Turning any MacBook into a high-end graphic powerhouse is no game
MacBooks are beautiful machines, powerful enough on their own to boast great performance in production settings, depending on the model and specs. With that said, they do come with limitations, especially when it comes to particularly intensive tasks, such as editing very large images in Photoshop, or hours of 4K video in Premiere or Final Cut.
Gaming is another aspect in which MacBooks are not as strong as Windows 10 PCs, which is why more games are available for Windows 10, than there are for Mac.
With that in mind, there are options available to leverage MacBooks, or literally any laptop with a respectable CPU and decent amount of memory, to the level of high-end graphic desktop workstations and gaming PCs. the only caveat: these options aren’t cheap.
Step #1 involves the purchase of a full-size desktop GPU, whose cost can vary wildly, from few hundred dollars to more than a thousand, depending on the class of the GPU.
A good GPU for gaming and decent video editing or 3D modeling/rendering, such as an NVIDIA GTX 1060, averages $400-$500, while a more powerful model, such as a GTX 1080, or a Titan X, will set you back between $900 and $1200.
With that said, when it comes to performance, there is no way to around it: speed is indeed a matter of speed, and the question is how fast do you want to go?
Step #2 involves shopping for an external GPU enclosure. These devices work exactly as you’d expect any old external hard drive or sound card. Most support Thunderbolt, USB Type-C, USB 3.0, and some even FireWire.
Currently there are three options available, and each comes with its own advantages and drawbacks.
Back in 2015, we reviewed “bull.box”, created by a London-based kickstarter. Bull.box supports all GTX GPUs, regardless of their size, which can be of concern, as some can be quite hefty, and refuse to fit inside some enclosures.
Bull.box supports both Thunderbolt and USB Type-C, which is great for owners of new MacBook Pros.
This device comes pre-loaded with your choice of NVIDIA GTX card, priced accordingly of course. It’s unclear whether the company allows users to replace the GPU within Bull.box.
Almost exactly a year after we reviewed Bull.box, another startup came up with an external GPU enclosure called Wolfe, this time built by a startup based in Cambridge MA. The device was initially marketed as a method to turn MacBooks into VR-ready machines, amidst concerns raised by Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey remarks about MacBooks being unable to support his VR headset.
Once again, the enclosure supports Thunderbolt as well as USB Type-C connectivity, and, much like Bull.box, it comes pre-loaded with the choice of several GTX graphic cards. Wolfe is compatible with any size and movel MacBook, or any Mac computer at all, which is also great news for owners of Mac Mini’s who want to feel the thrill of working with large photoshop files, or do some serious video editing (with an effective external cooling method).
Devil Box
Last but not the least, Devil Box is the most recent of the lot, developed by PowerColor, and according to Apple Insider, it’s the best way to boost graphic performance on a MacBook Pro, or a Mac Pro.
Once again, Thunderbolt 3 is the way to go when it comes to external GPUs, because it’s one of the few ports capable of handling the bandwidth required by a powerful GPU like a GTX 1080, for example.
Devil Box allows to interchange GPUs, although it’s important to check the size of the GPU to be installed, as some can be too big for the enclosure. For instance, while NVIDIA’s own GPU design will fit most enclosures of this kind, GTX cards manufactured by MSI,for example, like the GamingX, will be far too tall to fit in a standard case. In addition, the power connector on an MSI card is located on top of the card, opposite to the PCIe strip, adding to the vertical bulk of the GPU.
With that said, if you do go for a Devil Box, any any number of compatible high-end graphic cards, prepared to be amazed the moment you plug it into your Mac, as the boost in performance is considerable.
Ready to shop?
If you are looking for the perfect MacBook, PortableOne has you covered with a great selection of Apple MacBooks, as well as the newly unveiled 13 inch and 15 inch MacBook Pro with TouchBar.