7 ms·

Dell E7440 and E7240 Hackintosh

79 points by j0hann 7y ago

mlevental 7y ago
hubris https://i.imgur.com/z3E3rLY.png https://i.imgur.com/z3E3rLY.png The problem with all of these builds is you're damning yourself to working on top shifting sands and either committing yourself to rooting around in Mac OS plumbing (which I'm sure isn't documented well or even wholly exposed) or hoping the community patches things.
- j0hann 7y ago
  wifi seems to the major issue this hackintosh has
  - sparkling 7y ago
    On laptops: yes. On desktops there are plenty of cheap PCI-E cards available... or USB dongles.
    - j0hann 7y ago
      true
- acomjean 7y ago
  I had the same issue with my hacintosh. (Snow leopard vintage). It worked great, was fast. But I lived in fear that some update would break it. I switched it over to linux and gave it a friend after after a couple years service. I did like the bang for the buck.
- ultrarunner 7y ago
  This used to be the case, and still is for laptop builds. For desktops, things are far more standardized now and Apple's hardware isn't much different than what is commercially available. A Z370/390 chipset with 7th-9th generation i5 or i7 processor coupled with AMD graphics and Broadcom wireless is pretty vanilla. The 7700k iMacs will be supported for a long time, so I have pretty high confidence that something with nearly identical hardware will similarly not break.
  - xenospn 7y ago
    I'm actually somewhat surprised macOS does not check for the existence of a T2 chip as a precondition.
    - daenney 7y ago
      How would that work for all the hardware Apple has released and still supports that predate the T2? For reference, the upcoming macOS Catalina still supports the following hardware: MacBook Pro (mid 2012 and newer) MacBook Air (mid 2012 and newer) MacBook (early 2015 and later) iMac (late 2012 or newer) iMac Pro (2017 or newer) Mac Pro (late 2013 or newer) Mac Mini (late 2012 or newer) Apple T1 was introduced in 2016, T2 started showing up with the iMac Pro in 2017, the rest of the lineup got it in the 2018 refresh.
      - damnyou 7y ago
        You're right, but at some point support will be dropped for the older Macs and an Apple proprietary security chip will be made mandatory. DRM will kill the Hackintosh dream. How sad.
    - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
      I expect that will happen once all the supported devices have a T2. That is probably some way off though as they are still selling new hardware without it, for example the recently updated iMacs.
- tracker1 7y ago
  Been running high sierra on a hackintosh for a couple years now. Of course, even my actual macbook is also on nvidia graphics (mid-2014), so next desktop will just jump over to Linux since Apple won't let Nvidia get drivers out.
  - ryuukk_ 7y ago
    correction: NVIDIA refuse to allocate resources to support Metal 2 Since macOS shell now requires Metal 2, it makes even installing old version of the driver impossible so yeah the bad guy is your lazy daddy NVIDIA
- p1necone 7y ago
  I'll take that over the absurd amount of money I'd have to otherwise pay for a mac system. All so that they will graciously allow me to to develop software for their other, totally unrelated mobile OS.
  - jki275 7y ago
    OSX/MacOS and iOS are the same operating system. They look different because they have different gui layers, but are otherwise the same.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
yborg 7y ago
Nice packaged solution, if your problem is that you need to run macOS on a five year old midrange Dell notebook. If you are just looking for a cheap macOS solution, 2012 Minis seems to go for around $250 on eBay ...
- t34543 7y ago
  The next macOS release will probably be incompatible with 2012 minis.
  - tinus_hn 7y ago
    All MacOS releases are incompatible with all Dell laptops.
    - diffeomorphism 7y ago
      Dumb question, but can you force the install of newer than supported macOS versions on unsupported apple hardware? Otherwise, these laptops seem more compatible, just not officially blessed to be so.
      - liquid9 7y ago
        Yup you can, just need to make an installer drive. There's a tool for macOS that does this for you.
  - miles 7y ago
    It's compatible: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/03/macos-catalina-compatibility/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/03/macos-catalina-compatib...
- sam_lowry_ 7y ago
  7440 is not midrange. It's one of the best notebooks until now. Excellent FHD screen, docking port, trackpoint, 3 buttons under the touchpad and great Linux support. The only problem is the rubber band around the screen detaching after a few years.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
scblock 7y ago
Interesting, but as a daily user of one of these Dell laptops, I would never do this. Its some of the worst hardware I've ever had the misfortune to use.
- wolph 7y ago
  You've obviously never tried an apple laptop. Over the years nearly all of the components of my 2012 mbp retina have been replaced several times. The only things that are still original are the ssd and the bottom plate. Motherboard issues within a year, weak hinges, battery failing within 2 years, power cables failing every 9 months. In all my years of using laptops (15 years before I got the apple) I've never had a failing power cable, until I tried Apple cables.
  - McAtNite 7y ago
    For sake of comparison I also have a retina 2012 MPB, and it’s been rock solid. Aside from one OS reinstall for AFS I’ve never had any issues.
    - wolph 7y ago
      Glad to hear that there are people not plagued with the issues I've had. Perhaps I've been very unlucky but even though I've loved using the laptop, the amount of hardware issues I've had made me want to go back to my thinkpads before. Not saying thinkpads are perfect, but at least they mostly favor quality over design.
- DanBC 7y ago
  Wait what? The 7440 is a lovely laptop. What don't you like about it?
yumraj 7y ago
The one issue I've always had with Hackintosh, is that while the main OS is from Apple it invariably requires using some 3rd party bootloaders, kexts and other files. And, this to me always raises the issue of security and whether they contain, or can contain, any backdoors/malwares. Part of it could be my paranioa, but I never got a good answer to satisfy me.
- burtonator 7y ago
  I put in some malware in kext directly targeting anyone named yumraj. /evilgrin
- the8472 7y ago
  How is that all that different from any other software you download? With 100s of dependencies any one of them could be malicious and just wait for the next privilege escalation attack and achieve the same persistence level as a malicious kernel module.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - rwmj 7y ago
    The major Linux distros have processes in place to both filter what goes in and handle security issues when they happen. If you have specific concerns then name them, but downloading a Fedora or Debian install is in no way comparable to installing binaries from random filesharing websites.
    - the8472 7y ago
      Do you only run software available in distro packages?
      - rwmj 7y ago
        Given that I'm a Fedora packager, yes, or else software which I wrote myself.
brightball 7y ago
Honestly, after 2 years on Ubuntu following a decade on OSX...all I want is to be able to run OmniGraffle on Ubuntu. Literally the only thing I miss.
hbcondo714 7y ago
When I was developing my first iOS app and was required by Apple to use a Mac to publish it to the Apple App Store, I resorted to installing macOS on a VM[1] rather than using a physical Mac. There is minimal configuration and it ran smoothly on my Windows PC laptop that had 16GB ram where 8GB was allocated to the macOS VM. [1] https://techsviewer.com/how-to-create-a-macos-catalina-virtual-image-for-virtualbox-and-vmware https://techsviewer.com/how-to-create-a-macos-catalina-virtu...
lelf 7y ago
btw there’s quite good subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh
sys_64738 7y ago
The finicky bits of a Hackintosh were always the trackpad support, wifi card, and longevity of the battery. I tried a hackintosh for a year but it felt like I was always tinkering with the config like you do/did with Linux installs.
- GordonS 7y ago
  I have Windows running on a MVP with Bootcamp - the track pad is horrible to the point of being unusable! When you tap/click, nothing happens until you move the cursor! I swear Apple have done this on purpose... If anyone has any tips on how to stop carrying a USB mouse and USB-C adapter around by actually making the track pad bearable, please do share.

79 points by j0hann 7y ago

hubris https://i.imgur.com/z3E3rLY.png https://i.imgur.com/z3E3rLY.png The problem with all of these builds is you're damning yourself to working on top shifting sands and either committing yourself to rooting around in Mac OS plumbing (which I'm sure isn't documented well or even wholly exposed) or hoping the community patches things.

j0hann 7y ago
wifi seems to the major issue this hackintosh has
- sparkling 7y ago
  On laptops: yes. On desktops there are plenty of cheap PCI-E cards available... or USB dongles.
  - j0hann 7y ago
    true
acomjean 7y ago
I had the same issue with my hacintosh. (Snow leopard vintage). It worked great, was fast. But I lived in fear that some update would break it. I switched it over to linux and gave it a friend after after a couple years service. I did like the bang for the buck.
ultrarunner 7y ago
This used to be the case, and still is for laptop builds. For desktops, things are far more standardized now and Apple's hardware isn't much different than what is commercially available. A Z370/390 chipset with 7th-9th generation i5 or i7 processor coupled with AMD graphics and Broadcom wireless is pretty vanilla. The 7700k iMacs will be supported for a long time, so I have pretty high confidence that something with nearly identical hardware will similarly not break.
- xenospn 7y ago
  I'm actually somewhat surprised macOS does not check for the existence of a T2 chip as a precondition.
  - daenney 7y ago
    How would that work for all the hardware Apple has released and still supports that predate the T2? For reference, the upcoming macOS Catalina still supports the following hardware: MacBook Pro (mid 2012 and newer) MacBook Air (mid 2012 and newer) MacBook (early 2015 and later) iMac (late 2012 or newer) iMac Pro (2017 or newer) Mac Pro (late 2013 or newer) Mac Mini (late 2012 or newer) Apple T1 was introduced in 2016, T2 started showing up with the iMac Pro in 2017, the rest of the lineup got it in the 2018 refresh.
    - damnyou 7y ago
      You're right, but at some point support will be dropped for the older Macs and an Apple proprietary security chip will be made mandatory. DRM will kill the Hackintosh dream. How sad.
  - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
    I expect that will happen once all the supported devices have a T2. That is probably some way off though as they are still selling new hardware without it, for example the recently updated iMacs.
tracker1 7y ago
Been running high sierra on a hackintosh for a couple years now. Of course, even my actual macbook is also on nvidia graphics (mid-2014), so next desktop will just jump over to Linux since Apple won't let Nvidia get drivers out.
- ryuukk_ 7y ago
  correction: NVIDIA refuse to allocate resources to support Metal 2 Since macOS shell now requires Metal 2, it makes even installing old version of the driver impossible so yeah the bad guy is your lazy daddy NVIDIA
p1necone 7y ago
I'll take that over the absurd amount of money I'd have to otherwise pay for a mac system. All so that they will graciously allow me to to develop software for their other, totally unrelated mobile OS.
- jki275 7y ago
  OSX/MacOS and iOS are the same operating system. They look different because they have different gui layers, but are otherwise the same.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

yborg 7y ago

Nice packaged solution, if your problem is that you need to run macOS on a five year old midrange Dell notebook. If you are just looking for a cheap macOS solution, 2012 Minis seems to go for around $250 on eBay ...

t34543 7y ago
The next macOS release will probably be incompatible with 2012 minis.
- tinus_hn 7y ago
  All MacOS releases are incompatible with all Dell laptops.
  - diffeomorphism 7y ago
    Dumb question, but can you force the install of newer than supported macOS versions on unsupported apple hardware? Otherwise, these laptops seem more compatible, just not officially blessed to be so.
    - liquid9 7y ago
      Yup you can, just need to make an installer drive. There's a tool for macOS that does this for you.
- miles 7y ago
  It's compatible: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/03/macos-catalina-compatibility/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/03/macos-catalina-compatib...
sam_lowry_ 7y ago
7440 is not midrange. It's one of the best notebooks until now. Excellent FHD screen, docking port, trackpoint, 3 buttons under the touchpad and great Linux support. The only problem is the rubber band around the screen detaching after a few years.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

scblock 7y ago

Interesting, but as a daily user of one of these Dell laptops, I would never do this. Its some of the worst hardware I've ever had the misfortune to use.

wolph 7y ago
You've obviously never tried an apple laptop. Over the years nearly all of the components of my 2012 mbp retina have been replaced several times. The only things that are still original are the ssd and the bottom plate. Motherboard issues within a year, weak hinges, battery failing within 2 years, power cables failing every 9 months. In all my years of using laptops (15 years before I got the apple) I've never had a failing power cable, until I tried Apple cables.
- McAtNite 7y ago
  For sake of comparison I also have a retina 2012 MPB, and it’s been rock solid. Aside from one OS reinstall for AFS I’ve never had any issues.
  - wolph 7y ago
    Glad to hear that there are people not plagued with the issues I've had. Perhaps I've been very unlucky but even though I've loved using the laptop, the amount of hardware issues I've had made me want to go back to my thinkpads before. Not saying thinkpads are perfect, but at least they mostly favor quality over design.
DanBC 7y ago
Wait what? The 7440 is a lovely laptop. What don't you like about it?

yumraj 7y ago

The one issue I've always had with Hackintosh, is that while the main OS is from Apple it invariably requires using some 3rd party bootloaders, kexts and other files. And, this to me always raises the issue of security and whether they contain, or can contain, any backdoors/malwares. Part of it could be my paranioa, but I never got a good answer to satisfy me.

burtonator 7y ago
I put in some malware in kext directly targeting anyone named yumraj. /evilgrin
the8472 7y ago
How is that all that different from any other software you download? With 100s of dependencies any one of them could be malicious and just wait for the next privilege escalation attack and achieve the same persistence level as a malicious kernel module.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- rwmj 7y ago
  The major Linux distros have processes in place to both filter what goes in and handle security issues when they happen. If you have specific concerns then name them, but downloading a Fedora or Debian install is in no way comparable to installing binaries from random filesharing websites.
  - the8472 7y ago
    Do you only run software available in distro packages?
    - rwmj 7y ago
      Given that I'm a Fedora packager, yes, or else software which I wrote myself.

brightball 7y ago

Honestly, after 2 years on Ubuntu following a decade on OSX...all I want is to be able to run OmniGraffle on Ubuntu. Literally the only thing I miss.

hbcondo714 7y ago

When I was developing my first iOS app and was required by Apple to use a Mac to publish it to the Apple App Store, I resorted to installing macOS on a VM[1] rather than using a physical Mac. There is minimal configuration and it ran smoothly on my Windows PC laptop that had 16GB ram where 8GB was allocated to the macOS VM. [1] https://techsviewer.com/how-to-create-a-macos-catalina-virtual-image-for-virtualbox-and-vmware https://techsviewer.com/how-to-create-a-macos-catalina-virtu...

lelf 7y ago

btw there’s quite good subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh

sys_64738 7y ago

The finicky bits of a Hackintosh were always the trackpad support, wifi card, and longevity of the battery. I tried a hackintosh for a year but it felt like I was always tinkering with the config like you do/did with Linux installs.

GordonS 7y ago
I have Windows running on a MVP with Bootcamp - the track pad is horrible to the point of being unusable! When you tap/click, nothing happens until you move the cursor! I swear Apple have done this on purpose... If anyone has any tips on how to stop carrying a USB mouse and USB-C adapter around by actually making the track pad bearable, please do share.