Future of Hackies...?

[Cerberus73]

I honestly don't know what the future holds, and exactly for how long. But I have not long finished building a Z690, i9-12900K based system, everything works that should be working TB4, Handoff, facetime, etc. As its not exactly a hardware spec apple themselves used, hell its 2 generations beyond any Intel based system. I kinda feel on the macOS side it will never fully utilize the hardware.

On that note i got looking at my forlorn former system, which i robbed out some parts for to put in the new machine. such as the WiFi adapter and card, Blue Ray burner etc. so i went and picked up a NOS i7 7700k (it has a i5 6600k in there) the board is a Gigabyte Z170X UD5 TH so onboard thunderbolt, i had a couple of Kingston A400 480gb SATA III M.2 drives i bought cheap a while back, and a pair of Seagate 2tb Baracuddas, the case still had its PowerColor RX 5500 XT 8gb. and now I've picked up another adapter to fit in a BCM943602CS Airport card.and a generic Chinese made SATA/NVMe PCIe x4 adapter, which i know works in MacOS as well as Windows. 32gb Crucial DDR4 2133 ram. This will bring it damn near bring it to 27" 2018 iMac specs. just with a better GPU, slightly faster ram, and more storage.all in i think ive ploughed in another $250 (£200 to us folks in the UK) to upgrade what i had, and replace the parts i robbed for my main system. I think because its so close in spec to what apple was putting out to just recently that it will have at least 2 more versions of MacOS beyond Monterey, and be far more compatible hardware wise compared to my new machine that ill get the best from the particular set of hardware.

As much as i love the speed of my new build. I think the 10th gen is really the high point of hackintoshing, as anything after is a law of diminishing returns, the hardware is expensive, and you will never really be taking full advantage of it. In windows 11 i can feel its just that little bit snappier than when im on MacOS, ive ran geekbench on both sides, and the windows setup give a fair difference in the scores, for sure MacOS is still showing just under 14,000 but windows is over 2000 points above, its also a DDR4 board so this is also a slight bottleneck i guess.

 

[EVILGENIUS]

There are still some unsupported Builds which works like a charm, thanks to the smart people of the communities.
Just because Apple will stop the support of x86, it doesn't mean that you can't use your Hackintosh anymore...
Most Software companies I use still support Software from 5 Years ago and some of them even didn't release an Monterey Version...

Of course I can understand that some people ask themselves how things will go on.

Its sad to see something like this but what can we do ? Life goes on.
Sooner or later maybe we will find a new native hackintosh way.
Who knows, I hope that the communities won't die after the support stops.

Personally I will keep some of my workstation builds.
Some gear is very high priced and some of them you can't even buy anymore without paying double/triple the price.

 

[bobachef]

It's coming to an end, though, I guess it really depends on what you're using a hackintosh for. If you're running it for work purposes, the only thing that'll matter is how long the developers keep up with Intel-binary support. Just a few examples... First Intel mac was released January 2006 (Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). Last PowerPC mac was the PowerMac G5 that was discontinued in August 2006. Last supported Mac OS at that time for PowerPC was Leopard (10.5 released in October 2007 and major update releases for that kept up until August 2009, but there might have been security fixes that came after, though).

First Adobe Intel-release was April 2007 (Adobe CS3), final PowerPC support was Adobe CS4 in October 2008 (and it should be noted that not all of the CS4 apps had PowerPC support like Premiere). CS5 came out in April 2010 which effectively ended any development for them on PowerPC. So in that space, it's a 3 year window at best for the previous platform.

Avid, a video editing mainstay...first Intel binary was March 2007, they didn't make a universal binary release, it was Intel only. No future feature releases for PowerPC (I think they still did basic bug fix update releases on the existing PowerPC version, though).

Apple Final Cut Studio saw its first universal binary in March 2006. Last official PowerPC support was with Final Cut Studio 2. Some were able to get the last Studio release in 2009 (FCS3) to work on a PowerPC, but that was totally unofficial and not everyone was able to get it working.

Microsoft only released one universal binary of Office (2008). When support for that ended, that ended their PowerPC development (next release of Office for Mac was 2011). So that's about a 3 year window of support like Adobe for the previous platform.

I work in multimedia, video specifically so that's what my interest is in. Maybe it saw longer support in other areas that I'm not familiar with. But as long as you're able to use it for what you need, that's really all that matters. Myself I'll try and hold off Apple silicon as long as possible. FCP will be the determining factor for me.

 

[thedocbwarren]

It's coming to an end, though, I guess it really depends on what you're using a hackintosh for. If you're running it for work purposes, the only thing that'll matter is how long the developers keep up with Intel-binary support. Just a few examples... First Intel mac was released January 2006 (Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). Last PowerPC mac was the PowerMac G5 that was discontinued in August 2006. Last supported Mac OS at that time for PowerPC was Leopard (10.5 released in October 2007 and major update releases for that kept up until August 2009, but there might have been security fixes that came after, though).

First Adobe Intel-release was April 2007 (Adobe CS3), final PowerPC support was Adobe CS4 in October 2008 (and it should be noted that not all of the CS4 apps had PowerPC support like Premiere). CS5 came out in April 2010 which effectively ended any development for them on PowerPC. So in that space, it's a 3 year window at best for the previous platform.

Avid, a video editing mainstay...first Intel binary was March 2007, they didn't make a universal binary release, it was Intel only. No future feature releases for PowerPC (I think they still did basic bug fix update releases on the existing PowerPC version, though).

Apple Final Cut Studio saw its first universal binary in March 2006. Last official PowerPC support was with Final Cut Studio 2. Some were able to get the last Studio release in 2009 (FCS3) to work on a PowerPC, but that was totally unofficial and not everyone was able to get it working.

Microsoft only released one universal binary of Office (2008). When support for that ended, that ended their PowerPC development (next release of Office for Mac was 2011). So that's about a 3 year window of support like Adobe for the previous platform.

I work in multimedia, video specifically so that's what my interest is in. Maybe it saw longer support in other areas that I'm not familiar with. But as long as you're able to use it for what you need, that's really all that matters. Myself I'll try and hold off Apple silicon as long as possible. FCP will be the determining factor for me.

Unless it's a cost situation, for your work the Apple Studio Macs are quite amazing. Not sure why you'd hold off.

 

[bobachef]

Unless it's a cost situation, for your work the Apple Studio Macs are quite amazing. Not sure why you'd hold off.

Cause I'm cheap, LOL. My workplace has Macs, but I wanted to go the cheapest possible route with a hackintosh at home in case I needed to take any work home with me, which has proved to be necessary thanks to the pandemic. And it looks like more importantly, we're at least getting one more os as the new Ventura will be compatible with some of the later Intel mac's. So that's some good news!

 

[richfiles]

The last version of Mac OS X the 2005 Power Mac G5 got was Leopard which was released in 2007. That's 2 years.

I felt that... Bought a used PowerMac G5 in 2007, cause the new Intels were out of my price range at the time... I figured there would be *some* support, but the PPC was dropped like a sack of rocks once Apple gave up on it.

Yeah but support went on until July 2011 for rosetta with the intro of OSX Lion, and the first fully intel only OSX was Snow Leopard, released in Aug 2008, so you can either look at it as 3-3.5yrs... or 6yrs if you count end of rosetta support.. so my timeframe isnt too far out.. and remember for now they are still selling Intel based macs.. the last transition saw the end of PPC sales in 2005, and support in 2011. Itunes was still PPC and Intel up till 2012, and apple didnt obsolete the hardware officially until 2013.

The thing is, Rosetta is irrelevant to supporting the old hardware. Rosetta simply allowed older PPC apps to run on the newer, and still updated, Intel machines back then... If you ran a PPC machine, your last Major OS update was 2007, and your relevance quickly faded as more and more apps stopped updating or even supporting PPC binaries. Having lived with a PowerMac G5 from 2007 to 2013, during the worst part of the 2008-09 recession, and poor income despite (at one point) 3 jobs... Life was not fun with a PPC in 2012. I built my first Hackintosh in 2013, when income at job number three picked up. That was a life changer.

I expect one more good Hackintosh, and then done... When all is said and done, once the tech is obsoleted, I might do a Mojave install to support legacy 32-bit Mac OS X apps... Just as a retro machine. I dunno. I find Apple's regression to bad monitor support to be infuriating. I know even the lowest spec Mac Mini would blow away anything I currently own, and yet I am hesitant to bother, thanks to the fact that it only supports two displays natively! Just adding support for a third display nearly doubles the price! Add the Apple tax to the RAM and NVMe... Ugh... It's infuriating! Apple has gone from having the simplest multi-monitor support to having the most lackluster! My current setup is three main monitors, a TV, and a utility monitor. Not even the expensive Mac Mini can handle that! Even if I replace the three main monitors with a 5K ultrawide, I'd still need the more expensive M2 whatever to support that, along with the TV and the utility monitor... I'd still be losing horizontal pixels! Apple is at a point where Apple shenanigans are the only reason I haven't just switched to real Apple hardware... The more things change, the more things seem the same...

Maybe in 2-3 years Apple's teething pains will be over, and they won't have such ABYSMAL multi-monitor support over Thunderbolt anymore... It's embarrassing that third party thunderbolt docks have to advertise that only Windows (and presumably Linux) machines will support different unique outputs on dual and triple output docks, and that Macs are limited by hardware to only mirror everything. It's absurd that to get more monitors effectively requires third party CPU intensive display over USB standards

For the time being, Apple's de-evolution of multi-monitor capability is still a VERY compelling reason to stick with a Hackintosh. I miss the era where you could just buy a Mac that supported 6 monitors in a retail configuration. I hate that Apple and Nvidia will likely never resolve their feud. It's a shame that AMD's new offering might not ever see support, thanks to the diminishing relevance of Intel on the Mac platform. I had high hopes that the M2 would introduce eGPU support... I presume this is a limitation of the silicon, as prior Mac OS versions seemed to have added support for it. It's really a shame Apple won't let us add external GPUs over Thunderbolt... for one thing, it would mean continued driver support as new cards are released. Every Apple Silicon generation that goes by without PCIe or eGPU over Thunderbolt support makes me worry about GPU drivers as well.


................


I gave in...
Bought a Mac Studio, used...


M1 Max, 32GB RAM, 512GB storage... Snagged it for a price that made the extra monitor support worth the premium over a Mini with the M2 Pro... I'd set up symbolic links to extend my old Hackintosh's main volume to utilize space on secondary volumes, and I'll do the same here to mitigate this thing's limited 512GB storage. I got a small hub that has the same footprint as the Mini/Studio, and has a few extra ports I can use, along with space for a 2.5 inch drive and an M.2 drive. I'll set up one drive for media, probably, and the other for downloads, email, some apps, etc... Anything I think could balloon up in size. I snagged a 49" ultrawide monitor with it, and I'll be able to go fullscreen with my Mac, PC (10th Gen i9-10900K, 64GB, AMD Radeon VII, two 2TB M.2 drives), or split the screen and display both at the same time. The Studio will also be connected to a utility monitor and a TV.

I do want to build a new PC, but I think I wanna see what happens after 13th Gen/Ryzen 7, and see if that's something worth building. Maybe the 10th gen will be reborn as a Mohave build? Something for retro Intel mac stuff? Probably will be my final Hackintosh, if I even go that route... I might honestly just be done. I don't know... I honestly just don't even know anymore...

I still can't believe "I'm considering a Mini" ended in "I bought a Studio"...

M1/M2/M? remains uncharted territory for us Hackintosh enthusiasts...

 

[MusicMan]

I've been Hackintoshing for 13 years, and have (mostly) loved it.

But now that Apple is finally offering a computer with the magical combo of 1. competitive single-thread performance (not Xeon) and 2. lets me use my own monitor (not iMac), I will finally be switching to a Mac Studio for my next rig. I've been waiting for this forever.

That said, my current rig is doing well (except for some random GPURestarts that started this week... I won't miss that) so I'm not in a huge rush... waiting for the M3 Mac Studio.

 

[bazzevo]

When

I'd say that Intel support will be in macOS 13 for sure. They still sell two Intel Macs today and they won't cut them off that quickly. After that who knows. We still don't have the M1/2 Mac Pro and they still sell a 6 core Intel Mac mini.

If Tim Cook decides he wants to keep supporting older Mac models longer he could do that. If he wants to sell M series Macs in greater volumes he'll cut off Intel Macs sooner rather than later. They still make services revenue off of their huge Intel Mac base of customers so it's possible they cut them some more slack. Anyone who bought the 2020 iMac 27" model in latter 2020 would be shocked if support ended with Monterey.

that day comes and Apple do not make any intel based macs, they will support older apple products that are intel for 5 years. That is Apples policy and has been for years. I see support for a while still yet.

 

[pastrychef]

When

that day comes and Apple do not make any intel based macs, they will support older apple products that are intel for 5 years. That is Apples policy and has been for years. I see support for a while still yet.

The Intel based MacBook4,1 and MacBook4,2 were released in February 2008. They only got two major OS X releases, Snow Leopard and Lion. Lion was released on July 2011. The last release of Lion was released on October 2012. Way, way short of 5 years.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_(2006–2012)

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_version_history

 

[relaxman]

I want to thank everybody here for all the years of building hackintoshes. I had about 3 builds in the last 8 years which were used as my main setup.

Today I received my MacBook Pro with the M3 Max and 48GB and just had my first run in Logic Pro. The performance is absolutely out of this world and it feels surreal to have this performance on a laptop.

The hacking times are coming to an end, and my laptop will replace the hackintosh in my studio.

It’s time for a new chapter ahead, I will surely remember this fantastic community with all these amazing people helping each other out!