[Guide] Install High Sierra or Mojave on the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 9010 Desktop PC - Revision II

[MantiCore1]

I completed updated to 10.14.15 beta. on Dell 7010.
Here is my MAC:

 

[trs96]

The Irony of this Statement by Michael Dell
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October 6, 1997: Michael Dell makes an infamously bleak appraisal of Apple’s fortunes. Asked what he would do with Apple, the founder of Dell Inc. says he would “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
As incorrect forecasts go, this is one of the more notable in tech history.

In 2013 Dell was struggling to survive. Sales were way down year over year. Apple was thriving. iPhone and iPad sales were going through the roof. Michael Dell presented shareholders with a $25 billion buyout that would take the company private, giving it space away from the public limelight (and pressure from investors) to rethink and reposition the struggling computer company for the future. Dell had missed out on the smart phone and tablet revolution of the latter 2000s.

To give Dell the benefit of the doubt, he’s a smart guy. Only in his early 30s at the time of his infamous blunder — making him a decade younger than Steve Jobs — had already made billions selling built-to-order PCs direct to consumers. To Dell's credit, he later clarified that at that conference he asked the person twice to give him a different question. When they refused to do so, he gave his "shut it down" answer mostly out of frustration with having to even speculate what he would do with Apple. He said that he "doesn't spend any time thinking about how he would manage other tech companies."

Apple had just announced massive losses in 1997 when he made that infamous comment. Apple had also just seen its Mac Clone strategy, which many thought would save the company, misfire spectacularly. The clones were faster than the Macs Apple was selling. Dell's comment did give Jobs some good material for the next Apple event later that year. I'm not a Steve Jobs fanboy or anything but like you, I'm glad NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1996 and then he got hired back as CEO in 1997.

22 years later, in 2019 we are installing macOS Mojave on Dell PCs and it works perfectly. Almost as well as on an Apple built Mac. I really like the build quality of these Dell Optiplex Business PCs. It's great that we can buy them used for such low prices as we do now and keep them functioning as macOS Mojave machines. Just think how easy it would have been for Apple to buyout Dell in 2013 and convert Dell business PCs into dual boot Windows/OS X machines. Business owners could then use either OS and would find that macOS really can work in a business environment.

It's also fortunate for us that Michael Dell didn't buy out Apple in the late 90's and return the money to the shareholders. We'd all still be using cell phones with physical buttons on them and 2.5 inch LCD screens. There would be no macOS operating system. We'd be running Windows 10 Bloated Professional Spyware edition on our PCs. Life would not be good. I probably wouldn't own a phone or a computer. Would be too painful to even use.

 

[trs96]

Fenvi FV-T919 for sale $48.45 on Ebay
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This is the best price I've seen for this Wifi/BT card lately. Cityeliter is the store name for Fenvi on Ebay. So you'll know that you're getting a real card from them. This fits in the MT Dell Optiplex, not in the other form factors.

Wireless Dual Band 1750M BT4.0 BCM94360CD PCI-E Wifi Adapter Mac OS Hackintosh | eBay

FV-T919 Desktop 802.11AC Wifi Card Adapter Bluetooth 4.0 Mac OS Hackintosh Description: Brand Name: Fenvi Model: FV-T919 Chipest:Broadcom BCM94360CD Type: Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 Speed up to 1750Mbps 2.4Ghz-450Mbps, 5Ghz-1300Mbps Support Bluetooth 4.0 Dual band 2.4Ghz/5Ghz Support...

www.ebay.com

If you are in the USA order it from Newegg. If you are in the UK or EU or Australia this may be the best way to get one.

 

[trs96]

Why is the Optiplex 3010 not included in this Guide ?
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There are a few reasons why you shouldn't use the 3010 (any form factor) with this guide. I've stated in the guide that the 7010 and 9010 are more alike than different. Pretty much the same other than the numbers 7 and 9. When looking at the 3010 model from the same generation there is a night and day difference in what you get, even though the cases the 3010s come in look almost exactly the same as the related 7010/9010 models.

I had one briefly for testing so I tried a Mojave install with a customized Unibeast installer described in post #1. I flashed the BIOS to a newer version and was able to install Mojave UEFI and it did work. The 3010 had an i3-3245 with HD4000. Surprisingly even the audio and HDMI audio worked when I reached the desktop. After that not much else worked. It had frequent freeze ups. Here are the seven reasons this guide is not a good fit.

1. The 3010 uses the older Intel H61 chipset. (used for Sandy Bridge systems - makes CPUPM more difficult)
2. It doesn't have the Realtek ALC269 audio chip (uses Conexant)
3. Gigabit Ethernet LAN is Realtek and not Intel. Intel is preferred.
4. All 8 USB ports are USB 2.0 not 3.0. (only 2 ports in front)
5. Only has the slower Sata 2 connectors on the motherboard.
6. Maximum ram of 8GB according to Dell. 2 x 8GB would probably work.
7. No DP output onboard (DP is preferred to HDMI for a CustoMac)

Here is a comparison of the Z77, Q77 (7010/9010) and H61 (3010) chipsets - Q77 offers everything the Z77 does

So to sum this up, what you are getting with the 3010 is much more like a Sandy Bridge based Optiplex 390. The main difference is that you can install an Ivy Bridge i3 or i5 CPU into the 3010 and it will work with the BIOS/UEFI that was added.

Dell cut a lot of corners to hit a lower price point. When you look at the prices of these refurbished they are not much lower than the 7010 or 9010 Optiplex machines. You'll be more likely to get an i3 or Pentium CPU instead of an i5 CPU and miss out on most of the nicer features that the 7010 or 9010 will give you. If you can find a 3010 at an extremely low price it may be worth trying it. Just don't use all the customized SSDTs that are included in this guide. They are specific for patching the DSDTs of only a 7010 or 9010. The USB Ports are also totally different on the 3010. Don't use the custom USB-SSDT. On the postive side for the 3010, the CPU fan was the quietest I've ever heard on a Dell. The case build quality and condition was also excellent. Would be perfect to use as a Windows 10 desktop if you need to use Windows.

 

[Alanjb132]

Need help. I installed iOS to a 7010 a year ago. After recently updating it would no longer boot. Using this guide to reinstall Mojave on my 7010 i7 is not working so well for me.

 

[P1LGRIM]

I installed iOS to a 7010 a year ago

I doubt it. iOS is for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads.

Serial ports should be disabled in the BIOS settings.

 

[trs96]

Need help. I installed iOS to a 7010 a year ago. After recently updating it would no longer boot. Using this guide to reinstall Mojave on my 7010 i7 is not working so well for me.

I would go back through step #2 of the guide and make sure you applied all of the changes to your USB installer. Take your time and read it carefully. Also make sure you are connected to the DP output when installing.

 

[Alanjb132]

I doubt it. iOS is for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads.

Serial ports should be disabled in the BIOS settings.

Sorry meant high Sierra.

 

[trs96]

Sorry meant high Sierra.

Another thing to check is the Boot Sequence of the General Settings section of the BIOS. Delete any entries there that say MacOSX or other ones that you don't need there. These can interfere with booting from the USB installer.

 

[trs96]

Quadro K600 added to the Graphics Buyer's Guide
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These are available new from Amazon.com for 49 USD. They should have a LP bracket included but check with the seller to make sure. The seller doesn't specify if they are new in the original box or if they are new "pulls" from unused systems. The photo on the Amazon listing shows a LP bracket installed a full height bracket and a DP to VGA adapter.

Amazon.com: HP NVIDIA Quadro K600 Graphics Card 1 GB: Computers & Accessories

Buy HP NVIDIA Quadro K600 Graphics Card 1 GB: Graphics Cards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

The GT 710 goes for about 9 dollars less and you'll get 2GB of Vram. I think that the macOS drivers for the K600 are better than those for the 710. Basing that on my experience of using each card on my 9010 SFF system. It may also be because DP 1.2 is better supported than HDMI 2.0 in macOS.

These K600s are also HP branded. As far as I know that should not be a problem. I'm using a PNY branded version and like the improvement I'm getting with my 27" 1080p monitor. It looks much better/sharper/clearer to me than what the GT 710 produces. Anyone who buys one please report back how it goes for you. For me personally, this is a better choice than the GT 710 and doesn't cost much more, even when purchased new. If you have a 4K monitor with DP in (a PC monitor) the K600 is certainly a better choice. For a 4K TV monitor with HDMI 2.0 the GT 710 is a better choice at this price point. If you want to use a K600 and get 60Hz on your 4K television then you need to spend 19 dollars more on an adapter like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S0C7QO8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
The key part is that is must be an "active" adapter or the refresh rate will be only 30Hz.

Note that you can adapt the DVI output to VGA if you need that for some reason. To me using an analog VGA connection in 2019 is like still using floppy disk drives. Completely outdated tech. It only survives because Microsoft keeps supporting it in Windows 10 and won't let it die.

The full hardware choices guide can be found in post #2.

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