macOS Mojave on a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)

[Yebubbleman]

Okay, I know what you're thinking. This Mac was launched with version 10.15.4 of Catalina and can therefore not take any earlier macOS release. However, in the past, there have been some notable exceptions to the rule of "the Mac can't run earlier than it was introduced with". The Late 2011 MacBook Pros could run Snow Leopard, for instance (because they shared the same firmware as their Early 2011 predecessors which first shipped with Snow Leopard). I've seen a few examples of MacBook Air and Retina era MacBook Pros that have also broken this rule due to hardware similarities to the predecessor that shipped with the older OS.

That said, unlike the 4-Port model which IS a different Mac under the hood, the 2-Port model seems like it is, from an internal components standpoint, identical to its 2019 predecessor (save for a better keyboard).

Given that, might it be possible to run macOS Mojave on the current 2-Port model given how similar it is under the hood from the previous? Has anyone tried?

It sucks that the only portable options to run macOS Mojave natively on a Mac notebook that don't entail a crappy keyboard are 2015 and earlier MacBook Pros/Airs.

 

[ilikewhey]

I would like to know as well, if the 8th gen version can run Mojave I’m hitting that buy button yesterday

 

[Yebubbleman]

It would definitely change my plans on buying the 4-port 10th Gen version, for sure. The dropping of 32-bit app support pretty much crippled my particular Mac app ecosystem.

 

[Yebubbleman]

The TouchBar is different, and I could see that causing a host of issues in an earlier OS. But maybe not.

 

[playtech1]

Hackintosh builds spoof MacOS into installing on entirely unsupported hardware and there are techniques to install new MacOS on older unsupported hardware, so it feels technically doable. Probably a question for one of the Hackintosh communities.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Hackintosh builds spoof MacOS into installing on entirely unsupported hardware and there are techniques to install new MacOS on older unsupported hardware, so it feels technically doable. Probably a question for one of the Hackintosh communities.

Installing newer macOS releases onto older hardware isn't the difficult part. As you've said, the Hackintosh community does crap like that for breakfast. Installing older macOS releases onto newer hardware is much more challenging. The firmware of that Mac may not allow booting the earlier OS's kernel. I'd consider hacking the OS to make it boot and run, but hell if I'm going to buy a $1200-2500 laptop and risk breaking its firmware in such a way that Apple won't support me. That just seems crazy.

Also, it won't be possible to get a Mac with hardware newer than Catalina's launch to run Mojave as Mojave won't have drivers for that hardware. This is largely why I posed the question in the first place.

The hardware is mostly identical from its predecessor. It's not like Mojave won't have a driver for the Intel Iris Plus 645 iGPU. Where it might get iffy is the different TouchBar and anything pertinent to BridgeOS and the T2. The fact that it is technically a different model number from its predecessor isn't optimistic either. Still though, it would be wonderful to get confirmation of whether or not this is possible. I'd spec one out with the maximum RAM and storage, dual-boot Mojave and Big Sur (when it releases) and have a decent portable that is both recent enough and compatible with 32-bit binaries. Worst case scenario, that's the function my current Early 2015 13" is serving. But it'd be nice if I got something newer to do this.

 

[Fishrrman]

Double post, see below...

 

[Fishrrman]

Not going to work.

If you want Mojave, you're gonna have to find something "made earlier" that will run it.
Or... run it "under emulation" using VMWare Fusion or Parallels...

 

[ilikewhey]

Basically if you want newest Mojave u have to get a butterfly keyboard smh

 

[playtech1]

I'd consider hacking the OS to make it boot and run, but hell if I'm going to buy a $1200-2500 laptop and risk breaking its firmware in such a way that Apple won't support me. That just seems crazy.

Hopefully someone with a 2019 can give you the view on this, but absent that I think a used 2018 is the way to go. That's what I did (sort of) - a top spec 2018 refurb from the Apple Store - precisely to stick with Mojave on officially supported kit.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Not going to work.

If you want Mojave, you're gonna have to find something "made earlier" that will run it.
Or... run it "under emulation" using VMWare Fusion or Parallels...

What will be the thing that stops me though? Because, again, typically it's a lack of drivers in the older OS that stops this. If it's the same hardware as was in its predecessor, where am I going to be inhibited? I'm not saying you're wrong (because you probably aren't). I'm just wanting to know WHERE I will hit trouble trying to do this (because, different touchbar and better keyboard aside, I'm not sure where there are actual differences from a hardware standpoint in areas other than boot ROM). Unless you're telling me you own this machine and have tried it?

Hopefully someone with a 2019 can give you the view on this, but absent that I think a used 2018 is the way to go. That's what I did (sort of) - a top spec 2018 refurb from the Apple Store - precisely to stick with Mojave on officially supported kit.

Running Mojave isn't the biggest deal, especially since it only has one more year of any kind of support left on it before Apple and developers abandon it and before it becomes vulnerable to unpatched security holes. Just more that my only option for doing so on a reasonably performant portable machine that lacks an inevitably failing keyboard is via a 2015 MacBook Pro. If it was possible on a current 2-Port model, I'd spec one out with maximum RAM (16GB) and a big enough SSD to dual-boot it with the most current macOS release at the given time. Given that it most likely won't, I'll probably do that same dual-booting on my Early 2015 13-inch model and do most of the things that don't require Mojave on a 4-Port model instead.

Mojave-ability would be enough to sway me to the lower-end model. But if that's not an option, then who needs it?

 

[Yebubbleman]

Has anyone with this model of MacBook Pro actually tried to install Mojave?

I'm honestly considering buying one on eBay just to try (and then selling it thereafter) just because I'm THAT curious. 🤣