Using external GPUs on Mac laptops


David Lee has an interesting video demonstrating desktop graphics processors on a Mac laptop. The full PCIe graphics cards can power a laptop's graphics via an external Thunderbolt enclosure.

The caveat, similar to Hackintosh solutions, is you'll want to use a GPU that's compatible with macOS. Lee recommends 9-series nVidia cards, specifically the Geforce GTX 980 Ti, since they're used in Macs. If, however, you're looking to run Windows in Bootcamp, you'll have a lot more options.

Using an external Thunderbolt 2 enclosure appears to result in 20% performance hit over desktop installations and a Thunderbolt 3 is only a 10% reduction.

Interesting stuff for gamers and other high end graphics needs