Linux support on 2012 MacBooks

Question

I want to buy a 2012 MacBook with the Retina Display. Does it work well with Linux?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, it's still very buggy, as per this post on the openSUSE forums lots of stuff still doesn't works:

What I have working so far:

• Retina Display - openSUSE looks fantastic at 2880x1800!
• Booting in emulated BIOS mode
• Booting in EFI mode
• Keyboard and Trackpad - full support including the function key on the keyboard, the keyboard backlight and multifinger support on the trackpad
• Sound - this is a fantastic sounding laptop
• 3D Acceleration - via the NVidia 650m graphics card
• Sensors - including temperatures and fan speeds
• Bluetooth

What I don't have working yet:

• 3D acceleration using the integrated Intel graphics card
• Screen backlight control
• Suspend and Hibernate
• Built-in wireless card
• Thunderbolt

What I haven't tested yet:

• Webcam
• Card reader
• External Monitor

Even if the hardware was supported, many apps are not (yet) designed for such high resolutions; as I understand it, OS X uses some hacks to get those working properly on the retina display.