Arrandale CPUs are a great example, as they still have OS support even in Big Sur (however no iGPU support past 10.13.6).Mainly relevant for older hardware, as macOS may still have support for the CPU however no longer supports SMBIOS from that era.DRM is also tied in here as well however this is mostly resolved here: Fixing DRM (opens new window).For these situations, look closely at the iMac Pro and Mac Pro SMBIOS.CPUs without an iGPU need to pay very close attention, as features like Quick Look and such will be broken if the SMBIOS expects an iGPU (ie.This can become an issue when an Optimus laptop has its external displays wired through the iGPU instead, causing black screen issues which would require more patching. Laptops should also pay very close attention, as Apple always assumes that when a dGPU is present for the SMBIOS, all display outs will be routed through it.This is the reason we highly discourage them unless used for Intel's NUC series (opens new window) and such which are based off mobile hardware. This is especially relevant when we look to the Mac Mini SMBIOS that only uses mobile hardware, which doesn't match well with desktop hardware.

Many things are affected here, like GPU power management (AGPM), display out support (AGDP), sleep (AGDC) and much more.Note: AMD CPUs do not need to concern about this.These 2 are mostly resolved with CPUFriend: Fixing Power management (opens new window).This also determines whether or not you can use Apple's XCPM and what profiles you get.Specifically mobile vs desktop vs server, as this can greatly affect sleep and overall system stability.

The main things to consider when selecting your SMBIOS: Many things can affect how your machine works as your SMBIOS determines CPU Power management, GPU profiles, USB maps and much more. When choosing the right SMBIOS for your machine, you've gotta understand that it's more than just simple CPU match up.

Getting started with ACPI (opens new window).

Mac cpu info generations