Didn’t realize that - just in the Dell 15" and Asus 15" incher though, and probably staying that way - everything else in an ultrabook is <=15W TDP. So looks like one more Intel refresh will do the trick for the general case.
Even though the Next Big Thing is constantly around the corner, it might be worth it to see how much Vulkan and DX12 will reduce CPU load in something that’s not just a proof of concept, which would make something like this much more appealing as a gaming machine.
StusserBeast 2016 is all done. 6700K running at 4.7Ghz, DDR4, fractal R5 case, etc. I guess it’s snappier than the old i920, kinda. Difficult to say. It certainly benches higher, and I enjoyed the build, learning about a few neat changes in overclocking and power savings since 2009. It’s certainly running much cooler than my old crowded case. Several of the fans started making noise a couple years ago so I just cut their cords. It still ran fine, just hot. Shrug.
You clearly need to do some really CPU-intense shit, man, like open several Excel files and a dozen Chrome tabs at once while your workplace’s mandatory 9AM virus scan runs and has a bad interaction with Google Drive for the next hour straight.
Or encode video, but really, that’s for pansies.
Looks like this is coming up soon!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10133/amd-xconnect-external-radeons
Still no pricing or availability dates, but promising.
When this comes to a MacBook or MacBook Pro, I’m going to jump all over it. And since Apple is usually pretty good at pushing forward when it comes to Thunderbolt, maybe it’ll be sooner than I expect.
Yep, there’s a chance they’ll finally reveal retina macbook airs (just called macbooks now) and skylake/TB3-equipped retina macbook pros at the march 21st event. As TB3 GPU docks are officially supported by intel, AMD, and (soon) nvidia, seems likely apple will allow it in their firmware. It may not be on initial release, though.
Probably not. But this is a fairly decent way of dealing with the Oculus CEO’s complaint about underpowered GPUs preventing Macs from powering the Rift. That would be a nifty setup, too. MacBook, to external TB3 dock, to Oculus Rift.
I thought nvidia already added driver support for it? I swear I saw it mentioned a version or two back.
Good memory! Yep NV supports it too, now.
Apple… letting people upgrade their fixed GPUs with an external, non-proprietary dock, instead of spending $1000 more for the upgraded version? Surely you mean in Bootcamp/Windows? It would just be a hardware thing they can’t control in a different OS?
I get the impression it won’t work with Bootcamp either, assuming Apple chooses not to provide the supported bios.
Why not? Apple will likely happily sell Apple branded external docks and GPUs at a premium , and people will happily buy them - just like iPhone battery cases. Apple might try to get some Made for iPod (MFi) type license fees, but they’ve been open to third parties doing all kinds of hardware extensions in the past. And they’ve been at the forefront of Thunderbolt hardware inclusion, based on Intel’s specs.
I’m pretty sure Apple will be going this route, since it seems to give everyone what they want. Apple gets its super-slim, single-port laptop, and power users get to do things like VR and high-end games. Win-win. As far as locking out non-proprietary solutions, they wouldn’t be adopting Thunderbolt and USB 3 as connectivity options if that was the plan. They’d have done something proprietary like ADB, or (more recently) Lightning.
I think the comment was a tongue-in-cheek criticism of Apple’s traditional approach to such things. If the higher ups decide it’s a viable market for them to enter, I’m sure Apple will dive right in.
I expect Apple to update their thunderbolt display to 5k resolution and TB3 with an embedded GPU, probably a R9 M390x. Not clear if or when they’ll support the “standard” eGPU method in their firmware and OSX, but their monitor will work.
Yeah, if VR is going to be huge (and that is an IF) Apple sales could be seriously damaged by the kid in the dorm room next to you, playing on an oculus 2.0 connected to his windows laptop/GPU dock.
Apple is so weirdly behind the times with certain things nowadays.
Apple being behind the times with gaming is hardly weird, though.
Yep, Apple missed a huge opportunity in gaming.
Microsoft didn’t do much to support gaming either, and they reaped the benefits purely from marketshare.
Yeah. Apple has been pretty lucky with games in the iOS marketplace, but I am sure they see gaming as a niche market, and VR part of that niche. But, I don’t know. More and more kids grow up gaming more and more. Could you imagine the kids coming to college, wanting a computer that plays minecraft? (though maybe Macs can run that) Or grew up PC gaming/minecraft modding and wanting a windows laptop. Though, of course all of these kids got hand-me-down iphones in high school, so there is that.