Apple worked with digital cinema and camera company Blackmagic on a new Radeon Pro 580-powered external GPU with 8GB video memory, available now for $699
To go alongside the newly updated MacBook Pros, Apple is selling a product for users who need more graphic processing power.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's pro-GPU story in 2018 runs through workarounds: the 2017 Mac Pro refresh only bumped cores and AMD GPU tiers on existing designs, and the workstation-class iMac Pro previewed that December starts at $4,999. For MacBook Pro users, the gap between laptop graphics and workstation graphics has had no sanctioned answer until this Blackmagic-built enclosure.
The $699 eGPU is deliberately mid-range: an early hands-on of the Apple-sanctioned unit praises the setup but flags that the Radeon Pro 580 is fixed — no upgrade path. That constraint shapes everything about who this product serves.
First-order effects
- MacBook Pro buyers gain an Apple-sold, plug-in graphics option for $699, and Blackmagic gets distribution through Apple's channels rather than selling an enclosure into a vacuum.
Second-order effects
- Power users priced out by the fixed Radeon Pro 580 get pushed up Apple's ladder instead of to third-party enclosures — toward the $1,199 Blackmagic eGPU Pro or iMac Pro build-to-order graphics like the $700 Vega 64X option.
Third-order effects
- Apple is establishing a pattern of curating Mac graphics through partner-built, Apple-priced tiers rather than user-upgradeable parts — one that culminates in the $2,400–$5,600 Radeon Pro modules offered as build-to-order options for Intel Mac Pros, making GPU choice a configuration-revenue lever.
The trend: Mac graphics are shifting from open, upgradeable cards to a closed ladder of Apple-curated, partner-built options spanning laptop docks to workstation modules.