What is wrong with M5 Pro MacBook Pro and M5 Air?

[conmee]

Thats was the first solution I thought of while reading OP post. Lan cables have been used on Win laptops for decades to get them activated or initiated when the are new out of the box. Can't believe this isn't common knowledge know days even for Macs.

Not to disparage the average Mac user, but I doubt most have ever even seen an Ethernet cable let alone know that they'd have to get a USB-C to Ethernet adapter to plug into the router. Being older (or just old lol) or being in IT, I/we grew up prior to WiFi being a thing, heck I grew up when plugging into a phone line to get online was a thing. So if WiFi isn't available, I knew a wired connection was my fallback. It's not that crazy to think the past generation or two who grew up never having to plug into anything to get a network connection would be confused about next steps if the little WiFi icon wasn't present. I feel for the younger generation that didn't experience a US Robotics 56k dial-up modem, AOL Messenger, and waiting roughly six minutes to download a single 3 minute song in 128kbps MP3 format. Ah, the good old days!

 

[63W]

Not to disparage the average Mac user, but I doubt most have ever even seen an Ethernet cable let alone know that they'd have to get a USB-C to Ethernet adapter to plug into the router. Being older (or just old lol) or being in IT, I/we grew up prior to WiFi being a thing, heck I grew up when plugging into a phone line to get online was a thing. So if WiFi isn't available, I knew a wired connection was my fallback. It's not that crazy to think the past generation or two who grew up never having to plug into anything to get a network connection would be confused about next steps if the little WiFi icon wasn't present. I feel for the younger generation that didn't experience a US Robotics 56k dial-up modem, AOL Messenger, and waiting roughly six minutes to download a single 3 minute song in 128kbps MP3 format. Ah, the good old days!

Most offices now days have some form of a dongle that is connected to a laptop and to two monitors. That dongle has a visible lan cable.

Ive seen it in Gov offices, in Biotech companies and at NIH, where people use Win or Mac laptops, us a dongle that is attached to power brick and to a LAN cable. So to say that most people now days have not seen a lan cable, is just ridiculous.

 

[conmee]

Most offices now days have some form of a dongle that is connected to a laptop and to two monitors. That dongle has a visible lan cable.

Ive seen it in Gov offices, in Biotech companies and at NIH, where people use Win or Mac laptops, us a dongle that is attached to power brick and to a LAN cable. So to say that most people now days have not seen a lan cable, is just ridiculous.

Yeah, it's so ridiculous average M5 buyers have to call an Apple Genius if they don't see the WiFi icon. There are lots of cables everywhere in office environments, but that doesn't mean people know the difference between an HDMI/Ethernet/other cable. You and I and a lot of people have no problem with basic cables/concepts. But I think you're underestimating just how little the average user notices or cares about this stuff until it actually affects them.

 

[hajime]

I looked at the screenshot. And, while I may be mistaken, I’m confident enough that “Recovery Assistant” is not what’s displayed during initial setup, even if you choose to migrate/transfer data.

EDIT:

I did more searching and the only instances I could dig up involve Recovery mode.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256265798?sortBy=rank

I bricked my new M5 MacBook Air

By “bricked” I mean that it is currently unusable. I hope that after I take it to the Genius Bar appointment in two days it will be working again. I ordered a 15” MBA the first day that they were available, and it arrived at my home yesterday. I thought it would be easy to set up: back up my...

talk.tidbits.com

Mac Recovery Assistant No WiFi (Activate Mac No WiFi) Fixed!

Recovery Assistant/Activate Mac no WiFi? Learn four proven ways to fix the 'Recovery Assistant no WiFi menu' issue.

iboysoft.com

Fix Missing Wi-Fi in Recovery Assistant After Resetting Your Mac

No Wi-Fi option in Recovery Assistant? Here’s a simple trick to bring it back and activate your Mac without needing cables.

www.junian.net

At this point… The TidBITS OP’s final words seem to be decent cautionary advice:


P.S. iBoysoft had this notation for Solution 1:

I took a second look, more closely at the Reddit screenshot, and did not see even a faint, very light gray Wi-Fi icon. So, I don’t know if or how much weight this note holds.

I am pretty sure that Wi-Fi icon didn’t show up. I checked several times already as I read that sometimes it could be difficult to see. I also clicked several times in that region just in case.

 

[hajime]

Thats was the first solution I thought of while reading OP post. Lan cables have been used on Win laptops for decades to get them activated or initiated when they are new out of the box. Can't believe this isn't common knowledge now days even for Macs.

I don’t recall Mac required activation to use. Is this starting from Silicon Mac? Certainly not during and before the Intel Mac Era.

 

[conmee]

I don’t recall Mac required activation to use. Is this starting from Silicon Mac? Certainly not during and before the Intel Mac Era.

Starting with 2018 Macs with the T2 chip and Catalina, Find My Mac/Activation Lock was introduced. It didn’t have the exact same screen as Apple Silicon, but if you tried to erase a 2018 or later Mac with Catalina or later, it would ask for owner credentials. If you did not supply the correct credentials the Intel Mac would show an Activation Lock screen. Apple Silicon performs a similar check and you can’t erase/restore Apple Silicon until it confirms there’s no activation lock i.e. “Your Mac is activated.” screen.