Apple brings external GPU support for macOS

Apple has issued a new update for macOS High Sierra that provides support for the external graphics card. The macOS 10.13.4 update gives Mac users with Thunderbolt 3 ports the ability to enhance the graphical performance of their machines by connecting a variety of external graphics processors. This can open the door to 3D and VR gaming, even on a relatively weak machine.

With the external GPU support, users can accelerate applications that use Metal, OpenGL, and OpenCL; connect additional external monitors and displays; charge their MacBook Pro while using the external GPU; and connect more than one external GPU using the multiple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports on the Mac2.

Apple lists several supported external GPU configurations on its website, highlighting several AMD Radeon cards such as the RX 570, RX 580 and RX Vega 56. Apple also notes that you’ll need a Thunderbolt 3 chassis to sufficiently power your card, so it’s not as simple as plug-and-play (though that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise).

Apple says that the external GPU's will only be supported on MacBook Pro notebooks released in 2016 or later, iMac computers released in 2017 or later and the iMac Pro. Users also need to have the latest version of macOS High Sierra installed on their machine, so be sure to update before you try plugging in an external processor.

Apart from support for external GPU, Apple has also added support for Business Chat conversations in Messages in the US besides fixing graphics corruption issues affecting certain apps on iMac Pro.