- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2
- Motherboard
- HP ProBook 6470b
- CPU
- Core i7-2670QM
- Graphics
- Intel HD 3000
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
Success HP 6470b Hackintosh Yosemite
First of all, I GREATLY appreciate the intensely detailed work done by all you folks who set up all those kexts and installers. What a boatload of slogging through component details you must have done!
Forced by a SECOND blown GPU in my 17" 2012 macbook pro, I decided to abandon the Apple hardware platform while keeping as much of my environment and upgraded components as possible. After much research, I ended up on this very forum. Chose 6470b because it was dirt cheap on ebay ($340), had the same I7 quad core, and used the same type of RAM so I could migrate the 16g from the mac.
I followed the instructions very carefully and succeeded in setting up OS X and restored my Time Machine backup.
Here are a few things some of you may find interesting:
OSX Version: El Capitain = Fail. Yosemite = Success. Fortunately I had saved my Yosemite installer in a backup and started over with it. I was using Yosemite on the mac anyway.
Wireless/Bluetooth card replacement - Fail. Gave up on it. I ebayed a couple "hp OEM" cards as per the forums and sellers but the HP would not boot until I removed them and replaced the useless OEM card. The cards I tried are so cheap it is ridiculous to send them back as the postage costs more. No big deal, and not worth hacking at that price.
Bought a $5 bluetooth dongle that works perfectly for the magic mouse, but I miss wifi.
Ordered a wifi/bluetooth dongle to replace that so I will have both in one usb port. Should have done that in the first place. It arrives tomorrow. I had used Ubuntu on this HP for a bit and I can tell you the internal card's antenna is weak, so I recommend you get a good dongle and maybe even an antenna if you want decent distance and signal.
Graphics - HP screen = cheesy, HP display adapter = awesome. This box has the HP 3000. The Display output works perfectly with DVI and HDMI, and I can get some pretty insane resolutions on the external displays. The 6470b laptop screen is lousy. I might have gotten another compatible laptop had I known that, but the display adapter makes up for it. HDMI adapter was $5.80 and the DVID adapter was $2.99 shipped.
Windows - Oracle VirtualBox = Win. Parallels = Fail. I prefer not using dual boot. I used Parallells with the mac to run windows as a VM. The hp could run it, but parallels just could not add any extra cores. Fail. I also had Oracle VirtualBox on the mac, which works even better on the HP. Trouble was how to convert a parallels Windows 7 VM to vhd. I ended up not having to do that. There is a feature in some versions of Windows where you can export your windows environment to a .vhd or .vhdx file. VirtualBox can run .vhd files. Had I known this I would never have spent the $ on parallels. VirtualBox is free, and so is the windows export to .vhd! You can set up your ram, cores, shared folders, graphics acceleration, etc. It all works on the Hackintosh! So I can use my OS X while running windows at the same time and share files. My entire windows environment migrated intact, including installs of Office, Visual Studio, etc and all my files exactly as they were on the mac in parallels. Win. You might have to update a Microsoft license or two over the phone. I had to do that for Office 2013. They will ask you how many computers you have their software installed on. For the first migration to the hard drive from Parallels, I answered "two," (mac copy and HP hd copy) and then for the clone to the SSD I had to answer "three." After giving the correct answer, they gave me the key and I have office 2013 activated again.
Cloning - Clonezilla = win. I had installed a 512g SSD in the mac (Crucial M4), and the HP came with a 500g hard drive. I built the hackintosh on the hard drive while I kept my mac limping along with limited graphics until I was certain the hackintosh would work. I have a BlacX external drive. To migrate the hackintosh to the SSD, I put the M4 in the external drive connected via a SATA cable, booted from a CD with clonezilla, and followed the directions on the clonezilla site. I matched the 500g size to keep it simple. It was. Goodbye 12g of space, but the SSD booted first try and every try to Yosemite via Clover. You can clone to a larger drive; there are more steps.
Gains: SD card reader, USB 3.0 port, eSATA port (the BlacX has one too), separate VGA port and a GPU that DOESN'T TOAST!!! More cores to allocate to VMs (how can I get more than 4, but I do), plus the coolness of Apple OS on a PC box.
Losses: internal wireless/bluetooth, screen quality and size, speaker quality is almost useless.
This is one stout little machine. It fast boots in about 15 seconds. Yesterday I was smoothly running email and firefox in OS X, while running two 1-core 2g linux VMs and my Windows VM with 2 cores and 6 gig.
I am back in business.
First of all, I GREATLY appreciate the intensely detailed work done by all you folks who set up all those kexts and installers. What a boatload of slogging through component details you must have done!
Forced by a SECOND blown GPU in my 17" 2012 macbook pro, I decided to abandon the Apple hardware platform while keeping as much of my environment and upgraded components as possible. After much research, I ended up on this very forum. Chose 6470b because it was dirt cheap on ebay ($340), had the same I7 quad core, and used the same type of RAM so I could migrate the 16g from the mac.
I followed the instructions very carefully and succeeded in setting up OS X and restored my Time Machine backup.
Here are a few things some of you may find interesting:
OSX Version: El Capitain = Fail. Yosemite = Success. Fortunately I had saved my Yosemite installer in a backup and started over with it. I was using Yosemite on the mac anyway.
Wireless/Bluetooth card replacement - Fail. Gave up on it. I ebayed a couple "hp OEM" cards as per the forums and sellers but the HP would not boot until I removed them and replaced the useless OEM card. The cards I tried are so cheap it is ridiculous to send them back as the postage costs more. No big deal, and not worth hacking at that price.
Bought a $5 bluetooth dongle that works perfectly for the magic mouse, but I miss wifi.
Ordered a wifi/bluetooth dongle to replace that so I will have both in one usb port. Should have done that in the first place. It arrives tomorrow. I had used Ubuntu on this HP for a bit and I can tell you the internal card's antenna is weak, so I recommend you get a good dongle and maybe even an antenna if you want decent distance and signal.
Graphics - HP screen = cheesy, HP display adapter = awesome. This box has the HP 3000. The Display output works perfectly with DVI and HDMI, and I can get some pretty insane resolutions on the external displays. The 6470b laptop screen is lousy. I might have gotten another compatible laptop had I known that, but the display adapter makes up for it. HDMI adapter was $5.80 and the DVID adapter was $2.99 shipped.
Windows - Oracle VirtualBox = Win. Parallels = Fail. I prefer not using dual boot. I used Parallells with the mac to run windows as a VM. The hp could run it, but parallels just could not add any extra cores. Fail. I also had Oracle VirtualBox on the mac, which works even better on the HP. Trouble was how to convert a parallels Windows 7 VM to vhd. I ended up not having to do that. There is a feature in some versions of Windows where you can export your windows environment to a .vhd or .vhdx file. VirtualBox can run .vhd files. Had I known this I would never have spent the $ on parallels. VirtualBox is free, and so is the windows export to .vhd! You can set up your ram, cores, shared folders, graphics acceleration, etc. It all works on the Hackintosh! So I can use my OS X while running windows at the same time and share files. My entire windows environment migrated intact, including installs of Office, Visual Studio, etc and all my files exactly as they were on the mac in parallels. Win. You might have to update a Microsoft license or two over the phone. I had to do that for Office 2013. They will ask you how many computers you have their software installed on. For the first migration to the hard drive from Parallels, I answered "two," (mac copy and HP hd copy) and then for the clone to the SSD I had to answer "three." After giving the correct answer, they gave me the key and I have office 2013 activated again.
Cloning - Clonezilla = win. I had installed a 512g SSD in the mac (Crucial M4), and the HP came with a 500g hard drive. I built the hackintosh on the hard drive while I kept my mac limping along with limited graphics until I was certain the hackintosh would work. I have a BlacX external drive. To migrate the hackintosh to the SSD, I put the M4 in the external drive connected via a SATA cable, booted from a CD with clonezilla, and followed the directions on the clonezilla site. I matched the 500g size to keep it simple. It was. Goodbye 12g of space, but the SSD booted first try and every try to Yosemite via Clover. You can clone to a larger drive; there are more steps.
Gains: SD card reader, USB 3.0 port, eSATA port (the BlacX has one too), separate VGA port and a GPU that DOESN'T TOAST!!! More cores to allocate to VMs (how can I get more than 4, but I do), plus the coolness of Apple OS on a PC box.
Losses: internal wireless/bluetooth, screen quality and size, speaker quality is almost useless.
This is one stout little machine. It fast boots in about 15 seconds. Yesterday I was smoothly running email and firefox in OS X, while running two 1-core 2g linux VMs and my Windows VM with 2 cores and 6 gig.
I am back in business.
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