Is 4540s still the easiest?

[thecrusher]

I thought I was going to buy a refurbished 4540s (i5-3230M 2.6GHz with 8G/750G@7200rpm) for $500, but it looks like it's gone. As an alternative, the same place is selling the 450 G1 (i5-4200M 2.5GHz 8G/750G@5400rpm) for $600.

So the small question is, how much harder is the 450, and will it function as well? It seems like all I gain for that extra money is Haswell over Ivy, but lose a faster disk and I've hard the display isn't as nice. But is there a difference in how it will perform as a Hackintosh?

The bigger question would be, is the popular recommendation of the 4540s outdated, and can I now get better performance than that at my price point (500 +/-) without significantly more installation work?

And finally, a more practical question - if I find another 4540s or if I buy the 450, what are the odds of a compatible wi-fi card? Low enough that I should just order a card anyway, or high enough that I should wait and see?

Thanks

 

[nguyenmac]

I thought I was going to buy a refurbished 4540s (i5-3230M 2.6GHz with 8G/750G@7200rpm) for $500, but it looks like it's gone. As an alternative, the same place is selling the 450 G1 (i5-4200M 2.5GHz 8G/750G@5400rpm) for $600.

So the small question is, how much harder is the 450, and will it function as well? It seems like all I gain for that extra money is Haswell over Ivy, but lose a faster disk and I've hard the display isn't as nice. But is there a difference in how it will perform as a Hackintosh?

The bigger question would be, is the popular recommendation of the 4540s outdated, and can I now get better performance than that at my price point (500 +/-) without significantly more installation work?

And finally, a more practical question - if I find another 4540s or if I buy the 450, what are the odds of a compatible wi-fi card? Low enough that I should just order a card anyway, or high enough that I should wait and see?

Thanks

About wifi, I believe you have to replace 100%.

 

[thecrusher]

Ordered a 4352 wifi card. $30 shipped.

I think I'm just going to pay $680 for a faster 4540s (i7-3632QM). BUT I'm tempted to instead get a probook 640 that I can get for $540. It's also 8G memory but it's got a 128G SSD instead of hard drive. I like the smaller size, and the fast SSD, but I'd need more disk space so that's more futzing and money (still cheaper). And then there's the additional futzing to get the 4600 graphics to work.

So how much harder is that, and do the fixes for the 4600 fix everything or are there still graphics problems?

Thanks.

 

[nguyenmac]

Ordered a 4352 wifi card. $30 shipped.

I think I'm just going to pay $680 for a faster 4540s (i7-3632QM). BUT I'm tempted to instead get a probook 640 that I can get for $540. It's also 8G memory but it's got a 128G SSD instead of hard drive. I like the smaller size, and the fast SSD, but I'd need more disk space so that's more futzing and money (still cheaper). And then there's the additional futzing to get the 4600 graphics to work.

So how much harder is that, and do the fixes for the 4600 fix everything or are there still graphics problems?

Thanks.

Both laptops have the same procedure to install... The difference is that you have to select 6x0 instead of 4x40 while installing.

 

[thecrusher]

I got the 4540s.

Install went great until... After installing HP Probook Installer and rebooting, I first get a (distorted) screen asking if I want to boot the HD or Recovery (mouse and trackpad don't work here), select to boot from the HD, I get a black screen with an apple logo. A second later I get a grey bar on the screen that looks like a distorted (sheared) status bar, and then it just sits there.

I've tried an EC reset. Didnt help.
I'm pretty sure I got these things right:

• BIOS:
  • switchable graphics off
  • boot mode: uefi native
  • data exec prevent enabled
• The thumbdrive setup went fine (method 2a).
• Partitioning as GPT was also fine. I did leave 50G free for a possible future Windows installation.
• I booted from thumbdrive EFI with no problem.
• First installation cycle where it unpacks onto the thumbdrive seemed to go fine.
• Second cycle wehre it installs OS also seemed to go fine.
• Successfully booted the installation on HD using the thumbdrive
• Probook Installer.
  • selected uefi bootloader
  • 4x40s kexts
  • Config and DSDT - 4x40s
  • Selected SDST generator
  • Display resolution: low

 

[RehabMan]

I got the 4540s.

Install went great until... After installing HP Probook Installer and rebooting, I first get a (distorted) screen asking if I want to boot the HD or Recovery (mouse and trackpad don't work here), select to boot from the HD, I get a black screen with an apple logo. A second later I get a grey bar on the screen that looks like a distorted (sheared) status bar, and then it just sits there.

I've tried an EC reset. Didnt help.
I'm pretty sure I got these things right:

• BIOS:
  • switchable graphics off
  • boot mode: uefi native
  • data exec prevent enabled
• The thumbdrive setup went fine (method 2a).
• Partitioning as GPT was also fine. I did leave 50G free for a possible future Windows installation.
• I booted from thumbdrive EFI with no problem.
• First installation cycle where it unpacks onto the thumbdrive seemed to go fine.
• Second cycle wehre it installs OS also seemed to go fine.
• Successfully booted the installation on HD using the thumbdrive
• Probook Installer.
  • selected uefi bootloader
  • 4x40s kexts
  • Config and DSDT - 4x40s
  • Selected SDST generator
  • Display resolution: low

Read the RED text in post #1 of the guide.

You do not need to disable switchable graphics.

 

[nguyenmac]

I got the 4540s.

Install went great until... After installing HP Probook Installer and rebooting, I first get a (distorted) screen asking if I want to boot the HD or Recovery (mouse and trackpad don't work here), select to boot from the HD, I get a black screen with an apple logo. A second later I get a grey bar on the screen that looks like a distorted (sheared) status bar, and then it just sits there.

I've tried an EC reset. Didnt help.
I'm pretty sure I got these things right:

• BIOS:
  • switchable graphics off
  • boot mode: uefi native
  • data exec prevent enabled
• The thumbdrive setup went fine (method 2a).
• Partitioning as GPT was also fine. I did leave 50G free for a possible future Windows installation.
• I booted from thumbdrive EFI with no problem.
• First installation cycle where it unpacks onto the thumbdrive seemed to go fine.
• Second cycle wehre it installs OS also seemed to go fine.
• Successfully booted the installation on HD using the thumbdrive
• Probook Installer.
  • selected uefi bootloader
  • 4x40s kexts
  • Config and DSDT - 4x40s
  • Selected SDST generator
  • Display resolution: low

- Enable graphics card switching
- Boot from usb
- Post troubleshooting files.

 

[thecrusher]

The "troubleshooting files" text wasn't the only red text I ignored. I also had never pressed F4. I think I just read it as F9 again and flew right past it.

So I pressed F4 during a boot. Then, based on my flimsy understanding of all of this, I re-ran the probook installer, since in my voodoo world, this is the needed ritual. This changed the behavior. Now I get the black screen with an apple logo (this time it is bigger and too wide, before it showed with correct aspect ratio), and I get a correct status bar that begins filling. Then the screen goes black and nothing happens.

Troubleshooting files are attached (surprised you want such a big dump of data).

Thanks!

 

[RehabMan]

The "troubleshooting files" text wasn't the only red text I ignored. I also had never pressed F4. I think I just read it as F9 again and flew right past it.

So I pressed F4 during a boot. Then, based on my flimsy understanding of all of this, I re-ran the probook installer, since in my voodoo world, this is the needed ritual. This changed the behavior. Now I get the black screen with an apple logo (this time it is bigger and too wide, before it showed with correct aspect ratio), and I get a correct status bar that begins filling. Then the screen goes black and nothing happens.

Troubleshooting files are attached (surprised you want such a big dump of data).

Thanks!

Please provide complete details in your profile/signature
(Profile/Settings link in upper right corner of this site)

System: manufacturer/model + bootloader(Clover/Chameleon/Chimera)
CPU: detailed CPU model + motherboard chipset
Graphics: all graphics devices + laptop internal screen resolution

For example, typical Ivy laptop:
System: HP ProBook 4540s (Clover)
CPU: i5-3320m/HM76
Graphics: HD4000, 1366x768

Use CPU-Z on Windows to find CPU (Core iX-xxx) and motherboard chipset (HMxx), and graphics capabilities. For a laptop, these details are important and affect critical installation procedures.

 

[RehabMan]

The "troubleshooting files" text wasn't the only red text I ignored. I also had never pressed F4. I think I just read it as F9 again and flew right past it.

So I pressed F4 during a boot. Then, based on my flimsy understanding of all of this, I re-ran the probook installer, since in my voodoo world, this is the needed ritual. This changed the behavior. Now I get the black screen with an apple logo (this time it is bigger and too wide, before it showed with correct aspect ratio), and I get a correct status bar that begins filling. Then the screen goes black and nothing happens.

Troubleshooting files are attached (surprised you want such a big dump of data).

Thanks!

You did not select a screen type in DSDT patching options. Read the guide carefully.