The new Mini provides four USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, enough for up to 2 eGPUs. Slower I/O, like Thunderbolt 2 or even older connections, simply don’t provide enough bandwidth to accommodate all that a modern GPU can provide. It’s this 40Gb connection that provides the bandwidth for an eGPU to shine. The Mac Mini also rocks USB-C for Thunderbolt 3 access. While this GPU, the Intel UHD Graphics 630, isn’t going to break any performance records, it does provide a user with a basic way to feed their screen without a 3rd party graphics card. What better machine to test how well an external GPU works than on a machine that has a horrible built-in GPU? Yes, tech friends, the powerful top of the line 2018 Mac Mini is built on Intel technology, which means there is a small GPU on the chip.
Your results may vary with the shipping version. NOTE: The eGPU Pro in this episode was a pre-release, beta model. We’re also running benchmarks against your favorite (or least favorite) NLEs: Final Cut X, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid Media Composer. On this episode of 5 THINGS, we’re checking out the 2018 Mac Mini from Apple, and the new eGPU Pro offering from Blackmagic and …well, Apple.
