$ conda install --channel=conda-forge --name=base mamba
$ mamba create --strict-channel-priority --channel=conda-forge --name=mne mne

Not all MNE-Python dependencies are already available natively for M1 systems (Apple Silicon). Therefore, we need to explicitly request conda to install the Intel-based packages (by default, it would try to download all dependencies for Apple Silicon – and fail!). Those Intel binaries will be automatically run through macOS's emulation layer, Rosetta.

The procedure consists of two main steps: First we create the environment from Intel-based packages. Then, we configure the environment to always use Intel packages even for future installations, should you decide to install any additional packages into the same conda environment.

$ conda install --channel=conda-forge --name=base mamba
$ CONDA_SUBDIR=osx-64 mamba create --strict-channel-priority --channel=conda-forge --name=mne mne
$ conda activate mne
$ conda config --env --set subdir osx-64