machines support eGPUs.

With no eGPU options available at the current time, the new Macs will have to reply on their own M1 chips with built-in GPUs. All M1 chips feature an 8-core GPU with the exception of the M1 chip used in the entry-level MacBook Air, which has a 7-core GPU.

Update: Apple has confirmed to TechCrunch that the M1 Macs do not support eGPUs.

Article Link: M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini Not Compatible With eGPUs

 

[farewelwilliams]

would be surprising if they did support it

 

[svenning]

I guess if you need an eGPU you wouldn’t start out with a MacBook Air, low end pro or the mini anyway. Assume the more high end arm models will support it

 

[LeeW]

Indeed, would not have expected these machines to support eGPU, not the existing ones anyway.

 

[swm]

with such low power requirements apple could make a M1 based egpu-dongle that is actually powered by the thunderbolt port.

 

[immortalwind]

No Windows Bootcamp support, no egpu support... This gets less and less appealing to gamers.

 

[Return Zero]

Limitation I guess, but do many people actually use these? Honest question... nobody I know of does.

 

[yurc]

This would be worrying aspect of future openable box such Mac pro, when those box nearly more modular and peripherals compatibility is main selling point. Imagine we bought 9K machine with very limited expandability.

 

[Jerion]

As always, wait for Rev B.

Hell of a first run though. And in the “consumer” (hah!) models at that!

 

[fbr$]

My dream was a 16" MBP with NVidia, but Apple went in the opposite direction.

 

[jayducharme]

I was holding out hope, but I'm glad I know this now. Although, given Apple's built-in GPU, there probably is no longer a need for one, as there was with Intel's built-in graphics.

 

[Jens Engels]

Hope the macbook pro's will support it, as that could be a dealbreaker for me personally

 

[q64ceo]

********. Absolutely ********. I'm definitely not buying.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

There's a reason this has launched in the lower end macs...

I'm actually surprised it even supports Thunderbolt. Not sure how driver support will be for TB equipment on M1 macs...

For casual use the M1 macs are certainly a huge step forward already now, but for professional use... wait a year or two.

 

[Val-kyrie]

No Windows Bootcamp support, no egpu support... This gets less and less appealing to gamers.

And less appealing to professionals.

 

[Val-kyrie]

There's a reason this has launched in the lower end macs...

I'm actually surprised it even supports Thunderbolt. Not sure how driver support will be for TB equipment on M1 macs...

For casual use the M1 macs are certainly a huge step forward already now, but for professional use... switch to Windows.

Fixed it. Sorry, but it looks like I will be using Windows for professional work and maybe Macs for personal use.

 

[mike...]

They also support less displays. MBP supports one external display, down from two. Mac Mini supports two external displays (one of which must be HDMI), down from three.

 

[hockeyamd]

I still wonder if my usb-c to display port adopter will work or my cal digit thunderbolt 3 dock

 

[locovaca]

I guess if you need an eGPU you wouldn’t start out with a MacBook Air, low end pro or the mini anyway. Assume the more high end arm models will support it

The mini was one of the first touted platforms for the eGPU.

 

[mike...]

I guess if you need an eGPU you wouldn’t start out with a MacBook Air, low end pro or the mini anyway. Assume the more high end arm models will support it

Actually eGPUs were relatively popular on the Mac Mini given it was quite a powerful little machine with the option of 64GB RAM and 10Gb Ethernet.

 

[jz0309]

not a surprise ... this first goaround is for entry-level, mid/high end coming in 2021, let's see what that brings

 

[applicious84]

Like it matters. Apple's integrated graphics are like 2x faster than intel's and 20x faster than any eGPU made 5 years ago for 98% of PCs. They're even faster than iPhone graphics!

Edit: Why so many dislikes? I mean those graphics are like a million times faster than a TI-86. Who would ever need extra? It even has over 640K Ram! Also, I heard that if you really wanted them, you could get airtag based eGPUs

Edit 2: So. Many. Dislikes. Keep them coming, but I have to warn you, if Apple takes note of this we may never see airtag eGpus...or even airtags for that matter.

LONG LIVE THE AIRTAG BASED EGPU!

 

[coolfactor]

No Windows Bootcamp support, no egpu support... This gets less and less appealing to gamers.

Gamers or Game developers? There's a ton of Windows machines that serve the gaming market, so I don't see that as a huge driver for Apple. All iOS (and macOS) games will eventually run on M1-based Macs.

As for eGPU support, I'm confident that it's just a matter of time. What they've delivered today is exceptional and none of us should be complaining about what is not "yet" here, I say. Give it time.

 

[iBluetooth]

No Windows Bootcamp support, no egpu support... This gets less and less appealing to gamers.

They still sell the Intel versions. But if you are a gamer, why consider a Mac?

 

[mzeb]

I’ve been running a 13” MBP with eGPU since before apple offically supported eGPUs. Prior I had my MacBook and a gaming rig. I was really excited to be able to combine them into one machine. If the Apple GPU can outperform discrete mobile GPUs like they implied then I’m cool with a lack of eGPU support. But I haven’t seen the numbers or heard the stories yet so I’m nervous for the moment that my one machine life is coming to an end.