Old Intel Macs can be awkward home servers after support ends
An old Intel MacBook is being considered as a home lab machine for running many services. The choice is whether to keep macOS or replace it with Linux.
macOS looks attractive because and Gatekeeper can make the machine feel safer by default. The machine has a , so Linux needs extra handling through T2Linux.
That adds extra kernel-level code, which raises concern about weakening hardware security on a server that stays on for long periods. After checking, the Mac had already reached end of life, so relying on macOS for this server use is no longer a strong option.
Key points
- An old Intel Mac is being considered for use.
- macOS is appealing because of and Gatekeeper.
- T2 Macs can make Linux setup more complicated.
- End of life status makes long-term macOS server use risky.
- For a used , update support matters more than raw specs.