Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

MacOS drivers for Nvidia Pascal graphics cards are coming soon

By

nvidia pascal macos gtx 1080 feat
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Nvidia is bringing top-tier graphics to Apple hardware in the very near future, with the announcement that MacOS drivers for its Pascal based graphics cards — the GTX 1000 series — are coming soon. This has some wondering if add-in graphics cards may be making a comeback in Apple systems.

Although hardly known for their gaming capability, Apple desktop systems used to have the option for a PCIExpress graphics card. However, that has not been the case since 2013, when Apple released the Mac Pro cylinder design. Since then, everything has had an onboard graphics processor (GPU) of some kind, but perhaps not in the future.

Recommended Videos

That would be a big win for Nvidia if it was the case. It doesn’t have anywhere near the stake in the onboard graphics chip market that AMD and Intel have, but it does control a majority of the add-in GPU market. If Apple were to start offering upgradeable graphics cards to Mac Pro users in the future, Nvidia would likely benefit the most.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

With that in mind, there is the possibility that Nvidia has made this announcement to try and court Apple. Knowing that the Cupertino, California, company is considering changing up the design of its Mac Pro significantly, it could be that Nvidia is making it clear that it’s willing to play ball with Apple and should the company need desktop-grade graphics cards, it will be ready and willing to support it.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Nvidia is instead marketing its Pascal cards to the niche Hackintosh community, as well as those running older Mac Pro towers — though that latter group would likely see severe CPU bottlenecking if they opted for anything close to top-end Pascal cards.

Hackintosh users aren’t too common but as Anandtech points out, it is a vocal one, so perhaps Nvidia has heard its calls and wants to solidify its dominance with desktop GPUs in all markets.

That could be reason enough for Nvidia to make this move. Keeping its hardware working everywhere its wanted keeps it in the forefront of people’s minds as arguably the top graphics card maker in the world. While supporting Apple hardware might be a very small part of its business, keeping support there leaves no stone unturned for potential profits and brand recognition.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale
Computing Coordinator
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Here’s more confirmation that 2024 will be a slow year for Macs
3nm iphone ipad processors apple silicon imgae

There's some extra reason to believe that Apple could already be working on the M4 chip, but it may not be coming for a while. New research from Canalys, a market analytics firm, shows that the next entry in the Apple Silicon family could come in the first part of 2025 to target offerings from Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD.

Lining up with previous reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Canalys is estimating that Apple could launch the M4 chip in the first quarter of 2025. It's a vague time frame, but it makes a lot of sense. Gurman previously said that Apple already has the M4 MacBook Pro in "formal development." Although this timing lines up with previous Apple Silicon chip refresh cycles, it would leave 2024 looking fairly light in terms of new Mac releases. Apple usually has some kind of October or November release focused on new Macs, but without new chips to launch, that might not happen this year.

Read more
Which color MacBook should you buy? Here’s how to pick
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

Apple’s MacBook laptops come in a range of colors, and selecting which is right for you can be a tricky business. Sure, it’s perhaps not as important as deciding which chip to pick or how much memory you should buy, but it’s still a vital part of the equation. After all, you’re going to see that color every time you reach for your MacBook. You don’t want it to be something that fills you with regret.

But how should you pick a MacBook color? And what do the colors even look like in the first place? We’ve got the answers to those questions in this guide. We’d also advise you to go to an Apple Store to take a look at the MacBook colors in person, as some can be hard to appreciate just by browsing Apple’s website.

Read more
Why you should buy a MacBook Air instead of a MacBook Pro
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

The MacBook Air has officially caught up. Now with the M3 on board, the MacBook Air has gained the benefits of the new chip, which was previously available just on the MacBook Pro and iMac.

Choosing between the M3 15-inch MacBook Air and the 14-inch MacBook Pro is tough, and requires an in-depth look at differences in ports, displays, speakers, and more. It's a legitimately hard decision to make.

Read more