Intel Macs, Boot Camp, and off-the-shelf GPUs

placeboplacebo
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
How do you think the whole GPU situation will work out now that the Macs are Intel-based and run apparently unspecial (although underclocked for heat reasons, it seems, in the iMac and Macbook Pro) graphics cards, that work with Windows? Does this mean that there are finally normal cards inside Macs, and ATI won't be able to overcharge horrifically, and I can buy any card from newegg as long as there are OS X drivers?



Any idea whether these are normal cards, or we'll get stuck in the same damned cycle as with the PPC Macs of having to buy overpriced graphics cards?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    I think Mactel graphics cards will need an EFI boot ROM, which regular Wintel cards don't have.



    Welcome to Intel: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,514moderator
    I guess we'll need to wait until the upgradable macs come out. I certainly hope we'll be able to use standard cards and the fact they run under Windows means that could well be the case. That's something I've always wanted for Macs. Just to be able to walk down to a local PC shop and pick up a cheap GPU.



    The only issue for me is that the upgrade option will only be available in the high-end Macs and so out of my price range anyway. I don't see any reason why Apple would force you to use custom cards when they are already forcing you to buy a high-end machine and so make their money anyway.
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