external graphics card for macbook pro 2011

Up to six peripherals may be supported by one connector through various topologies. Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into two serial signals, and additionally provides DC power, all in one cable. It was initially marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as part of an end-user product on 24 February 2011. It has been developed by Intel, in collaboration with Apple. Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer. HS1TX(P) of the source is connected to HS1RX(P) of the sink. The cable is actually a crossover cable, it swaps all receive and transmit lanes e.g. This is the pinout for both sides of the connector, source side and sink side. Thunderbolt 4: 4× PCI Express 3.0, DisplayPort 2.0, USB4 Thunderbolt 3: 4× PCI Express 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Thunderbolt 2: 4× PCI Express 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 Thunderbolt 1: 4× PCI Express 2.0, DisplayPort 1.1a Thunderbolt 3 and 4: 40 Gbit/s bidirectional Thunderbolt 1: 2 channels, 10 Gbit/s each (20 Gbit/s in total)

It'd be a pretty killer combo, if you ask me.Via DisplayPort protocol or USB-based external audio cards. For any kind of gaming, you don't get better than a desktop PC that you build yourself. Really, your 13' MacBook Pro is new enough that it still has a lot of life left in it, barring gaming and higher-end graphics stuff, and unless there are non-gaming things that you want to be able to do in OS X, it really will serve you for quite some time before you'll want a replacement. Doesn't have to be balls to the wall you can get away with spending $800, and you'd end up with something that will likely give you more oomph than your 13' Early 2011 MacBook Pro would've been even if it had discrete graphics. What I'd do in your situation, if I had the money, I'd build a gaming machine. Otherwise, yeah, as far as graphics go, your only option is to replace that computer with another one (that has discrete graphics) or to get another computer that you use for gaming. So, no on external graphics cards, at least not today and not with what you have. This doesn't really help when most graphics cards are PCIe 16x.

Thunderbolt can only provide PCIe 4x support.

External graphics card for macbook pro 2011