Razer Core shows what Apple could do for gamers with Thunderbolt
Gaming hardware maker Razer has unveiled something that Mac users have sought after for years -- a Thunderbolt-connected external module that lets gamers take advantage of desktop-class graphics hardware at home while keeping their laptop thin and light on the go.
The Razer Core, announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, isn't technologically novel. It connects to the company's new Blade Stealth ultrabook via Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C, and functions primarily as a really big Thunderbolt dock -- one that happens to include a PCIe slot.
That slot can handle any standard double-width, full-length PCI Express x16 graphics card. Gamers can slip in a GTX 970 or Radeon R9 380, connect the Core to the Stealth, and play Crysis without melting the Stealth's integrated Intel graphics chip.
When they're done, they can unplug the Core -- without rebooting -- and take the MacBook Air-sized stealth to the coffee shop.
Gamers who prefer Apple's laptops have been searching for a solution like this for years. Interest has only intensified since Thunderbolt's introduction, but Apple has ignored their cries.
There are unofficial workarounds, of course, using some of the infrastructure Apple has built to support external PCIe devices for professionals.
It's not easy though. It requires some nontrivial hacking -- in the oldest sense of the word -- to enable Thunderbolt GPU drivers, and doesn't gracefully handle hotplugging the way Razer's solution does.
The adoption of Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C gives Apple an excellent opportunity to make this work in a user-friendly way, but history suggests that they almost certainly won't.
Why does Apple seem so ambivalent toward desktop gaming? Maybe the Halo debacle -- when Microsoft snatched Bungie up for the Xbox and subsequently killed the originally planned Mac release -- scarred Apple for life, or perhaps they've simply chosen to put their weight behind iOS as the gaming platform of the future.
The Razer Core, announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, isn't technologically novel. It connects to the company's new Blade Stealth ultrabook via Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C, and functions primarily as a really big Thunderbolt dock -- one that happens to include a PCIe slot.
That slot can handle any standard double-width, full-length PCI Express x16 graphics card. Gamers can slip in a GTX 970 or Radeon R9 380, connect the Core to the Stealth, and play Crysis without melting the Stealth's integrated Intel graphics chip.
When they're done, they can unplug the Core -- without rebooting -- and take the MacBook Air-sized stealth to the coffee shop.
Gamers who prefer Apple's laptops have been searching for a solution like this for years. Interest has only intensified since Thunderbolt's introduction, but Apple has ignored their cries.
There are unofficial workarounds, of course, using some of the infrastructure Apple has built to support external PCIe devices for professionals.
It's not easy though. It requires some nontrivial hacking -- in the oldest sense of the word -- to enable Thunderbolt GPU drivers, and doesn't gracefully handle hotplugging the way Razer's solution does.
The adoption of Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C gives Apple an excellent opportunity to make this work in a user-friendly way, but history suggests that they almost certainly won't.
Why does Apple seem so ambivalent toward desktop gaming? Maybe the Halo debacle -- when Microsoft snatched Bungie up for the Xbox and subsequently killed the originally planned Mac release -- scarred Apple for life, or perhaps they've simply chosen to put their weight behind iOS as the gaming platform of the future.
Comments
It's not a million miles away from the design of the old Mac Pro. Hardly ugly. The green lighting is obviously overkill and Apple would never do anything like that, but it's part of Razer's brand aesthetic.
Thunderbolt 3 is really the first time this has been practical, but yeah, it's doubtful Apple will support this.
They already pour money down the drain just to keep the Mac Pro in their lineup and pretend that they are relevant in the high end desktop market. This market is even smaller and likely to give even less return on the research dollar.
Anyone who has the ability to step back and look at the computer industry, and the way it's developed over the last two decades, as a whole, can see that this kind of desktop gaming is a fading segment of that whole. It's time has passed. It's peak was probably a few years after the first Halo came out and it's been sliding down ever since.
Because it doesn't matter. It's neither where the future is, nor where the money is. Same reason they don't make an x-mac, or whatever some folks called that nonsense years ago when they were moaning about it. Apple's end-to-end experience, of which Macs are a part, carries a price tag already. Shoving the latest "gaming" class hardware in there would only see the costs passed on to the consumer. It's obviously (and according to Apple's success with Macs so far) better to focus on integration, build quality, ease of use, and a support infrastructure to back it all up, rather than to deliver bleeding edge gaming hardware of whatever is nearest to it. And there's no point in wasting time and money on maybe churning out one or two machines dedicated to that.
Not enough demand for it in the first place.
Apple brought us viable, and now widely popular, mobile gaming. No one has to personally like it, but look at the ecosystem of which it is a key part, and then look at Apple's numbers. Seems pretty clear that Apple's focusing on all the right things at the right time, which has been par for the course for them ever since Jobs' return, and now under Tim Cook. The unparalleled success story continues.
Nah, you're attempting to rewrite history here. Bungee jumped ship for more money. Jobs had nothing to do with it.
Bungee betrayed Apple by leaving for Microsoft after giving multiple assurances that they wouldn't. Jobs would never have included them in the keynote if they weren't considered "locked in" already.
It introduces new tech, which is potentially ground breaking, then doesn't give it the use case that drives wide adoption. The new tech just sort of sits there.
Thunderbolt is a clear example (and firewire, and probably lightning before it). Apple leads its introduction, then drag out the TB3/USB-c adoption. Doesn't bother come up with a product that drives the uptake of the new port, like this example. If third parties aren't doing it, Apple should. You can't tell me they haven't explored just that before they decided to adopt the port. There is no killer combination of a mac with a laser printer that comes up these days.
Another example is home kit. Why didn't the apple tv be specifically set up to be a hub for home kit? The tech is sort of just pushed out and then left to sink or swim, relying on adoption by others. In fact the apple TV needs a lot of work when you think about it, especially considering its price. It could be a media server too, and a back up device. ti could be so much more than it is.
I could keep going of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Citizen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_funded_crowdfunding_projects
Doing a search for "PC gaming revenue" or similar searches shows that PC game sales revenue has now surpassed all consoles combined.
PC gaming is quite healthy and isn't dying at all. Quite the opposite, it is far from small-ish or niche or not mattering.
Thankfully the world is a big place and there is plenty of room for PC gaming, console gaming, phone/tablet gaming, and dedicated handheld gaming to all coexist and make good money with a good product.
I think a separate computer is your best bet. Shoehorning or sidecaring a desktop card to an Ultrabook just doesn't sound like a dollar-effective way to get game performance.