Mac OS X 10.6.7 suggests support for generic video cards

Hacker Tony of TonyMacx86 discovered that the latest Mac OS X 10.6.7 update for the 2011 MacBook Pro includes native graphics acceleration for select AMD and ATI video cards. These cards include seven Radeon 5xxx and three 6xxx models that are not present in any shipping Mac products.

Several of these AMD/ATI cards may debut in the upcoming refresh of the Apple iMac line, but Tony believes Apple's support for these cards extends beyond built-in hardware. The hacker proposes the idea that Apple may support off-the-shelf video solutions in its upcoming desktop models.

In this scenario, a Mac user would be able to swap out their video card, similar to how PC users replace video hardware on their Windows machines. Most Macs do not currently offer user-replaceable video cards, with the exception of the Mac Pro line; even there, only a very small subset of the cards on the market have Mac-compatible drivers.

[Via MacNN]

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Source: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/03/native-graphics-accel…

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Mac OS X

Hacker Tony of TonyMacx86 discovered that the latest Mac OS X 10.6.7 update for the 2011 MacBook Pro includes native graphics...

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Dave Pirinelli

Tonymac only reposted other people's findings.

Only some of the cards listed work.

Discovery and actual...CORRECT details at Netkas forums.

March 26 2011 at 2:18 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Haymoose

Lion:

King of the jungle.

Steve's gift to the world will be OS X for all computers. This is just a sneak peek of greater things to come. Mark my words. King of the jungle.

You read it here first.

March 25 2011 at 7:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Steve

This sounds like it's geared toward Mac Pro users, which would be very good news, as it means that Apple is still trying to support pro users. This has been a worry over that past year or so as Apple seems to be moving more and more toward mobile and tablet platforms.

It seems that Apple is remembering that the majority of video, audio, and graphic design people use Macs, and need a lot of power under the hood.

March 25 2011 at 1:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lance Fiasconaro

Can't imagine Apple would voluntarily support Hackintoshes. That would be rather shocking.

March 25 2011 at 12:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Lance Fiasconaro's comment

Kendall Tawes

Mac Pros should have access to more video cards and is currently their biggest shortcoming.

March 25 2011 at 1:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

duh

Its for the new external Thunderbolt video cards. Duh, winning

March 24 2011 at 7:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to duh's comment