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2015 BEST Hackintosh Laptop?

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BN2010

BN2010

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Greetings, just joined the forum! :)

So, over the holidays my MacBook Pro took a crap and blew up. It's over 6 years old, so it was a nice run. I was looking into getting a new machine and discovered the concept of "Hackintosh". I am super into the idea, and am curious as to which the best current laptop is to create a Hackintosh? The last updated list I have seen was from 2013, so wanted to find out if there's a current one?

Thanks!!
 
BN2010 said:
Greetings, just joined the forum! :)

So, over the holidays my MacBook Pro took a crap and blew up. It's over 6 years old, so it was a nice run. I was looking into getting a new machine and discovered the concept of "Hackintosh". I am super into the idea, and am curious as to which the best current laptop is to create a Hackintosh? The last updated list I have seen was from 2013, so wanted to find out if there's a current one?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

The best for you depends on what problems are insignificant for you. With each laptop there is something that won't work or won't work correctly.

Read the compatibility post: http://www.tonymacx86.com/laptop-compatibility/106791-laptop-compatibility.html

Then shop for potential laptops that meet the basic requirements. Then do research on the specific model you're considering.

If I had to pick out one that is easy to install and has the least problems, it would be the HP ProBook 4540s, although there are several others that come close in compatibility, but are not as easy to install.
 
BN2010 said:
Greetings, just joined the forum! :)

So, over the holidays my MacBook Pro took a crap and blew up. It's over 6 years old, so it was a nice run. I was looking into getting a new machine and discovered the concept of "Hackintosh". I am super into the idea, and am curious as to which the best current laptop is to create a Hackintosh? The last updated list I have seen was from 2013, so wanted to find out if there's a current one?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...


Sorry to tell you but there is none. Almost all new slick PC laptops with 4K displays and the goodness that blow Mac Book Pro in every way imaginable are simply not going to work with OSX because they all use Optimus now.

Unless you want to go with something like Sager 10 pound monster laptop that uses desktop level GPU graphics without Optimus technology.. you are going to have hard time finding any laptop on the market that will fit your requirements to replace Mac Book Pro.

The problem, as I already stated is "Optimus" technology relating to Intel chipset and new GTX cards. You can only use OSX with the integrated GPU and if you can't turn off IGD and run Nvidia card alone (in most cases there is no way to do that) you are out of luck. On most new laptops it isn't even possible to turn run discrete GPU (that's why most BIOSes removed the option) because the way Optimus (IGD + dedicated card) work is that the dedicated GPU is going through the IGD to send the signal to the monitor so when the less GPU intensive operations happen while you work Optimus switches discrete graphics on and off as needed without interrupting your experience and sends information back through IGD that's connected to the display.

I have been reading up for weeks now. From slick as hell new Dell 13.3" full frame 4K kick ass all aluminum laptop to this beauty http://www.aorus.com/x3plus.aspx to many many others.. none of them use a fully dedicated GPU and all use Optimus.

I looked at everything:

ASUS, ACER, Gigabyte, Sager, Dell, MSI (Ghost 4K series) Lenovo etc etc.. they all use Optimus. Only ones that don't are a few monster desktop replacement 17.3" laptops that way like almost 10 pounds from Sager and ASUS if I remember correctly.

Plus, all these new slick beautiful laptops are getting pricer now on the PC side. Though they'll offer amazing tech and displays and so on, they are all running around $2k.

Personally, I'm waiting for MBP refresh and I'll just get that (probably will be about 700-800 bucks more than PC variants).. . First time I will actually buy a Mac Book Pro over a PC hackintosh laptop (currently have ASUS G750JX GTX 770M 32gb of ram with 2 SSDs and 1TB storage) and I love it but it's heavy and very cumbersome and I need something thinner.
 
I happen to be in the market for just such a 10 pound laptop. Basically the issue is I desperately need an OSX laptop which can support 32GB of RAM. Do you have any suggestions about which configurations may be able to work?


Bozster said:
Sorry to tell you but there is none. Almost all new slick PC laptops with 4K displays and the goodness that blow Mac Book Pro in every way imaginable are simply not going to work with OSX because they all use Optimus now.

Unless you want to go with something like Sager 10 pound monster laptop that uses desktop level GPU graphics without Optimus technology.. you are going to have hard time finding any laptop on the market that will fit your requirements to replace Mac Book Pro.

The problem, as I already stated is "Optimus" technology relating to Intel chipset and new GTX cards. You can only use OSX with the integrated GPU and if you can't turn off IGD and run Nvidia card alone (in most cases there is no way to do that) you are out of luck. On most new laptops it isn't even possible to turn run discrete GPU (that's why most BIOSes removed the option) because the way Optimus (IGD + dedicated card) work is that the dedicated GPU is going through the IGD to send the signal to the monitor so when the less GPU intensive operations happen while you work Optimus switches discrete graphics on and off as needed without interrupting your experience and sends information back through IGD that's connected to the display.

I have been reading up for weeks now. From slick as hell new Dell 13.3" full frame 4K kick ass all aluminum laptop to this beauty http://www.aorus.com/x3plus.aspx to many many others.. none of them use a fully dedicated GPU and all use Optimus.

I looked at everything:

ASUS, ACER, Gigabyte, Sager, Dell, MSI (Ghost 4K series) Lenovo etc etc.. they all use Optimus. Only ones that don't are a few monster desktop replacement 17.3" laptops that way like almost 10 pounds from Sager and ASUS if I remember correctly.

Plus, all these new slick beautiful laptops are getting pricer now on the PC side. Though they'll offer amazing tech and displays and so on, they are all running around $2k.

Personally, I'm waiting for MBP refresh and I'll just get that (probably will be about 700-800 bucks more than PC variants).. . First time I will actually buy a Mac Book Pro over a PC hackintosh laptop (currently have ASUS G750JX GTX 770M 32gb of ram with 2 SSDs and 1TB storage) and I love it but it's heavy and very cumbersome and I need something thinner.
Click to expand...
 
Saabstory88 said:
I happen to be in the market for just such a 10 pound laptop. Basically the issue is I desperately need an OSX laptop which can support 32GB of RAM. Do you have any suggestions about which configurations may be able to work?
Click to expand...

Why would you want a 10# laptop? What are your needs and what devices do you need to have working?
 
I do very specialized work in the realm of architectural lighting. For my firm, I take the ideas, put them on drawings, create visualizations, do photometric work, and go into the field to service control systems. I currently have a late 2013 MBP non retina, maxed out. My work takes me to various locations where internet access is not practical, and I basically have to have our entire company dropbox synced at all times, which is close to 800 gigabytes. I already have the second drive mod.

I do about a third of my work at meetings at other offices. I often come in to a design review, and leave giving the client drawings or animations. I basically need a portable desktop, as my poor MBP can no longer keep up. I need to be able to run multiple screens, have BIM software (with 6gb IFC files), a windows VM, and various adobe CS items open simultaneously. 16 gb of ram is no longer sufficient, and I really need to move beyond 2TB of internal storage. We have $25,000+ plus worth of mac software, so buying a $5000 laptop to be able to keep using that investment is not a problem.

We are looking to pull the trigger in the next month. So our baseline:

32gb Ram
nVidia Quadro or GTX980 (pro's and cons to both, software dependant)
Greater than 3.0ghz single core speed for some of the single thread stuff we run
Matte display

The bottom line is, I need something with the performance of a iMac 5k, in a laptop, because architects get annoyed when you set up a desktop at a conference table.
 
Saabstory88 said:
I do very specialized work in the realm of architectural lighting. For my firm, I take the ideas, put them on drawings, create visualizations, do photometric work, and go into the field to service control systems. I currently have a late 2013 MBP non retina, maxed out. My work takes me to various locations where internet access is not practical, and I basically have to have our entire company dropbox synced at all times, which is close to 800 gigabytes. I already have the second drive mod.

I do about a third of my work at meetings at other offices. I often come in to a design review, and leave giving the client drawings or animations. I basically need a portable desktop, as my poor MBP can no longer keep up. I need to be able to run multiple screens, have BIM software (with 6gb IFC files), a windows VM, and various adobe CS items open simultaneously. 16 gb of ram is no longer sufficient, and I really need to move beyond 2TB of internal storage. We have $25,000+ plus worth of mac software, so buying a $5000 laptop to be able to keep using that investment is not a problem.

We are looking to pull the trigger in the next month. So our baseline:

32gb Ram
nVidia Quadro or GTX980 (pro's and cons to both, software dependant)
Greater than 3.0ghz single core speed for some of the single thread stuff we run
Matte display

The bottom line is, I need something with the performance of a iMac 5k, in a laptop, because architects get annoyed when you set up a desktop at a conference table.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind Nvidia in an Optimus (switched dual-GPU configuration Nvidia+Intel) cannot be used with OS X.

So... you'll want to search for a laptop with dedicated Nvidia. Such laptops are rare. Rare laptops are more difficult to hack as less people have attempted hacking them.

I have no need for powerful graphics, so always search for Intel integrated only.
 
I callled Sager today, and they do not use Optimus, and apparently have a very open bios. They also seem to have options for Wifi, bluetooth, and pretty much everything else internal. The whole thing is actually a desktop underneath from the looks of their literature.

Its a Sager NP9772-S we're looking at. We would be configuring the following, nothing stands out from my research as a red flag, but if anyone sees anything out of the ordinary:

i7-4790K Processor
Intel® Z97 Express Chipset
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 980M GPU or NVIDIA® Quadro™ K3100M (Still deciding)
Killer N1525 Wifi

 
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