alt Hacker News> It's 100% the same for Apple machines,
> Requires Microsoft account to log in. Where Copilot is not available, the Copilot key will lead to the Bing search engine.
An Apple account is most certainly not needed to log in. In-fact being online is not even a requirement for Apple devices. Wild idea, I know.
Windows11 making it hard to create a local account is a separate topic.
The fine print notes refer to to specific features. In this cases it's "4." for Copilot.
You don't need apple account if you are fine with not using half the features listed in the marketing page for apple hardware. If you looked at the bottom of page for any of apple computers you will see similar fine print. For example https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ .
> 22 Requires that your iPhone and Mac are signed in with the same Apple Account using two-factor authentication, your iPhone and Mac are near each other and have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, and your Mac is not using AirPlay or Sidecar. Some iPhone features (e.g., camera and microphone) are not compatible with iPhone Mirroring.
> 23. SMS requires an iPhone or iPad with iOS 8.1 or later or iPadOS. iPhone calls require an iPhone with iOS 8 or later.
> To access and use all Apple Card features and products available only to Apple Card users, you must add Apple Card to Wallet on an iPhone or iPad that supports and has the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
> iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are available on the Mac App Store. Downloading apps requires an Apple Account and a device that is compatible with the OS version required for each app.
And seems like there are a few more things advertised as features of specific apple hardware which probably won't work without apple account but lacks fine print at the bottom for example iCloud.