Apple’s recently launched Macs with M1 processors do not officially support external graphics cards, known as eGPUs. However, it’s now clear that macOS 11 actually recognises when an external graphics card is connected, a discovery made in testing by the French site Mac4ever.
A Pro Display XDR was connected to a Blackmagic eGPU which was then connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port on a Mac mini, and the GPU was recognised by the Mac. The screen also communicated with the computer in the test normally. As expected, however, the external graphics card was not used for graphics acceleration.
This gives some hope that an eGPU could be supported in the future, if Apple chooses to add it.
A eGPU does make a huge difference to a Mac with integrated graphics, as demonstrated by a test where the M1 MacBook Pro was beaten by MacBook Pro with eGPU.
Also, in January 2021 AMD CEO spoke about how AMD will continue to work with Apple.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.