8 ms·

Has anyone here actually made a custom mac? I thought Apple tried to stop this by preventing the OS from installing and you had to do some hacky stuff to get it

by orf 10y ago

Has anyone here actually made a custom mac? I thought Apple tried to stop this by preventing the OS from installing and you had to do some hacky stuff to get it to work?

drinchev 10y ago
I did in the past (2011). Had an i7 with 16GB of RAM. It was pretty stable. Though I had problems with iMessage & OS X upgrades. Nevertheless I think it's fairly easy to build one and there is big benefit, since Apple's iMac is now the only 32GB capable machine that they sell.
- stephenr 10y ago
  > iMac is now the only 32GB capable machine that they sell. The Mac Pro supports up to 64GB of RAM.
  - redial 10y ago
    I doubt they sell many, if any mac pros any more.
  - mountaineer22 10y ago
    Or a Hackintosh for less than $1,200?
  - minikites 10y ago
    The Mac Pro hasn't changed internally since 2013, calling it a professional computer is a joke at this point.
    - rbanffy 10y ago
      The reasoning was that newer Xeons were not fast enough to warrant a redesign. I am curious about the kind of usage a fully loaded Mac Pro is inadequate for. Of course, you can buy a similarly capable Dell (OSX not included) for less, but you lose the hassle-free Macintoshness.
      - CPLX 10y ago
        > I am curious about the kind of usage a fully loaded Mac Pro is inadequate. Financial sanity, mostly. Those things cost $10,000+
        rbanffy 10y ago
        If you spend more than 2 weeks of lost productivity over the lifetime of the machine because the hardware is not supported, the financials no longer make sense.
        mamcx 10y ago
        Not everyone is a rich guy with dream-like paychecks. With iOS you are stuck with OSX and currently the value proposition is bad.
        rbanffy 10y ago
        This is a business decision. Being unable to be sure whether deadlines will be met is a cost you should factor in when acquiring hardware.
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
        stephenr 10y ago
        Building iOS apps doesn't require 32GB of memory. You don't need a mac pro if your only reason for having a Mac is to run Xcode.
        mamcx 10y ago
        No. But building the backend and development for other things aside iOS, YES. Is not the current fad "Full-Stack developers"? I'm one since I start this 17 years ago (way before it was called "Desperate developer do anything for food!" instead of be "full-stack" ;). Is not ideal to have more than 1 machine.
  - Shivetya 10y ago
    however Apple should be ashamed that they still sell this in the configuration it has and worse for the price they want. No machine should be left so long without updates. I really don't understand why Apple does that, they should be embarrassed
    - toyg 10y ago
      > I really don't understand why Apple does that Margins. The more they can flog the same hardware, the higher the margins: you need less changes to the production chain (which are the real cost) and components get cheaper over time. Guess who's in charge of Apple since 2013? A production-chain guy.
mountaineer22 10y ago
Last year i7, 32gb ram. You install via USB. I seem to have to update my video card driver after an OS X update, but it takes less than 3 minutes. I built it figuring worse-case scenario, I can slap Linux or Windows on it, and it will still be good hardware. I spent more on the monitor than the system build. If you do, I recommend purchasing the PCI-E adapter for the Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD card to have native wifi+bluetooth. Very stable.
- pritambaral 10y ago
  Any indication anywhere of the software noticing it's not running on official Apple hardware?
  - mountaineer22 10y ago
    Not yet. Here is an overview of the bootloader used, Clover. https://clover-wiki.zetam.org/Technical-Background https://clover-wiki.zetam.org/Technical-Background
  - op00to 10y ago
    Apple can totally see what hardware is installed. FakeSMC, IIRC, uses a spoofed serial number for the hardware which can easily be detected. I assume sending hardware profiles are a part of using iCloud or other Apple services. It isn't a stretch for them to see what you're up to.
  - izacus 10y ago
    1. iMessage App uses hardware serial and usually doesn't work on Hackintoshes without copying a serial from another working Mac. 2. DRM protected iTunes movies (the ones that don't work if you don't have a DRM capable monitor attached) won't play. Those are the only two issues with Hackintoshes that can't be fixed by buying right hardware.
    - erikbye 10y ago
      iMessage works just fine here, on two hackintosh systems, all I had to do was generate a unique serial, I did certainly not copy one from another Mac.
627467 10y ago
I7 (2014) with GTX780 on 16GB. Got 2x256GB SSD for each system, and works very well. Haven't got around to upgrade to Sierra as I suspect something may break.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
erikbye 10y ago
Yes. I have two running systems. https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7319000 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7319000 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7246385 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7246385 They are both equipped with GTX 970.
kitsunesoba 10y ago
Built one less than a month ago. i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 EVO pilfered from an old laptop, 1TB HD pulled from a Dell Poweredge T20 before filling it with NAS drives, and a GTX 950 that will be upgraded as soon as OS X drivers for the latest gen AMD or Nvidia cards are available. The motherboard I selected has tons of ports available, including USB 3.1/TB 3, and I bought an exceptionally nice case, PSU, and CPU cooler for it. It's blazing fast for everything — my top of the line 2015 15" rMBP is nearly 2x slower at tasks like compiling large projects with Xcode. The whole build costed me less than $1k. The prevalence of hackintoshes is a direct result of a gaping hole existing in Apple's product line. Mac Pros are badly priced given their age and not everyone needs dual GPUs, but you don't have the option to reduce costs by dropping the second GPU if it's not needed. You can't opt for a more CPU/less GPU config either. The iMac is nice, but it has the reverse problem: its graphics are terribly weak for the display it drives and can never be upgraded. And of course there's the Mac Mini, which is little more than a low end headless 13" MacBook Pro, complete with the limitations of that model. There is no midrange Mac desktop that can be tailored to an individual's needs at a reasonable cost, and that's where hackintoshes come into the picture. If Apple wants to slow down hackintoshing dramatically all they have to do is release a tower akin to the old aluminum Mac Pros and start its pricing at $1500 - $2000. People will gladly pay the price for a real Mac as long as they feel like they're getting a machine that caters to their needs. It's mostly alienated Mac fans who hackintosh, not cheapskates.

by orf 10y ago

Has anyone here actually made a custom mac? I thought Apple tried to stop this by preventing the OS from installing and you had to do some hacky stuff to get it to work?

drinchev 10y ago

I did in the past (2011). Had an i7 with 16GB of RAM. It was pretty stable. Though I had problems with iMessage & OS X upgrades. Nevertheless I think it's fairly easy to build one and there is big benefit, since Apple's iMac is now the only 32GB capable machine that they sell.

stephenr 10y ago
> iMac is now the only 32GB capable machine that they sell. The Mac Pro supports up to 64GB of RAM.
- redial 10y ago
  I doubt they sell many, if any mac pros any more.
- mountaineer22 10y ago
  Or a Hackintosh for less than $1,200?
- minikites 10y ago
  The Mac Pro hasn't changed internally since 2013, calling it a professional computer is a joke at this point.
  - rbanffy 10y ago
    The reasoning was that newer Xeons were not fast enough to warrant a redesign. I am curious about the kind of usage a fully loaded Mac Pro is inadequate for. Of course, you can buy a similarly capable Dell (OSX not included) for less, but you lose the hassle-free Macintoshness.
    - CPLX 10y ago
      > I am curious about the kind of usage a fully loaded Mac Pro is inadequate. Financial sanity, mostly. Those things cost $10,000+
      - rbanffy 10y ago
        If you spend more than 2 weeks of lost productivity over the lifetime of the machine because the hardware is not supported, the financials no longer make sense.
        mamcx 10y ago
        Not everyone is a rich guy with dream-like paychecks. With iOS you are stuck with OSX and currently the value proposition is bad.
        rbanffy 10y ago
        This is a business decision. Being unable to be sure whether deadlines will be met is a cost you should factor in when acquiring hardware.
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
        stephenr 10y ago
        Building iOS apps doesn't require 32GB of memory. You don't need a mac pro if your only reason for having a Mac is to run Xcode.
        mamcx 10y ago
        No. But building the backend and development for other things aside iOS, YES. Is not the current fad "Full-Stack developers"? I'm one since I start this 17 years ago (way before it was called "Desperate developer do anything for food!" instead of be "full-stack" ;). Is not ideal to have more than 1 machine.
- Shivetya 10y ago
  however Apple should be ashamed that they still sell this in the configuration it has and worse for the price they want. No machine should be left so long without updates. I really don't understand why Apple does that, they should be embarrassed
  - toyg 10y ago
    > I really don't understand why Apple does that Margins. The more they can flog the same hardware, the higher the margins: you need less changes to the production chain (which are the real cost) and components get cheaper over time. Guess who's in charge of Apple since 2013? A production-chain guy.

mountaineer22 10y ago

Last year i7, 32gb ram. You install via USB. I seem to have to update my video card driver after an OS X update, but it takes less than 3 minutes. I built it figuring worse-case scenario, I can slap Linux or Windows on it, and it will still be good hardware. I spent more on the monitor than the system build. If you do, I recommend purchasing the PCI-E adapter for the Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD card to have native wifi+bluetooth. Very stable.

pritambaral 10y ago
Any indication anywhere of the software noticing it's not running on official Apple hardware?
- mountaineer22 10y ago
  Not yet. Here is an overview of the bootloader used, Clover. https://clover-wiki.zetam.org/Technical-Background https://clover-wiki.zetam.org/Technical-Background
- op00to 10y ago
  Apple can totally see what hardware is installed. FakeSMC, IIRC, uses a spoofed serial number for the hardware which can easily be detected. I assume sending hardware profiles are a part of using iCloud or other Apple services. It isn't a stretch for them to see what you're up to.
- izacus 10y ago
  1. iMessage App uses hardware serial and usually doesn't work on Hackintoshes without copying a serial from another working Mac. 2. DRM protected iTunes movies (the ones that don't work if you don't have a DRM capable monitor attached) won't play. Those are the only two issues with Hackintoshes that can't be fixed by buying right hardware.
  - erikbye 10y ago
    iMessage works just fine here, on two hackintosh systems, all I had to do was generate a unique serial, I did certainly not copy one from another Mac.

627467 10y ago

I7 (2014) with GTX780 on 16GB. Got 2x256GB SSD for each system, and works very well. Haven't got around to upgrade to Sierra as I suspect something may break.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

erikbye 10y ago

Yes. I have two running systems. https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7319000 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7319000 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7246385 https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/7246385 They are both equipped with GTX 970.

kitsunesoba 10y ago

Built one less than a month ago. i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, Samsung 840 EVO pilfered from an old laptop, 1TB HD pulled from a Dell Poweredge T20 before filling it with NAS drives, and a GTX 950 that will be upgraded as soon as OS X drivers for the latest gen AMD or Nvidia cards are available. The motherboard I selected has tons of ports available, including USB 3.1/TB 3, and I bought an exceptionally nice case, PSU, and CPU cooler for it. It's blazing fast for everything — my top of the line 2015 15" rMBP is nearly 2x slower at tasks like compiling large projects with Xcode. The whole build costed me less than $1k. The prevalence of hackintoshes is a direct result of a gaping hole existing in Apple's product line. Mac Pros are badly priced given their age and not everyone needs dual GPUs, but you don't have the option to reduce costs by dropping the second GPU if it's not needed. You can't opt for a more CPU/less GPU config either. The iMac is nice, but it has the reverse problem: its graphics are terribly weak for the display it drives and can never be upgraded. And of course there's the Mac Mini, which is little more than a low end headless 13" MacBook Pro, complete with the limitations of that model. There is no midrange Mac desktop that can be tailored to an individual's needs at a reasonable cost, and that's where hackintoshes come into the picture. If Apple wants to slow down hackintoshing dramatically all they have to do is release a tower akin to the old aluminum Mac Pros and start its pricing at $1500 - $2000. People will gladly pay the price for a real Mac as long as they feel like they're getting a machine that caters to their needs. It's mostly alienated Mac fans who hackintosh, not cheapskates.