How to Install macOS Tahoe on Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny i5-6500T

How to Configure Lenovo 1L Tiny PCs for macOS Tahoe

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny (Intel i5-6500T Skylake CPU) is a quiet, power-efficient desktop that can run macOS Tahoe (26.x). This guide details how to configure the Intel HD 530 iGPU and get native Wi-Fi/Bluetooth working with the Intel 7260 card.

1. Prerequisites

• Hardware Specs: Lenovo M710q Tiny, Intel i5-6500T, 16GB DDR4, Realtek ALC294 audio, Intel AC 7260 wireless card.
• Required Kexts: Lilu, VirtualSMC, WhateverGreen, AppleALC, IntelMausi (for Ethernet), AirportItlwm, and IntelBluetoothFirmware.

2. Compatibility Snapshot

• Graphics Acceleration: Intel HD 530 is unsupported in Tahoe. You must spoof it to mimic a Kaby Lake HD 630 or UHD 620 GPU.
• Intel Wi-Fi: The Intel 7260 card is supported via AirportItlwm, but AirDrop is partially limited.

3. Installation Preparation

1. BIOS Configurations: Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Set primary video to IGFX, and set DVMT pre-allocated memory to 64MB.

4. EFI and config.plist Review

1. iGPU Spoofing: In config.plist under DeviceProperties -> Add -> PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0), inject:
   • AAPL,ig-platform-id: 00001B59 (Kaby Lake platform ID)
   • device-id: 1B590000 (Spoofs Intel HD 630)
2. SMBIOS Profile: Select iMac18,1 or iMac20,2 for the target configuration.
3. Audio: Inject layout ID 12 for ALC294 under boot arguments: alcid=12.

5. Post-Installation

1. USB Port Map: Map the front and rear USB ports using USBToolBox to enable sleep/wake functionality.

6. Troubleshooting

Reported Issue: AirDrop not working

1. AirDrop limitations: The Intel 7260 card does not support native Apple peer-to-peer Wi-Fi. For full AirDrop support, replace the card with a native Broadcom card.

7. Dual Boot and Advanced Configuration

• The Tiny PC is ideal for dual-booting. Ensure the EFI partition size is at least 200MB to allow Windows boot files.

8. Verification, Maintenance and Rollback

• Verify acceleration: Go to About This Mac and check that the graphics card displays 1536MB of VRAM and hardware acceleration is active.

9. References and Glossary

• ALC294: A Realtek audio codec used in many mini PCs.