13,904 karma · joined May 27, 2017
Again, you've got some reading to do.
> the subsystem is "responsible for creating, monitoring and maintaining the security environment" and "its functions include managing the boot process, initializing various security related mechanisms, and monitoring the system for any type of activity or events and implementing an appropriate response".
Critics worry it can be used as a backdoor and is a security concern.
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Platform_Security_Process...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_U-Boot
The Asahi installer will also allow you to install UEFI alone, in case you want to use UEFI to install some other OS.
The hardware management engines in modern x86 chips are backdoors running at a higher privilege level than the installed OS's kernel.
It's hard to see them as anything else.
> This puts [Apple Silicon Macs] somewhere between x86 PCs and a libre-first system like the Talos II in terms of freedom to replace firmware and boot components; while a number of blobs are required in order to boot the system, none of those have the ability to take over the OS or compromise it post-boot (unlike, say, Intel ME and AMD PSP on recent systems, or the DMA-capable chips on the LPC bus running opaque blobs that exist on even old ThinkPads).
https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/introduction/
The Secure Enclave is equivalent to a PC's TPM (a TPM is now required to run Windows) not any form of a management engine.
More weird than the opaque Management Engines on Intel or AMD chips that can take full control of your system at any time that you have no control over?
> Can't help but to think the goal of this wasn't to actually allow third-party OSes
Apple has explicitly stated that allowing third party OSes is exactly the purpose of the new bootloader.
Macs have always allowed you to run another OS.
iDevices have always had a locked bootloader.
People shouldn't confuse the two.
Handing full access to the data on a user's device over to a company with the scruples of somebody like Facebook is a privacy nightmare, not "opening their platform a tiny bit".
Once again, early 1990's General Magic looks prescient.
They were working on smartphones with agents capable of completing remote transactions before we had wireless data networks.
> General Magic: The Greatest Tech Company You’ve Never Heard Of
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFl4WEXBrk
> allowing end-user equipment with limited capabilities to upload Telescript programs to servers to allow them to take advantage of the server's capabilities. Telescript could even migrate a running program... transfer it to another Telescript engine (on a device or a server) to continue execution, and finally return to the originating client or server device to deliver its output.
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescript_(programming_langu...
They did it with Aqua when MacOS launched and again with the iPhone's original skeuomorphic UI and yet again with the flat redesign of iOS.
If you wanted to get sleep right and improve battery life, that was the trade off.
Where you will need games to be rewritten for ARM to get full performance, just like on Apple's M series chips.
Large families were your source of farm labor.
> "Apple's MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there's real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices," said Dell.
Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?
They don't have to pay a margin to so many component vendors in addition to economy of scale gains.
At a lower Neo volumes, they were using already manufactured iPhone Pro chips that were binned due to a bad GPU core, but they reportedly have already blown through that supply.
They also came up with a new process that uses extruded recycled aluminum for the case, which needs much less CNC time to clean up.
If you want to continue to run older software, do what you would do in Windows 11 and spin up VM with an older version of the OS.
I keep a Windows 2000 VM with no network access around just to occasionally play Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
> Starting with macOS 28, Rosetta 2 will be largely discontinued. Apple says that after that point, it “will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks.”
https://9to5mac.com/2026/02/16/macos-26-4-will-notify-users-...
It's the Mac native x86 software that hasn't been updated in most of a decade that would be affected.
Open the settings and uncheck "automatically download purchased music that isn't on the device".
Fixed.
> movies require another level of trust
When Apple paid the studios extra to alliw them to upgrade previously purchased 480p movies to HD, I'd say they earned it.
We've also seen Apple upgrade 480p movies purchased in the past to HD which is an improvement compared to buying physical media.
> The Canon Cat used a text-based user interface, without any pointer, mouse, icons, or graphics. All data was seen as a long "stream" of text broken into several pages. Instead of using a traditional command-line interface or menu system, the Cat used its special keyboard, with commands activated by holding down a "Use Front" key and pressing another key.
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Cat
It was nothing like the Macintosh Apple shipped.
Given that you can score a used M1 Air for half the price of a new Macbook Neo (and have Linux be supported), it's an even better value compared to the Framework, for those who prefer Linux.
Does "slower than an iPhone chip from a couple of years ago" meet that bar?