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I am an app developer who was thinking of upgrading to the next M1 Mac mini coming out later this year. For my work, I pretty much need an Apple hardware. Howev

I am an app developer who was thinking of upgrading to the next M1 Mac mini coming out later this year. For my work, I pretty much need an Apple hardware. However after this whole privacy debacle, I have started looking into Hackintosh and whether I can build one to for building my apps. If anyone has experience with developing for iOS/MacOS on hackintosh, please let me know your experience.

gogopuppygogo 5y ago
You can build one. Lots of guides out there and compatibility lists for components. It’s going to be a science project though with only community support for an adversarial operating system. If you plan to use it for work then buy a Mac. It’s a tool for a job.
- beepboop43 5y ago
  running it virtually is also an option. I run macos in virtualbox for the times I need it (for me that's not daily) and have no issues with it
  - busymom0 5y ago
    Do you know if Xcode can run+build+submit apps on VM?
    - h4waii 5y ago
      If by chance you're doing React Native, Expo has a cloud build service I can highly recommend. There might be other build services for different languages.
techrat 5y ago
The privacy issues with apple pretty much lie within their software. Going hackintosh isn't going to move you further away from the issues you have.
- busymom0 5y ago
  I don't particularly need macOS for anything else except the app development work. Other stuff, I can get done on Ubuntu. I am looking into whether I can run MacOS in a VM on Ubuntu.
  - valparaiso 5y ago
    You can run macOS in VM on any Windows laptop/PC. Are you really a developer?
  - Synaesthesia 5y ago
    Hackintosh is pretty easy to do if you have compatible hardware.
lostlogin 5y ago
> For my work, I pretty much need an Apple hardware. How would going to a hackintosh and loading on the Apple software you are skeptical of help you?
- busymom0 5y ago
  Mostly because I don't particularly need macOS for anything else except the app development work. Other stuff, I can get done on Ubuntu. I am looking into whether I can run MacOS in a VM on Ubuntu.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    I do it in a VM in Esxi. It’s just for some minor chores so doesn’t need to have any performance, but it’s good.
Klonoar 5y ago
It would be arguably cheaper and more powerful to just buy an M1 Mini and shove it under your desk, then SSH onto it or whatever. With a Hackintosh, ask yourself if you really value your time. Couple hundred bucks for an M1 Mini feels very cheap in comparison.
gary17the 5y ago
> please let me know your experience You can run Linux as a host, macOS as a guest[1] under QEMU, buy a second GPU that is supported by Apple (e.g., Sapphire Radeon RX 580 Pulse 4GB) and pass that GPU in its entirety to the guest macOS. The same for one of the USB controllers on your motherboard. Effectively, you get native macOS performance under Linux. A bonus: you can use the iptables firewall with the FORWARD ruleset to control guest macOS network access. The overall setup process is involving, but nothing that an intermediate Linux user would not be able to handle. Please note that it might be actually illegal (?) in some (?) countries to run macOS software on non-Apple hardware. [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
88840-8855 5y ago
I would switch away if there was a good alternative with 1) nice design, 2) great UI, 3) nice UX, 4) good service. But unfortunately, there is nothing out there that "just works". And how can anything exist if Apple has the size of a small nation.
the8472 5y ago
Note that by doing app development you keep feeding the monster.

gogopuppygogo 5y ago

You can build one. Lots of guides out there and compatibility lists for components. It’s going to be a science project though with only community support for an adversarial operating system. If you plan to use it for work then buy a Mac. It’s a tool for a job.

beepboop43 5y ago
running it virtually is also an option. I run macos in virtualbox for the times I need it (for me that's not daily) and have no issues with it
- busymom0 5y ago
  Do you know if Xcode can run+build+submit apps on VM?
  - h4waii 5y ago
    If by chance you're doing React Native, Expo has a cloud build service I can highly recommend. There might be other build services for different languages.

techrat 5y ago

The privacy issues with apple pretty much lie within their software. Going hackintosh isn't going to move you further away from the issues you have.

busymom0 5y ago
I don't particularly need macOS for anything else except the app development work. Other stuff, I can get done on Ubuntu. I am looking into whether I can run MacOS in a VM on Ubuntu.
- valparaiso 5y ago
  You can run macOS in VM on any Windows laptop/PC. Are you really a developer?
- Synaesthesia 5y ago
  Hackintosh is pretty easy to do if you have compatible hardware.

lostlogin 5y ago

> For my work, I pretty much need an Apple hardware. How would going to a hackintosh and loading on the Apple software you are skeptical of help you?

busymom0 5y ago
Mostly because I don't particularly need macOS for anything else except the app development work. Other stuff, I can get done on Ubuntu. I am looking into whether I can run MacOS in a VM on Ubuntu.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  I do it in a VM in Esxi. It’s just for some minor chores so doesn’t need to have any performance, but it’s good.

Klonoar 5y ago

It would be arguably cheaper and more powerful to just buy an M1 Mini and shove it under your desk, then SSH onto it or whatever. With a Hackintosh, ask yourself if you really value your time. Couple hundred bucks for an M1 Mini feels very cheap in comparison.

gary17the 5y ago

> please let me know your experience You can run Linux as a host, macOS as a guest[1] under QEMU, buy a second GPU that is supported by Apple (e.g., Sapphire Radeon RX 580 Pulse 4GB) and pass that GPU in its entirety to the guest macOS. The same for one of the USB controllers on your motherboard. Effectively, you get native macOS performance under Linux. A bonus: you can use the iptables firewall with the FORWARD ruleset to control guest macOS network access. The overall setup process is involving, but nothing that an intermediate Linux user would not be able to handle. Please note that it might be actually illegal (?) in some (?) countries to run macOS software on non-Apple hardware. [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM

88840-8855 5y ago

I would switch away if there was a good alternative with 1) nice design, 2) great UI, 3) nice UX, 4) good service. But unfortunately, there is nothing out there that "just works". And how can anything exist if Apple has the size of a small nation.

the8472 5y ago

Note that by doing app development you keep feeding the monster.