Asahi Linux has removed the Expert-mode requirement for M3 installations and begun shipping limited Thunderbolt support in its downstream kernel. Its November 7 progress report opens the normal installation path to M3 users, but leaves an important restriction for desk setups: PCIe and DisplayPort tunnelling, required for most Thunderbolt docks, still aren't supported.
The report also says Display Co-Processor (DCP) work enables sleep on M3 devices and use of the screen area around the notch on MacBooks. Asahi tells users to watch for m1n1 and kernel updates in the coming days. That timing matters: the report describes progress across several components, rather than promising that every improvement is already installed on your machine.
What the M3 gate removal means
M3 support previously required the installer's EXPERT flag. Asahi says early adopters reported almost no issues, prompting it to make support generally available without that flag. The project's account also credits DCP enablement with performance and battery-life improvements, without supplying comparative measurements in that section.
The GPU remains a substantial exception to the project's description of M3 approaching M1 and M2 feature parity. Contributors have initialized the M3 GPU under m1n1 and drawn a triangle. Asahi says integrating the work into upstream Mesa will require significant engineering effort. A successful early rendering demonstration doesn't establish that accelerated desktop graphics or games are ready for everyday use.
This article assesses the project's published report. We haven't tested the installer, sleep behavior or graphics on an M3 Mac.
Thunderbolt has a narrower shipping scope
The Thunderbolt patchset went upstream first, and Asahi says it has also pulled that code into the kernel it ships to users. Currently supported functions are USB3, XDomain and Thunderbolt Networking. The report describes connecting USB devices or linking two Thunderbolt computers so they can communicate.
That leaves a clear purchasing constraint: don't assume a Thunderbolt dock's display output or PCIe functions will work because the kernel now includes Thunderbolt support. Asahi explicitly excludes those tunnelling functions. It gives no delivery date for them.
Newer Macs remain a separate project
The same report lists initial device descriptions for M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 hardware, but says they are only sufficient to boot to a text terminal. It also reports that m1n1 can now virtualize macOS on M4 and M5 machines for reverse engineering. Neither milestone establishes an installable desktop experience on those systems.
For M3 owners, the next checks are the promised m1n1 and kernel updates and their behavior on actual hardware. For dock users, watch for explicit PCIe and DisplayPort tunnelling support. Those are more useful readiness tests than the presence of a Thunderbolt driver alone.