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Desktops (Apple) Apple Build

Can You Build Your Own Mac? (vice.com) 315

"If you're sick of MacBooks but love MacOS, be brave and convert a new laptop into a Hackintosh with our exhaustive guide," writes Motherboard, in an article shared by eatmorekix: Perhaps it's the fact that Apple solders on all of its main parts on its laptops. Perhaps it's the inability for users to repair or upgrade their own machines. Maybe it's the keyboard. For whatever reason, laptops are looking mighty attractive for Hackintoshing these days, despite the knotty qualms some people have with it...

As frustrated by the keyboard and the price as by the fact that nothing was upgradeable on the current generation of MacBook Pros, I went on this journey myself a year ago -- and made it out on the other side much more knowledgeable about why MacOS is a great, quite flexible operating system, often (and unfortunately) placed in a not-so-perfect machine.

It's a long read, but it ends with the author saying he "gained a great appreciation for the process" and ended up with "a fairly stable machine that can handle much of what Apple's own offerings can -- without the incredibly high price to boot."

Despite the (many) technical challenges, "enough of the things that make MacOS worth installing work, and you can make a good weekend project out of this and get a good machine in the end -- one with better specs and more upgradability than many of Apple's own products."
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Can You Build Your Own Mac?

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  • MacOS (Score:2, Informative)

    MacOS to me seems to have a lot of the rough spots of linux with few upsides. Every time I use my Bluetooth headphones I wonder if they will work, or if they will play the sound too slow or to fast. It takes me an average of 10 plug in attempts to get my external monitor to work and many times it forgets the orientation of the screens and I have to reset it all.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      This is one of those things that I've been thinking about. The only reason that some people run Mac is because the OS is Linux like. Why run something that is linux like on expensive and out of date hardware when you can run Linux on a modern computer?

      I'm sure someone is thinking about the fact the Mac has better software support over linux. Ten years ago I would have given you that but of all the productivity Mac software I've seen in the past years, a great deal of OS versions of it are superior in

      • Re:MacOS (Score:5, Informative)

        by tepples ( 727027 ) <.tepples. .at. .gmail.com.> on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:07AM (#58504734) Homepage Journal

        Why run something that is linux like on expensive and out of date hardware when you can run Linux on a modern computer?

        Because you also need to run applications that are not available for X11/Linux, such as Xcode to make an iOS version of your product.

        • Though I don't recommend anyone use a hackintosh for development. Everything works with everything else only if it is at the same level and the compatibility window between versions is insanely small. You're going to get to a point where you need the next version of XCode and it won't work unless you install the new OS on your hackintosh and your phone, On a hackintosh that is brutal in my experience, requiring almost a complete reinstall.
          • by monsted ( 6709 )

            I upgraded my hackintosh to Mojave with the OS's own installer, having just updated the clover bootloader before and reinstalling my audio driver fix afterwards. It's quite a bit short of "complete reinstall".

            • But you can't do it through the Apple store.
            • The thing is, when you are an iOS developer and you want to release a new version of your app and find out you can't do so, you don't want to have to do a full manual OS install.
            • I upgraded my hackintosh to Mojave with the OS's own installer, having just updated the clover bootloader before and reinstalling my audio driver fix afterwards. It's quite a bit short of "complete reinstall".

              Just saying: The "clover bootloader" is the bit with the DMCA violation, where the rest is just copyright infringement.

              In the end, Apple doesn't care as long as you don't try to make it a business, and as long as you don't tell people it's legal.

      • OS X as a whole is a UNIX 03 system based on the BSD kernel. By "Linux like" I assume you mean POSIX complaint but other then that they really don't have much else in common
        • OS X as a whole is a UNIX 03 system based on the BSD kernel. By "Linux like" I assume you mean POSIX complaint but other then that they really don't have much else in common

          While you are techincally correct I'd dispute your conclusion. Richard Stallman would probably tell you that if you asked MOST people to describe Linux they would tell you about the command line and everything they said after that point would be descibing the GNU tools not the LINUX os.

          SInce nearly every one of those GNU tools is either in OSX or has a highly similar counterpart saying a mac in linux-like in USER experience is pretty accurate.

          Moreover, these underlying basic tools plus POSIX mean that packa

          • You'd be wrong. There is no greater need for the typical Linux *user* to use a shell than for the Windows user. The only difference is that for power users both have a CLI available and Linux kicks Windows' ads there as well.
        • I assume you mean POSIX complaint but other then that they really don't have much else in common
          You can install any linux tool on Mac OS and any BSD tool on Linux ... for me that is enough "in common".

      • Mail.app

        There is no useful mail client for Linux.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

            Thunderbird is nice. Evolution's a little long in the tooth

            I usually use Evolution IF I have to use a gui email client on Linux. Say to parse ungodly html email. All my email is sorted into two kind, ascii and html. Html goes to my Windows desktop where I can read it with Outlook. ASCII goes to my linux account, kernal mail list etc, where I read it with mutt. Off all the email clients on linux nothing is better than mutt at just pure ascii email.

            Lets face it, when it comes to email client nothing beats Outlook. I'm not saying that because I'm a Outlook fa

          • You make excellent points. I think the important feature Mail.app has is MS Exchange support. For many, this is necessary due to employer-mandated email accounts on Exchange.
        • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

          Mutt, like God intended.

          petaQ

      • If you think Libreoffice can even hold a candle to Office365 then I have a bridge to sell you. Also Linux gui is 20 years behind thanks to gnome3.

    • by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:39AM (#58504852)

      MacOS to me seems to have a lot of the rough spots of linux with few upsides. Every time I use my Bluetooth headphones I wonder if they will work, or if they will play the sound too slow or to fast. It takes me an average of 10 plug in attempts to get my external monitor to work and many times it forgets the orientation of the screens and I have to reset it all.

      My experience is the complete inverse. And since I also have lots of employees too I have more than a smaple size of one. I personally use both Linux and Macs. But if there's going to be a nightmare of incompatibilities and confusion of where to get drivers and later how to maintain them in an updated way, there's no question that problem is endemic to Linux.

      Now that said, what is true with macs is that if something isn't easy to do, then it's pretty damn near impossible. The last time I had that problem was with the knock-off arduinios that have an atypical USB chip. Finding drivers for those for the mac was initially impossible. Then a few forums started referenceing this web site, entirely in chinese characters, that had a file you could download an install into the kernel of your mac. The chinese was indecipherable to me personally, and I suspect the characters probably said "Open your mouth and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise." Eventually a norweigian web site had a driver for sale, and I bought that one.

      But that sort of thing won't even work easily on macs now. You can do it. But it means turning off some of the kernel driver signing.

      But the thing is, I like that. I gladly pay extra for a system that works flawlessly nearly all the time with no waste of time on my part. And the very very few times that happens, it's literally worth it to me to just buy a linux machine for the special purpose like programming non-standard embedded boards. (Or more likely use the one I have already).

      So yes I can find things that dont' work on a mac easily. But I rarely find there isn't a direct equivalent that does work on a mac. If a blue tooth is so universal these days that if the specific coms interface is that wonky that it only runs on linux then it's probably not going to be supported in the future any how. So I put it in the column of more trouble than it's worth.

      I guess what my razor for deciding which things I value in a system come down to one thing. My time is valuable and computers are comaparitively cheap.

      I've built hackintoshes and then discarded them the next month because you just can't keep them patched. And my time is too valuable to use an unpatched computer due to the extreme time consuming downsides of getting hacked.

      • Now that said, what is true with macs is that if something isn't easy to do, then it's pretty damn near impossible.

        That is completely unconscionable with a multi-thousand dollar laptop. There are so many things I have to go to my windows or linux systems for. Want to make a bootable USB? Windows. Need a dvd-drive? Oh Thinkpads still come with them. Have a flash drive and no dongle? Linux or Windows. The list goes on and on. There is so much that the mac doesn't do that it blows my mind; but I'm not the prime target for the system and that is how capitalism works.

        • DO you go offroading in your $150,000 Lamborghini?

          If I need to go offroading I'll ssh into a $25 raspi that is connected to the embedded device my mac can't talk to. Much safer for me to install dubious unsigned drivers in the raspi than on the mac I keep all my other important work on.

          I don't need one car that does everything no matter how much it costs.

          • All other systems will do these things! Everything I mentioned I can do on Windows or Linux. Admittedly, unetbootin on linux is a little rough compared to Rufus. In fact for consoles and development I much prefer linux because I can place windows side by side. If I want to tile windows in MacOS side by side I have to do a whole bunch of mouse crap or use the silly "one window per desktop" spaces thing that forces back and forth just to watch two log files. The only entity forcing me to use any OS if I
            • What we are talking about is a mac being a Lamborghini kit car,

              No, Macintosh computers are stock Buicks. Being driven by somebody who thinks they have a Lamborghini.

      • by necro81 ( 917438 )

        The last time I had that problem was with the knock-off arduinios that have an atypical USB chip. Finding drivers for those for the mac was initially impossible. Then a few forums started referenceing this web site, entirely in chinese characters, that had a file you could download an install into the kernel of your mac. The chinese was indecipherable to me personally, and I suspect the characters probably said "Open your mouth and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise." Eventually a norweigian we

    • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      To be fair, I've have the same problems with things on Windows. Nothing like having a 50% chance to need to spend 20min to get everything working on startup.
  • "If you're sick of MacBooks but love MacOS, be brave and convert a new laptop into a Hackintosh

    Then by definition you have a Hackintosh, not a Mac.
    Sick of MacBooks? Personally I can't imagine why. Unless you got one of the bad butterfly keyboards I find the build quality is better than say a Lenovo X1 to pick one. Maybe the Huawei Matebook build quality is better than the Lenovo? I don't know.
    Both of those kitted out to equal a MacBook are in the same price range, And yes, I know the MacBooks typically have older CPUs than the competition so it's not exactly an Apples to Apples comparison. Never

    • by Teckla ( 630646 )

      Sick of MacBooks? Personally I can't imagine why.

      Just off the top of my head...

      • * Butterfly keyboard
      • * TouchBar
      • * Thermal throttling issues
      • * Lack of upgradeability
      • * Obscene prices
      • by monsted ( 6709 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:21AM (#58504788)

        I don't care for any of the current mac products, but the "OMG expensive!" argument is usually bullshit. You're paying for a high end machine with high end parts and the macs are usually right around the price of an equal machine. Only the upgrades (more SSD or RAM) are usually actually expensive. Of course, not everyone needs Xeons and FirePro GPUs, which is what drives up the price. This is just the market that Apple is targeting, so if you don't need it, don't buy it.

        "But i can build a faster machine for $500 less!" usually ends up with someone building an AMD Bulldozer box and showing that they've now built a cheaper macbook... or they build a machine $1000 cheaper than the iMac, forgetting that the iMac comes with a $2000 monitor. Most of the time, they just assume that the Xeon in the pro systems is pointless and replace it with a regular desktop CPU.

        The problem with the mac lineup right now is that everything is either outdated or they've broken fundamental things like the keyboard or they've made ridiculous decisions like sacrifice a regular SSD and socketed RAM for that millimeter they've shaved off the thickness, but that nobody actually gives a shit about.

        Apple: If you see this (fat chance), build me a Macbook SE. Give me the 2011 Macbook Pro case and keyboard, modern internals and ports (keep the USB-A and SD slot, but add thunderbolt), swap the 2.5" drive for a M.2 (or two) socket, keep the socketed memory and stick a retina display on top. There should be plenty of space for a gigantic battery to give it days of work time on a single charge. I *promise* this thing would sell millions.

        • You're paying for a high end machine with high end parts and the macs are usually right around the price of an equal machine.

          Time and time again people have opened macs and found the components to be average. The keyboards are dying so badly that Apple is now fixing them for free. The USB-C ports are wearing out to the point that people can't keep external hard drives connected.

          Are you basing your assessment on the fact that the body is metal? Because my "plastic" Thinkpad would survive a drop test on any day of the week and the aluminum body would be completely mangled. I don't have much enthusiasm for hardware that costs

          • by monsted ( 6709 )

            I'm basing my assessment on the fact that they use really expensive components (not every single chip, but the most important parts like CPUs). I'm not saying they make sense for everyone, but if you want that combination of parts, it's going to cost you about what apple charges, regardless of the badge on the machine.

            Of course you shouldn't spend $2k on the 5k monitor if you don't care about it, but a lot of people do. I hate the 27" 4k monitor i used on my hackintosh and would happily trade it for a 1440p

            • What is the benefit, to me, of these very expensive components? To thinkpads use very expensive components? Because most of the T23s I have around (circa early 2000) will still start up fine and were always cheaper. The only thing a Macbook will ever have on a Thinkpad is aesthetics, which is a piss poor thing to base a *PROFESSIONAL* laptop on.
          • I had a business refurbishing and then selling ex-corporate laptops. I've sold thousands of $1000+ Thinkpads from the T and X series and I've dismantled enough of these to repair to know how they're built. I have also personally owned two Macbook Pros which are comparable in price to buy. The build quality of the MBPs surpassed that of the Thinkpads. Where IBM/Lenovo use plastic tabs for cable runs to keep the cables in place Apple use metal scew in cable grips. Whilst half a dozen screws will see you being

            • Where IBM/Lenovo use plastic tabs for cable runs to keep the cables in place Apple use metal scew in cable grips.

              Do macbooks frequently have to have their cables removed and replaced? Because I know someone who is a Thinkpad technician and all the parts are pretty much modular. These plastic retainers you are talking about are a non-problem.

              Whilst half a dozen screws will see you being able to take out the Thinkpad keyboard its over 50 for the MBP

              Again, never had a keyboard fall off my Thinkpad so it seems like a great idea for fixibility to have less screws. Again, ran that by my tech friend.. Screws get lost, strip, rust, get lost, etc etc etc. Screws are the worst idea ever. Modern thinkpads use NO screws; has your

            • Let me ask this... why do you want your laptop to be built like a watch?
        • Just realized that you admit they are bad; so please forgive my misplaced rant.
        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          $3600 for a Lenovo P72s gets you a 6 core Xeon with 12 MB cache, 64 GB of RAM, 1 TB of SSD, a 4K 17" screen, nVidia Quadro P4200 with 8 GB of RAM, lots of ports (USB, Thunderbolt, HDMI, Displayport, Ethernet, memory card reader), and a very good keyboard (actual, decent key travel with a real numeric keypad),

          A loaded MacBook Pro runs over $4,200, has half the RAM, half the video RAM, a slower processor (i9 is not as fast as a Xeon), a smaller screen, a little more than half the resolution, fewer ports, and

          • by monsted ( 6709 )

            Sure, a lot of things are easier and cheaper if you have more than twice the volume (and almost twice the weight) to work with.

            • So you get to pay more for less performance, but it's smaller and lighter. I guess if you just need an e-mail/browser client, that makes sense. But what if you want to do real work? You know, mechanical or electrical engineering, 3D modeling, etc.? That Macbook doesn't make much sense. And it has provably lower end components (processor, RAM, video) at a higher price. You pay for Apple because you want the style of Apple - not because you want to just get work done.
              • by monsted ( 6709 )

                Nobody ever claimed a macbook was a workstation killer (except maybe in apple's fever dreams). Also, nobody ever claimed that macs make sense for every job.

                If you want a large mobile workstation, that's fine. Buy the one that makes sense for your workload. Most people don't want one, not even if it had an apple on the lid.

                • What job is a Macbook the best for these days? I hear Adobe has even overtaken Final Cut Pro.
                • Sure, but if you want to just do e-mail and browsing, why buy a $2500+ Macbook? It used to be they were performance kings; now they are basically a fancy status symbol like carrying a Louis Vuitton bag or a Rolex. More about showing your pocketbook than getting things done. Why would you buy a Macbook Pro 15" over a Dell XPS15? The Dell is smaller, lighter, more performance, higher resolution screen, better connectivity - and lower cost.

                  Get a Mac because you want macOS, but their days of being competi

              • If you hate Windows with a passion but need Office what choice do you have?

                I don't run macosx but running software was the older appeal back when they were cool 10 years ago when Steve was still around. Macs were high end, had non shitty real GPUs and no Intel graphics, and could run Adobe reader, office, Java, etc and we're superior to Windows. Times have changed and Windows 7 was what Macosx already was and just worked while osx got buggy

            • Sure, a lot of things are easier and cheaper if you have more than twice the volume (and almost twice the weight) to work with.

              Which is great if that is what you want. On my list is lowest price, highest performance and highest reliability. Size and weight don't factor into my purchase choices with laptops, so I'll continue to avoid Apple.

              • by monsted ( 6709 )

                I don't think anyone ever suggested you shouldn't. If you don't want an apple, nobody actually cares. It's the "Herpderp, apple is more expensive than diamonds!" crap people object to.

      • by Chelloveck ( 14643 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @12:45PM (#58505682)
        I've used MacBook Pros for over 10 years now. I like Macs and my company is willing to pay for them, so what the hell? Get the machine I like when I'm going to be using it 8+ hours a day.

        I upgraded to the newest model in Feb. That was a mistake. I should have gone with the Windows laptop and slapped Linux on it if Windows drove me crazy.

        First, the trackpad on the new MacBook Pro is way too big. I've always liked the feel of the MacBook trackpads and this one feels just as nice, but the huge size means my palms are always brushing against it. The software rejection of spurious touches is good but not perfect. What's a trackpad this big good for anyway, besides making you move your hands even farther to use it?

        But the touchbar... Dear god, Apple, WHY!? It's a piss-poor solution to a problem no one ever had. I have not found any situation AT ALL which would not have been better served by real function keys. And the lack of a real ESC key is a serious head desk situation for any programmer. The touchbar will never be anything more than a novelty. I know because Apple hasn't included it as standard on all its machines and external keyboards, which means developers will never be able to count on anyone having it, which means that even if there *is* a killer feature at which it excels the programmers are going to have to figure out how to implement it without the touchbar too. It's just a dumb, dumb, DUMB idea.

        The only reason I haven't sent this back to the IT dept and told them to give me a Windows laptop instead is because I mostly use an external keyboard, so the trackpad and touchbar aren't constant annoyances. They annoy the hell out of me when I'm using the machine as an actual laptop device, though. If that was my primary use case I wouldn't put up with it.

        (Strangely, the butterfly keyboard feels fine to me and hasn't given me any trouble. I know I'm in the minority here, but so far I like it as well as any of the previous keyboards.)

  • EULA violation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wierd_w ( 1375923 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @08:48AM (#58504666)

    While you can do this, it is also an instant license violation. OSX is licensed for use only on blessed apple hardware. This is why it is free to download.

    I am by no means an apple fanbois. Apple can die in a fire.

    However, license violation is not something honest people should engage in. I will stick with Linux, thanks.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      However, license violation is not something honest people should engage in.

      Why? There is nothing dishonest about breaching terms that I never agreed to.
      Are you stuck at stage 4 of Kohlberg's stages of moral development? [wikipedia.org]

      • The cost of the time of the developers, artists, testers, etc is built into the cost of buying an Apple product. If you're using their work and they haven't agreed to allow you to use it for free, why shouldn't they get paid? They get to put the value on their work and they've done that by agreeing to whatever employment terms they have with Apple.
      • Technically, you had to agree to the terms to download it. And why are you assuming it's stage 4? It could be stage 6 (universal principle) - if someone gives you something for free but with certain voluntary usage conditions, you should respect their wishes for how you're allowed to use it; that way more people will be willing to give more stuff away for free.

        Kohlberg's stages aren't meant as a scorecard to determine whose argument is right/wrong. They're meant to evaluate/categorize how much though
      • Why? There is nothing dishonest about breaching terms that I never agreed to.

        I don't really care what you do, but don't rationalize it with false arguments. If you don't agree to the terms of MacOS X, you have the right to return it for your money back (oh, you downloaded it for free? Then you have the right to delete the download). If you install it, and every time you run it, you are committing copyright infringment. If you don't agree to the terms, you have no rights.

        In addition, it is impossible to install OS X on any non-Macintosh computer without DMCA violation.

    • by eddeye ( 85134 )

      You're solving the wrong problem.

      The problem with macs isn't the hardware. It's not bleeding edge, but who cares? It's plenty fast for typical workloads of 99% of us.

      No the problem with macs is the software. Apple has let it's UI go to shit. The mess with Itunes is well covered elsewhere, and perhaps they're finally fixing it (I'll believe it when I see it). There are issues like that throughout the system. I'm a daily user, I run into it all the time.

      Small example: text in the mac app store

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
    Follow one of two methods:
    1. Buy the correct hardware and learn to work on an update for your OS after every OS update.
    2. Learn about "virtualization" and use another OS and some hardware to create a virtual machine.
    The skills needed to collect parts to make a computer.
    The skills to set up a virtual machine.
  • Then Apple publishes a new version of *anything* and you have to have your whole stack upgraded. The other day I wanted to install configurator 2 and it would not work unless I had Mojave installed. Then I need to upgrade XCode and my phone. Just to use configurator 2. If you're using a hackintosh you're likely going to need to reinstall everything every time you need to upgrade.
  • I have built at least 8 or 9 Hackintosh. My last laptop version was an HP Probook. Ran it for about 10 years and no issues ever. I built it because Apple at the time didnÃâât have all the tech I wanted. At the time there was no way to do Blu-Ray read/write capable. I only stopped using it recently because I wanted a 4K screen. I think it may be time to build another. I put it all together for a quarter of the price of a MacBook.
    • Honest question. What does MacOS allow you to do that Linux and Windows don't? If you are a developer than you have to keep everything at the newest and that doesn't work in a Hackintosh.
      • If you are a developer than you have to keep everything at the newest
        No, you have not, why would you?

        and that doesn't work in a Hackintosh.
        Why would it not?

        • The other day I needed to use Configurator 2 to install my app locally. The Apple store told me I needed Mojave to use it. So in order to use it I upgraded my whole f'ing OS though I was fine with the old version. Then XCode needed to be upgraded as well. Once you do that, your iOS device has to match the XCode SDK so you do that as well.

          Personally I wouldn't use the Apple store with a hackintosh. Apparently some people do, but Apple could come after you any time and if any company would it would be
      • Honest question. What does MacOS allow you to do that Linux and Windows don't?

        Look hip at your next presentation or when hanging out at Starbucks...

  • Who is this for? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:19AM (#58504780)
    Idlers & tinkerers in the garden of tech knowledge may enjoy getting their hands dirty in their hardware & software. Me? I've got work to do. Choose your software, find an OS & hardware that it'll run on, & use that.
    • Idlers & tinkerers in the garden of tech knowledge may enjoy getting their hands dirty in their hardware & software. Me? I've got work to do. Choose your software, find an OS & hardware that it'll run on, & use that.

      Yup. The key line in TFA is "a fairly stable machine that can handle much of what Apple's own offerings can...

  • by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:21AM (#58504786)

    I considered it breifly and then discarded it.

    Here's why:
    Apple did and still does some very very neat things. The integration of hard and software is next to none. Convenience is amazing. That's a big part of what you get from buying in to the Apple thing. All that goes out the window as soon as you start fiddling away to "build your own mac". It's like Linux back in the 90ies.

    That's why when I decided to abandon mac for the time being, due to increased obscene pricing, increased lockin and the ongoing butterfly keyboard desaster I decided to abandon Apple completely. A refurbished ThinkPad with Manjaro i3 is orders of magnitude less hassle than a Hackintosh and I'm doing some good by supporting all-out FOSS. In fact, I installed Manjaro i3 on my obsolete MB Air from 2011 that won't update any further than High Sierra and even that slowpokes in such a way that I can't shake the notion this is on purpose by Apple. Stuck in my Manjaro i3 stick, booted to rescue mode and installed it and suddenly my MB Air is as fast as it was 8 years ago. With an up-to-date OS.

  • by WCMI92 ( 592436 )

    A Mac is nothing more than an Intel based PC these days. Nothing special about them. And Apple is as bad as Microsoft these days.

    • by Uberbah ( 647458 )

      Apple isn't a monopoly and their OS isn't built around spying on you. Don't let your Hatorade Distortion Field overwhelm your critical thinking skills.

  • by Chewbacon ( 797801 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:38AM (#58504844)

    I did it with a Dell workstation my employer gave me. It was a fun project and I got it working with the exception of a few things. It's a lot of tweaking and then, to get things like iMessage working, trickery of Apple. My iTunes and Apple Books never worked properly, probably because my made up serial number for the "Mac" matched up with someone else's genuine Mac. Other broken things: couldn't suspend and with the latest MacOS, my current hardware wouldn't work anymore.

    I did this project to sort of test the waters with MacOS and found I can get just as much work done without the garbage of Windows. So I bought a MacBook Pro and it's probably in my top 2 laptops I've owned. Presently looking at the new iMac where my Windows machine will be retired to a dedicated whole room VR machine.

  • Laptop?! (Score:5, Funny)

    by evanh ( 627108 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @09:38AM (#58504846)

    If it's not a big-ass box on the floor with a line of 140mm fans protruding then you're doing it wrong.

  • by Selur ( 2745445 ) on Sunday April 28, 2019 @10:12AM (#58504962)

    "a fairly stable machine" -> so not really usable in real life,...
    "fairly stable" systems tend to cause problems at the most convenient times,...

  • Yes, you can run MacOS on a PC, but why would you want to?

    If you're determined to do this, here's a decent step-by-step video how-to:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    It doesn't look very difficult or time-consuming, but I admit I'm the kind of guy who would rather just go buy a cupcake and eat it than spend all day making one. And frankly, MacOS in my opinion is just frustrating as shit for the most part.

    It has baked-in dumb behaviors, like the way they handle the dock and Control-tabbing. You can't click o

  • "handle much of what Apple's own offerings can -- without the incredibly high price to boot."

    isn't that the whole point of macs being macs?

  • If you're okay with the work to build a Hackintosh and keep it running and up-to-date, you'll likely be okay with rehabilitating lightly-used older Intel MacBooks from friends, family, or the usual online places. Here's how:

    Update certain previous MacOS versions to the latest with MacOS Mojave Patcher:
    http://dosdude1.com/mojave [dosdude1.com]

    Upgrade Apple laptop hardware with the help of iFixit:
    https://www.ifixit.com/ [ifixit.com] (site seems to be down as I type this, but they offer great toolkits for all those Apple-required screw h

  • You already know what linux is about.

    I have some experience with linux and building a hackintosh.
    I know, apples and bananas. But.
    Both are great fun.
    Both famous for a sharp learning curve.
    Both are cheaper, ("but only if your time is worth nothing...").
    Both based on huge amounts of unpaid, volunteer effort.
    Both have an active user-base.
    Both are much, much better, smoother, easier than they used to be.

    The entire hackintosh project (via tonymacx86) is based on the Clover bootloader, which is very poorly docume

  • Is that like a little bit pregnant?

  • You can build a Hackintosh that is 100% just as stable and functional as a Mac, it;s not easy, but you can except for two areas.

    The first issue is power management, not a big problem on a desktop but a big one for laptops. Don't expect great battery life.

    The second issue is speed.
    Of course the latest and greatest will be faster, but by how much? Mac reviews always focus on a single Mac or a Mac vs Mac, the problem is Mac has been languishing and a new Mac isn't as big of a jump as you think. Jumpin
  • But .... the Hackintosh thing never seemed to me like a really good time investment, unless you're doing it for the thrill of saying you got a non-Mac to run OS X well.

    Like others pointed out, you start out with the issue that it's technically a violation of the software license. The way Apple licenses Mac OS X, it's paid for in the price of the new Mac you purchase and intended for use only on that machine. They don't sell such a thing as a "full install OS X" on CD or DVD anymore. (Even when they did, it

Keep up the good work! But please don't ask me to help.

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