Newegg Sale on the HP 8300 SFF with 8GB ram + 500 GB HDD
For anyone on a really tight budget that wants to have a Catalina hackintosh. Newegg is selling these at a very low price.
You can convert the Win7 pro license to 10 Pro by installing Win10 Pro and then entering the Win7 Pro product key. If you don't have an SSD for Catalina I'd suggest that you get one (240GB or larger). Catalina uses the APFS file system only and it doesn't run well on old mechanical drives. Very slow performance. Windows 10 runs ok on mechanical drives so you can keep 10 on that longer term. Do the Win10 upgrade first, flash your BIOS and then remove that drive. Connect your SSD and install Catalina to your SSD by following the guide in post #1.
https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-001E-3JGD6?Description=HP%20Elite%208300%20SFF&cm_re=HP_Elite_8300_SFF-_-9SIA6A3A2P3526-_-Product
Here's a current review from a buyer on newegg.
You will need a compatible graphics card too. The Nvidia GT 710 works OOB and is fully supported in Mojave/Catalina.
You can pick up an MSI 1GB version (refurbished) for $30 dollars shipped from Newegg right now. Supports 4K televisions via the HDMI 2.0 output. The refresh rate will only be 30 Hz though.
Buy Refurbished: MSI GeForce GT 710 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Video Card MSI-GT7101GD3HLP with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!
www.newegg.com
The total cost for your Catalina capable PC is then
126 USD. You've always got room for plenty of upgrades to the CPU ram and graphics later on if you need more performance. There will also be a couple of PCIe slots open for add in cards too. The best price you can get on a used 2012 Mac mini capable of running Catalina is $200. Even then you're stuck with only HD4000 graphics and a slower laptop CPU. Of course, no room for add in cards either. All the minis on Ebay that cost $230 or less only come with 4GB of ram, not 8GB. Also, you can't upgrade to 32GB of ram in a mini (16GB max). If you do have over $220 in your budget then get the HP 8300 SFF with an i7-3770 CPU. Performance is much better than even the highest end i7 Mac mini.
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883997751?Description=Elite%208300%20Intel&cm_re=Elite_8300_Intel-_-83-997-751-_-Product
You can use the built in HD4000 graphics and add a better AMD Navi LP card later in 2020 when they are publicly released.
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