The graphics hardware of the MacBook Pro Retina includes the integraded Intel Graphics HD 4000 GPU (part of the Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor) and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of dedicated memory. The MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch offers three kinds of OpenGL renderers: two hardware renderers and one software renderer (first time I play with an OpenGL software renderer). I did it for Linux (see Linux: Mesa, Gallium3D, Nouveau…) and now I do it for OSX. One of the first things I do when I arrive on a new OS is to look at the OpenGL support and extensions. I code with this laptop for some weeks now and I thought it was time to write a bit about the first contact with OpenGL under OSX from the point of view of a Windows developer… I could enter in Mac’s world thanks to a MacBook Pro (with a 15-inch Retina display). This lib is cross-platform and supports Windows, Linux and now OS X. Metal is the future when it comes to macOS.These last months I worked (and I still work) on my new 3d lib that will be used in all my new tools. But it will be without official support and in the long run it won’t do anything for new upcoming games/apps. So in the end, it might bring a few more years of life to old OpenGL games/apps as long as they’re 64-bit. They’re now jumping on Vulkan instead of a more modern version of OpenGL, which makes sense. Which is problematic as some modern AMD drivers don’t support it anymore. Looking at VTK which I’ve used a lot 10+ years ago, there’s still a lot of OpenGL 1 and 2 in it.

There are still new projects using scientific libraries/tools kits requiring OpenGL. If someone would provide a solution to run 32-bit apps bundled with this, it would be a nice retro throwback. The question is, how well does it work in the end, especially in terms of performance hit it takes. That being said, I think it’s a nice backup for when Apple finally dumps anything pre-Metal and you just can’t get it to run, no matter how. People do this because they want to, not because it’s needed. It’s not really the first try, maybe the most recent or maybe even the best, I’m not really following these type of projects.

Click to expand.I’d say it’s good for a science project.

Mac os opengl version support