Can my Mac run Linux?
Apple said it on 9 June 2025, in the small print after the WWDC keynote. macOS 26, the one called Tahoe, is the last version that runs on a Mac with an Intel chip. Only a handful of 2019 and 2020 models even get that one. Everything older stopped at Sequoia or earlier, and from autumn 2026 the new releases are for Apple’s own chips alone.
Your Intel Mac still works. It’s the same machine it was in May. But it has joined the Windows 10 PCs in a category Apple and Microsoft both invented in the same year, which is computers that are fine and finished at the same time. Mint will install on either this afternoon.
The short version by age
Find the chip first. Click the Apple menu, then About This Mac. A line reading Processor with Intel in it means this guide is about you. A line reading Chip with M1, M2, M3 or M4 in it means skip to the last section, which is shorter and less cheerful.
An Intel Mac made from about 2008 up to 2017 is the easy case. Its processor, disk and startup system are the same kind a PC has, so Linux Mint treats it like any other PC. Hold one key at startup and pick the stick. The wifi chip is the one part that needs a moment of attention, and the install guide covers it.
An Intel Mac from 2018 to 2020 has a second chip in it called the T2. Apple’s list is precise: every MacBook Pro and MacBook Air from those three years, the 2018 Mac mini, the 2019 Mac Pro, the iMac Pro, and the 27-inch iMac from 2020. The T2 handles the disk, the sound, the webcam and startup security, and Linux has to be taught about each of them. A volunteer project called t2linux has done that teaching. It works. There’s a section on it below, because it changes the steps.
The very first Intel Macs, from 2006 and 2007, need workarounds this site doesn’t cover. Their startup system is 32-bit, and Mint has been 64-bit only since version 20.
What works, and what needs coaxing
On a Mac from 2008 to 2017 nearly everything works out of the box. Screen, keyboard, trackpad, sound, the SD card slot, the webcam, USB ports, and the battery gauge. Sleep works. So do the brightness and volume keys.
Wifi is the exception. Apple used Broadcom chips for years, and the driver for them isn’t on the Mint USB stick, because its licence forbids bundling it with anything else. Mint has a tool called Driver Manager that installs it from the stick itself, and it takes two clicks and a restart. Until then, an Ethernet cable or your phone’s USB tethering gets you online, and you may not need either.
A MacBook Pro with two graphics chips, which is most 15-inch models, runs on the built-in Intel one under Linux and largely ignores the other. That’s fine for everything except heavy video work, and the fans are quieter for it.
On a T2 Mac the list is longer. The disk, the screen, the ports, sound and Thunderbolt all work. Wifi and Bluetooth work, but only after the driver’s firmware is copied out of macOS, because Apple’s licence doesn’t let anyone ship it. The webcam does not work at all, and nobody has fixed that in years. Touch ID unlocks Linux only with fingers you enrolled in macOS beforehand. The trackpad works without the palm rejection macOS gives it, which you’ll notice for a week and then forget.
That firmware detail has a consequence. On a T2 Mac, keep macOS on the disk. The t2linux project says so plainly, because the script that fetches the firmware reads it from the macOS partition.
The M-series answer
An M1 or M2 Mac can run Linux. A project called Asahi has built a version of Fedora for them, and it installs from macOS with a single line typed into Terminal. Screen, wifi, Bluetooth, sleep, battery, webcam and the graphics chip all work. Apple’s own chips are quick and the laptops are very good, so this is a real option rather than a stunt.
I wouldn’t hand it to a newcomer. Touch ID doesn’t work. Monitors plugged in over USB-C or Thunderbolt don’t work yet. HDMI sound stutters. No SD card slot. The M3 is still in progress, with the display driver unfinished at the time of writing. The M4 hasn’t been started, and the Asahi team asks people not to request a date.
Owners of an M1 or M2 who enjoy this sort of thing should go and read Asahi’s site. An M3 or M4 has years of macOS ahead of it and no reason to leave. An Intel Mac can try Linux from a USB stick this afternoon, and you can decide from there.