What is the life cycle of a very well-built Hackintosh?

[LoloZippilli]

Hello people.
Lately I was thinking about whether I should mount a hackintosh or not. My biggest concern is the life that has (referring to updates). So, my question is: A hackintosh well built in 2017, how many years will be able to receive updates? I mean new versions of macOS.

PD: Sorry if there are incoherent translations, but I am Spanish speaker and do not speak very well in English.

 

[Adrian B]

Welcome to Tonymacx86!

We can not predict the future and things can change quickly. There are many builds around from 2010 that are still working for the people that built them, some may have moved to a newer build with better more powerful processors or for newer features. Owners have perhaps replaced that older graphics card in favour of something newer or replaced the HDD for a moder and fast high capacity SSD.
There is a strong and willing community that works hard to find ways to overcome installation hurdles and smooth the installation process as new versions of macOS become available.

 

[Bradish]

Welcome to Tonymacx86!

We can not predict the future and things can change quickly. There are many builds around from 2010 that are still working for the people that built them, some may have moved to a newer build with better more powerful processors or for newer features. Owners have perhaps replaced that older graphics card in favour of something newer or replaced the HDD for a moder and fast high capacity SSD.
There is a strong and willing community that works hard to find ways to overcome installation hurdles and smooth the installation process as new versions of macOS become available.

Indeed true. But even those Apple products get out of date as well...laptops, MacPro, etc. It is just a matter if time when they become obsolete.

 

[CanOksuz]

If you are talking about durability, I found a dude on youtube who used 4,5 years without trouble with a proper installation.

But If you are talking about productivity, app support etc, who knows?

In my opinion unless the software and hardware producers don't take a revolutionary decision, It will be usable for long term.

 

[beelzebozo]

My first CustoMac from 2010. Still running.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/beelzebozo-build-asus-p7p55d-core-i5-750-xfx-hd-5570.3653/

 

[pastrychef]

My biggest concern is the life that has (referring to updates). So, my question is: A hackintosh well built in 2017, how many years will be able to receive updates? I mean new versions of macOS.

Apple plays big role in this on which models they end support for. Typically, Apple continues offering OS updates for systems about 5-7 years, but that's not written in stone. For example, Apple stopped offering MacBook4,1 and MacBook4,2 updates after only 4 years.

On hackintoshes, we have a little more flexibility in that system definitions can be changed quite easily which would allow newer versions of macOS to install. However, sometimes, doing this can cause some features to break.

 

[kiiroaka]

Very possibly only a year (since new MOS seem to come out every year.) Probably two to three years. It may depend on when you jump in. And whether the after market applications can run on the newer OS. After it is no longer supported you may want to relegate it to specific functions, specific applications, specific uses. It's when the hardware finally dies that you will have to make a big decision: to repair, replace ir completely replace the whole unit.

As far as Macs go: if the hardware architecture changes then chances are it will be dropped, say from PPC to 32 bit Intels to 64 bit Intels. Then there is the question of graphics: card architecture, max resolutions, interfaces (VGA, DVI, DL-DVI, HDMI, mini-HDMI, DP, USB3, Thunderbolt, etc.) and manufacturer (Intel, NVidia, ATI/AMD), and RAM: specifically whether or not the mem controller is limited to the max possible memory sizes.

Yo digo un ano; o dos; pero no mas que tres.

 

[tonymacx86]

I have built hacks for years and still have latest Sierra running on the very oldest ones which are almost 7 and 8 years old. Therefore for me the life cycle of a well built hack is still being tested.

Gigabyte P55M-UD2 + i5-750 + GeForce 9400 GT (2009)
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R + i7-920 + Radeon HD 5770 (2010)