Rose42

Toying with the idea of building one. Since I'm not a professional a hangup or crash won't be catastrophic.

Curious if anyone has ever tried it and what success or pitfalls they've had.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Just building a Hackintosh is challenge enough, I would think.

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

I must Google "Hackintosh" and see what I can discover.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

A Mac....as in Macintosh apple...the fruit. He intends to hack a Mac as in a tower from Apple

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This sounds like a pricey exercise in frustration, but it could also be fun - sort of. Let us know how it turns out.

https://hackintosh.com/

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Another sysadmin/programmer and I did this about 5-6 years ago. We used a dual boot Dell Latitude D620. Stuck a different hard drive in it and installed the necessary software to emulate a Mac. Then, we loaded a few applications, one being Photoshop for Mac. It worked. That much I can say. We didn't hammer on it to see if it would break, but we did some basic editing just to see. I don't recall any inordinate issues that we had with it, other than hacking the serial number. In our haste, we failed to remember that we could use it for free for a few days. I believe it was PS CS6 that we installed because we had a copy of it on disk. I sort of miss those old days when I had more time than things to do with it.
--Bob

BebuLamar

A "Hackintosh"? Do you mean a Mac clone? If so is it legal to use Apple BIOS? Or do you write the entirely new BIOS that functions exactly the same as the Apple BIOS?

Rose42

Thank you all. Hopefully I'll get the time to do it pretty soon. My Macbook is starting to show its age and the new ones are out of my price range. I could run an OS/X virtual machine in Windows but would sacrifice speed.

Thanks again for the input.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Nope.

Hackintoshes are generic PCs that have been configured to run Mac OS 10.x. The thought is that it’s cheaper...

If you’re not a born tinkerer, don’t waste your time. It works, but every time Apple releases an OS update, there are hoops to jump through...

Apple no longer makes towers. The closest thing they have (the Mac Pro) looks like a cylinder.

If you want the real Apple experience, just get a Mac. If you want cheap *hardware*, get a PC, or build one.

Rose42

I wouldn't be doing it because its cheaper - I like to tinker and thought it might be fun to try. I used to build my own PCs and when a 30mb hard drive came out I was excited because "that's all anyone would ever need". Who remembers having to park the drive heads before shutting down?

Thanks for the input.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Rose, I remember when I was working with one company and requested drive space to store programs I'd write for work. They allocated 500K of space for me. I was in heaven.
--Bob

riderxlx Loc: DFW area Texas

Been there, done that.
Unless you are a techie kinda guy, and you have an existing computer you use while 'toying around' with this project. Go for it.
But ! ; from my experience ; just buy the real damn thing. You can get good guys on used MACs with guarantees. All over the place.
Look up MAC of all trades.
By the time you buy ALL the hardware you need to make a 'compatible' IOS, then you will have to find someway or someone who has an IOS device and download the OS on a flash and then you 'try' to load on your box, the party begins. Driver issues out the ass.
Yes, it is possible and many have done it.
I really believe you need to google this instead of asking here.
You will find that by the time you buy all the compatible hardware to make this happen, you will only save a couple of hundred bucks. Seriously.
Then finding the OS, Loading it and then the issues begin.
If you have a lot of time on your hands; and you will need it too brother; then this is a do-able thing, but not easy.
If you REALLY want a MAC, just buy a used one OK.
IF ! and I mean IF, you just want a hobby project, then this is how yo need to look at it.
It can be done.
But your time is the issue.
Google it. Lot's of good videos on how to do these. I wish you the best on this.
By all means, if you do this, let me know how it goes.
Good luck dude.
Bruce in Texas.

Rose42

Now that's going back.



I have a Macbook pro but its early 2011 and starting to show its age. This would just be for fun and that is how I'm looking at it. I can always load Windows if it doesn't work. There's a lot of generous folks out there who have shared info - much like here sharing info on photography.

ddgm Loc: Hamilton, Ontario & Fort Myers, FL

It is actually quite easy to do. I did it because I was curious. Since Mac started using Intel processors in their machines, everything that is in a Mac is also available in a PC but way cheaper. I started with El Capitan and upgraded through the various OSXs to High Sierra and now using the Beta of Mohave which is due sometime this fall. I have run PS and LR on it and it works fine. I did install it on a separate SSD.I still prefer Win 10.

Bharrell Loc: San Leandro Ca.

I remember doing that....and the consequences of powering down if the heads were not "parked".
The first drive I remember working with was 10mb, and it could be partitioned to 5mb, and even 2mb!
We were all jazzed when a new model was introduced with a whopping 110mb with a 14inch platter, which, I thought, would be big enough for anything.