Will (or does) the MacBook Neo allow booting of operating systems not signed by Apple? All previous Macs have allowed it, and I know a few people who would gladly buy a Neo if it allows booting of other operating systems, but other Macs have M series chips instead of A series chips.
Unknown at this time. Since no one has one of them in hand to try and Apple will of course not delve into that subject, it's not possible to know at this time whether they can or cannot.
Until some enterprising soul get's one and tries to install a different OS on it, we won't know.
Unknown at this time. Since no one has one of them in hand to try and Apple will of course not delve into that subject, it's not possible to know at this time whether they can or cannot.
Until some enterprising soul get's one and tries to install a different OS on it, we won't know.
Seeking speculation about hypothetical future third-party native-boot software support for Apple hardware that has itself been available for six days seems somewhere between premature and futile. Call back in a few months or maybe in a year. Or ask the Asahi Linux folks directly.
https://asahilinux.org/fedora/#device-support
https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/overview/
EclecticEman wrote:
The main reason I hope the A18 won't have a locked bootloader on the Neo is because the M series chips, which don't have a locked bootloader on Macs, have a locked bootloader on iPads. However it is that the bootloader works, it appears to be easy enough for Apple to lock or unlock it based on what device the chip is being put into.
I would expect the Neo to be like the other Apple Silicon computers, but no one can know for certain until they have them in their possession & test things out.
FYI, you only boot macOS 26.3.1 Tahoe on the Neo at this time. Linux is not an option & is unlikely to be an option for a bare metal install for at least many years since even the M1 systems only have partial Linux support after being available for 6 years & the M3/M4/M5 have no Linux support at the moment. Windows cannot be installed on bare metal of any Apple Silicon Mac.
If you want to use Windows or Linux on an Apple Silicon Mac, then install an Arm version of Windows/Linux into a Virtual Machine, but with only 8GB of RAM on the Neo will be a significant hindrance to using a Virtual Machine. The 256GB SSD model is also a huge limitation as well.
UPDATE: Other users have reportedly confirmed that the Neo can run custom payloads. As of writing, no other operating system supports running directly on the Neo’s hardware. Should this change in the future, information about device support by other operating systems can be found elsewhere.
Seriously! If you want to run Linux on an Apple Silicon Mac without lots of avoidable grief, the way to do it is to run an ARM distribution of Linux within a virtual machine. On a Mac which has enough RAM to comfortably run a host OS (macOS) and one or more guest OSes at the same time.
That might be a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with a plain M4 or M5 chip - those Macs could/can be ordered with up to 32 GB of RAM.
I was under the impression that the A18 chip has a locked bootloader which would make it much more difficult to install a different OS than it is on older Macs, if at all.
VM should be possible but, as Servant of Cats says, the small RAM might make it a bit stodgy.
My impression was that there aren’t many operating systems other than macOS which can natively boot on Apple Silicon Macs, and which are also mature and stable.
Virtual machines are the only realistic choice for running Windows 11 for ARM, and the easiest way to run Linux/ARM distributions.
However, the virtual machine approach involves running two operating systems at the same time, which is likely to work better on a Mac that has more than the MacBook Neo’s 8 GB of RAM.
The main reason I hope the A18 won't have a locked bootloader on the Neo is because the M series chips, which don't have a locked bootloader on Macs, have a locked bootloader on iPads. However it is that the bootloader works, it appears to be easy enough for Apple to lock or unlock it based on what device the chip is being put into.
Why would you even want to know? Go buy some parts and assemble your own PC. Macs run macOS and if you want something else just leave Mac alone. You likely don’t even know what a “custom payload” is let alone how install one.
Mac is the best. If I am spending 599 on a macbook neo I am not wasting time with windows or linux or anything else. I can run windows on a cheaper unit. No need to spend 599. Plus linux ***. Plus Mac only runs on Mac. Well legally at least.
[Edited by Moderator]
Kavan Sidhu wrote:
Plus Mac only runs on Mac. Well legally at least.
The further we get into the Apple Silicon era, the harder it will be for people who build "Hackintoshes".
macOS 27 won't support any Intel-based Macs. There go all Intel-based "Hackintoshes." As Apple continues to release new versions of macOS that are only built for Apple Silicon chips, and don't contain drivers for any stuff that was exclusive to Intel-based Macs, those "Hackintoshes" will age out.
As for Apple Silicon chips, they contain a lot more than just CPU cores. Currently, Apple only sells these chips as components of its own product, or as repair parts for its own products. Sure, there are other, slower, ARM-based CPUs on the market – but they're not plug and play replacements for all of the functions of an Apple Silicon SoC. You're not going to dump a bootleg copy of macOS on one of Microsoft's ARM-based laptops and have anything useful happen.
Can MacBook Neo boot operating systems not signed by Apple?
