Hackintosh Success Stories

Lino said:
2: Linux comment? Well I am actually an Arch user so not sure where that fits in?
In some cases a Hackintosh works just as well if not better than a machine bought from Apple?
It is just a tweaked BSD kernel at the end of the day. So I don't see a problem if a person wants the best of both worlds?
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Lino said:
Not sure how you came to this conclusion?
Once the other issues are resolved then it will be working 100% which after doing research looks like it is actually supported?
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You are already starting to speak in questions like the other Mac users here, so you'll fit right in.
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Tell me how much I'll pay for a laptop with a solid aluminium construction, backlit keyboard, i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD and a touchpad that is unrivalled?
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Firstly the i5 you are referring to is about 2-3 generations old.

As for other laptops, the ASUS Zenbook is a start. Then there is the Razer Blade Stealth, and the Dell XPS.
They also contain Skylake processors, upto 4K touch screens and ThunderBolt 3 with USB-C.

http://www.takealot.com/all/?qsearch=asus+zenbook

SA pricing is silly, just like Apple pricing. It's cheaper to import from Amazon if ever buying one.
 
whatwhat said:
Firstly the i5 you are referring to is about 2-3 generations old.
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Agreed, so even more impressive that it compares so favourably to the i7 Haswell that's in my MSI GS70. As I said, certain applications (Netbeans, Android Studio, Unity, Chrome) just run so much better and faster on the Apple than the MSI, even though both have 16GB RAM and a 250GB SSD as primary disk.

Look, you're preaching to a former Apple-hater that wouldn't touch a fruity device with a 1000 foot pole, but I had to get hold of one for work purposes (Xcode) and I've since become quite fond of it.

I've come to see the Apple appeal and how things "just work" in a Macbook Pro. The whole package works effortlessly out of the box and cloning the HDD to SSD was a hell of a lot easier than doing it for 4 different laptops I've done in recent years.

The build quality of the machine is also miles ahead of even my >R30k MSI and the touchpad is really something to experience. This is really the first laptop where I don't feel compelled to have a portable wireless mouse on me at all times, because I feel more productive using the touchpad on the Macbook.

On top of the hardware package, OSX feels incredibly polished and powerful if you decide to venture into the CLI. It's fast, slick and consistent, which suits my perfectionist and sligtly OCD nature quite nicely.

I'm not planning on binning my MSI anytime soon (if at all), as it's still my primary work- and gamehorse, but I can now appreciate the engineering and attention to detail that goes into an Apple laptop from a hardware and software perspective.
 
I managed to run it without issues a few years back on my desktop and laptop.

I only really did it because I wanted to try it out and didn't want to fork out cash on new equipment.

Loved it but didn't pursue it much further and probably wiped the drive after a few months.

I have since owned two MacBooks and must say that the hardware build quality makes up most of the experience... The OS is great but Windows is just as good for my needs but I've not had one laptop that can rival the Mac's build quality
 
Tried and succeeded after numerous attempts on a Dell Inspiron 7720SE, had everything including wifi and usb 3 working then updated Mavericks and it all came crashing down.

Bought a Macbook pro 2012, upgraded SSD and now running 16GB ram as well.
 
If you just want to use it for development and to get your apps on iTunes or to evaluate the OS then download a VM and run it in WIndows. Only thing not supported is 3D graphics.
 
So this weekend I'll be trying to see if I can fix the niggly bits on my two Hackintosh's!
No harm in trying I suppose, next year I plan to buy a new Macbook Pro!
 
Nothing wrong with building a hackintosh. And yes, you can get it 100% functional. With the right hardware choices. I have an i7 4790 based hackintosh which works perfectly. No issues, minimum fuss. But I have been doing it as a side project since the days of Tiger. I own 3 macbooks and an i7 mac mini, but the hackintosh runs way smoother and is a real workhorse. I repair macs as a sideline business and trust me, a hack is way easier to maintain and far more flexible in terms of upgrades and addons. I prefer running extra hdd's straight from SATA instead of usb, which is not possible on any macs other than the old MacPro's.

To the guy struggling with touchpad functionality - google rehabman's trackpad kexts. They worked on my Dell laptop. It's all fun & games for the most part, but hackintoshers generally learn more about OS X than any seasoned mac user ever will or even care to know. Want good advice about macs, speak to the hackintosh communities. They are not scared to roll up their sleeves and dive in. Just be sure to stay away from TonyMac and all of his ****Beast cr@p. You will learn nothing there. Insanelymac is where it all started in 2005 and is home to all the original devs TonyMac leeches from.
 
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I have 2 pcs at work, and then also my personal MBP.

1x PC run Win7
1x PC run OSX

The OSX is on an Intel motherboard, with i7 2600k, and an Asus 210 GT. Works 100% actually, but then there is not trackpad or wifi to worry about.

With clover thus far, the upgrades have been seamless. The only thing is, sometimes when there is a new update, it says something about thunderbolt firmware, which I ignore and just click ok then it goes away again.
 
Just completed my latest build this past weekend.

Specs :

Hardware

- Bitfenix Neos Chassis (Nice, but not the best case for cable management)
- ASRock H81m M/B
- Intel® Core i5-4590 3.7Ghz
- 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM
- Nvidia GT210 1GB Graphics (worked out the box)
- Focusrite Sapphire 2i2 USB Audio Interface (worked out the box)
- 2x 500GB Seagate SSHD (one for macOS and one for Windows 10)
- 1x 2TB WD Blue for storage and backups
- DVD-RW ... because I already had one (worked out the box)
- A $3 Bluetooth dongle I got off eBay (worked out the box)
- Apple BT Keyboard and Magic Mouse (post installation only - will not work pre OS boot due to it being Bluetooth)
- 2x 24" Dell LEDs

Software

- OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 (from the Mac App Store)
- Unibeast (for creating the installer)
- Multibeast (for post installation)
- Logix Pro X

IMG_0813.jpg

I ran the 10.11.6 update straight from the Mac App Store after OS installation and it went through flawlessly.

The board was a bit of a pain, to be honest. BIOS settings were all good and the installer went through without the need for any boot flags. The problem came in AFTER installing the Clover bootloader. After hours of not having any luck I came across a thread advising that ASRock boards have a problem seeing UEFI boot options unless they're on removable storage. The fix was to eventually boot into Linux and run a few command lines. Ball ache, but it sorted out the booting issue and OS X could boot from the internal disk after that. Based on that, I'd recommend a Gigabyte board. Only reason I got this board was because I picked it up for an insanely cheap R200, brand new. I can't recommend it though because of the slightly irritating work around to get UEFI going on the internal disk, but, if you already have an ASRock board and are attempting a Hackintosh just keep the above fix in mind should you have the same problem.

Anyway, all my devices are working and I'm happier than a pig in ****e with the results :D
 
unskinnybob said:
Good post Shanezn
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Cheers, man. Truth is, getting a Hackintosh up and running nowadays is definitely not as painful as it used to be. Some of the biggest gripes people have are with getting the onboard graphics to work on their boards. While my particular board is reportedly working, the GT210 is quite an inexpensive card that is fully compatible and works "out the box" so it's worth spending the R450 on one to save the uncertainty of not knowing if your board's graphics will work. Audio is also less of a problem with ALC codecs offered in Multibeast which most boards also support. With Clover, the fear of installing updates from the Mac App Store have pretty much gone away, and, iMessage and Facetime work as well.

In short, it's a really great project to get stuck into and I'd encourage anyone who wants to try it to go ahead and do just that. It's not the doom and gloom that some people profess it to be. Granted, it can be tricky (and frustrating) on laptops but not impossible. I'd always suggest doing it on a desktop PC though because you can chop and change things easily. There's plenty of info on the web and there's this forum as well where I'm more than happy to assist anyone wanting to get stuck in with anything I can.
 
shanezn said:
Cheers, man. Truth is, getting a Hackintosh up and running nowadays is definitely not as painful as it used to be. Some of the biggest gripes people have are with getting the onboard graphics to work on their boards. While my particular board is reportedly working, the GT210 is quite an inexpensive card that is fully compatible and works "out the box" so it's worth spending the R450 on one to save the uncertainty of not knowing if your board's graphics will work. Audio is also less of a problem with ALC codecs offered in Multibeast which most boards also support. With Clover, the fear of installing updates from the Mac App Store have pretty much gone away, and, iMessage and Facetime work as well.

In short, it's a really great project to get stuck into and I'd encourage anyone who wants to try it to go ahead and do just that. It's not the doom and gloom that some people profess it to be. Granted, it can be tricky (and frustrating) on laptops but not impossible. I'd always suggest doing it on a desktop PC though because you can chop and change things easily. There's plenty of info on the web and there's this forum as well where I'm more than happy to assist anyone wanting to get stuck in with anything I can.
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Still compared to throwing money at it...taking iMac/MacBook out of the box and pressing the power button it's a massive amount of effort and has many more potential pitfalls.

You don't need to visit a forum every time you need/want to make a change.

To me the value proposition goes way beyond the cost of the hardware.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Still compared to throwing money at it...taking iMac/MacBook out of the box and pressing the power button it's a massive amount of effort and has many more potential pitfalls.

You don't need to visit a forum every time you need/want to make a change.

To me the value proposition goes way beyond the cost of the hardware.
Click to expand...

I like that I can change hardware whenever I want to and not have to worry about components that should be user interchangeable being soldered to the board. That's one of the plus points to attempting a Hackintosh. You can pretty much do what you want.

I own a MacBook Pro and my wife has a MacBook Air. They're great and we love them. Saying that, "Hackintoshing" is a really fun project, even with the occasional frustration. I would never discourage anyone from trying it because when it works, it works flawlessly. And, these days it's really not that difficult ... as mentioned in my above posts.
 
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