Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

You shouldn't have typed that...

Actually, to be fair, I rarely use my keyboards... im always on a wireless one.

@chrisbmx116 can you post a quick complete neophytes guide to eGPU for me? how good are they with bootcamp? I want a solution for not too intense gaming while I'm in the house...

Sure thing. What model Mac are you using? Bootcamp is usually easier.

Was reading today that end of the year MacBook pro 15" is getting 32GB ram, I'm gonna wait it out.

mid 2014 mbp retina, so thunderbolt 2 I presume?

Size? And will you be using an external monitor?

I'm going to go ahead and assume 15...and hope I am right as I have read zero reports of the 13inch 2014's working (although prob will, if you are London based you are welcome to test on my set up before you sink money into this...)

Procedure to install and run your eGPU setup on the external monitor:

1. Install Windows 10 via Bootcamp (UEFI)
   
2. Install Bootcamp drivers
   
3. Shutdown your MBP
   
4. Plug everything in (Monitor, eGPU, ...) except the eGPUs thunderbolt cable into your computer
   
5. Start your MBP
   
6. Immediately when you hear the startup chime, plug your eGPU into your MBP and hold the Option key (alt)
   
7. If your MBP doesn't freeze, boot into Windows 10, If it does freeze, shut it down and try again from step 5
   
8. Open the device manager and check that your eGPU is detected
   
9. Install NVIDIA Geforce Experience
   
10. Update drivers via NVIDIA Geforce Experience
    
11. Shutdown your MBP
    
12. Unplug the thunderbolt cable of your eGPU
    
13. Repeat steps 5 to 7
    
14. You're done. Every apps started on the external screen will be rendered by the eGPU (obviously)...
    

13" - don't use monitor at the moment because of desk space, but may in future - really just working out how to get bang/buck sweet spot for casual use at the moment. presumably if I use eGPU and ultimately decide to build a desktop anyway, I can just repurpose the card anyway

Yep, you are quite correct. My 13inch 2017 worked perfectly powering the internal screen too. Some of the build guides/reports I read are more complicated than others even for the same set up. You not having a dGPU might make things easier, I almost suspect yours will be plug and play but I couldn't be sure...

Tell a lie, found some 13inch 2014's after all, yeah, pretty simple set up, plug in, instal drivers, game.

Parts wise I would recommend a Node Lite and a 1050ti for casual gaming as its a very small and neat set up.

I just sold a 1050ti too sadly...

thanks for your words. will do a little reading. does such a think as an eGPU dock with a HDD bay exist? disk space on the laptop is tight, I suppose the dream is to be able to dock and have windows installed externally...

No worries, and yep! Mantiz Venus has a hdd bay. You could also daisy chain an external in a usb c enclosure through the node which would be cheaper and smaller. I bought one from amazon for about a tenner. Would also need tb2 to tb3 adapter.

so my mate spilled tea on his macbook pro, its been diagnosed as needing motherboard repair at a £600 cost.
does this sound right?
doesn't seem like the sort of thing he could do on his own does it?

However, come to think of it, unless space is a real premium I dont think an eGPU is financially wise in your situation. For the cost of an enclosure you could build a decent enough budget PC.

^ this, all day long

Anyone interested in a late 2009 iMac 27" i7 2.8 ghz 12 gb ram? Tossing up whether to sell or keep and stick an SSD in it. Would possibly swap for a MacBook of some description.

This was what I was thinking, by the time I'd bought enclosure, HDD, graphics card, I'm a lot of the way to a SFF Hackintosh which would be a lot less f-ing about..

This https://hackintosher.com/forums/thread/amd-ryzen-asrock-ab350-gaming-itx-sff-hackintosh-w-guide.84/ has got me thinking...

Yeah, I have built a few Hacks too... if I didn't need mobility I might still have one. Ryzen is a bit of a challenge for Hacks, an Intel base one would be super simple, my last Hack i3 7xxx and RX 580 was insanely easy to set up...

Help me out with used pricing. Late 2013 MacBook Pro 15", 2.3ghz i7, 16gb ram, 512ssd. Wants £700 but can't tell me the condition of the battery as she can't be arsed to set it up again. Alarm bells?

If nothing else a solid reason for a low price. I’ve no idea about value, but without knowing the health of the battery I’d never pay the going rate.

eBay average minus £200?

well if the seller can't be asred with listing all details then you shouldn't be asred to pay the whole asking price... there is also so much that could go wrong with a used computer... I would always advise people to pick it up in person, set it up and test it properly before handing over the cash... I have always been happy to allow about an hour or so for testing when selling any high price electrical items...

Is it from ebay or a friend of a friend kind of situation?

It's eBay. They're close, so I will absolutely go and have a poke around before closing and set it up with my account if necessary. If the battery's good and it otherwise seems okay, does the price seem fair for the spec?

Battery should be fine on a 2013 unless it’s been utterly murked. They’ve been rated at 1000 cycles since 2011 and my 7 year-old is at just over 500 cycles.

Still, I’d test it before paying. If the seller can’t be arsed providing trivial information then they can eat their arse.

Personally, I think it's a bit pricey for a almost 5 years old machine, but it is pretty high specs, so I don't know. What is Hoxton Macs selling one of these for? Use their prices as the max price and minus a couple of hundreds maybe?

Macs do retain their value but I would never pay that much for a 2nd hand machine, but that's just me personally.

You also want to test for the physical ports as well, headphone jacks, usb ports, dead pixels on screen, are all the keys on the keyboard working, is the trackpad working smoothly etc etc. I'd also want to find out exactly where the water damage stickers are on this model and if the seller would mind you opening the machine and have a look inside too. Water damage don't always appear right away, it could take a good while for the parts to break... just seen a machine that was water damaged 2 years ago, it got dried best possible but finally gave in last month...

If she is the originally owner and bought it brand new with this specs, she either has loads of cash, in which case she wouldn't care about selling it. Or she is a designer of sorts in which case she shouldn't mind you taking your time checking out the machine in and out again and again...