{"id":209,"date":"2015-07-28T06:36:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T06:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/picknotebook.com\/blog\/?p=209"},"modified":"2018-05-27T12:11:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-27T18:11:26","slug":"best-hackintosh-laptop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/picknotebook.com\/blog\/best-hackintosh-laptop\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Best Hackintosh Laptops with Guides and Comparison (July Update)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Recently, I was searching\u00a0for\u00a0a hackintosh laptop – I wanted to learn making\u00a0iPhone apps (and Swift<\/a> seemed as a neat programming language).<\/p>\n I already had tried out Mac OS X using\u00a0virtualization. It seemed just the right time to upgrade my laptop anyways and the idea of a hackintosh captivated me<\/strong>. And I didn’t want just any laptop – I wanted the\u00a0best hackintosh laptop within my budget.<\/p>\n When searching for the hackintosh compatible laptops,\u00a0the most irritating bit is that most recommendations and lists are polluted with outdated and discontinued laptops or notebooks that often cost even more than the MacBook itself. The lists I found were full of loose ends with little help on what to do beyond the purchase.<\/p>\n And there’s a reason for it – it is hard to compile a list of recent laptops and it is even harder to find all the resources required to kick-start\u00a0this usually exhaustive laptop transformation.<\/p>\n That’s why I ended up writing this guide. I quickly weeded out the laptops with a set of strict criteria. All laptops I’m going to recommend:<\/p>\n Since most of the laptops I have selected are rather new\u00a0in the hackbook market\u00a0– there are risks involved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So here goes a word of caution!<\/strong><\/p>\n This is not a list for best hackintosh laptops off ALL TIME. Yes,\u00a0there are a few a lot more compatible laptops from 2010 – 2012 era but this list is not for that. There are\u00a0enough guides about these old computers anyways.<\/p>\n I’ll focus on laptops with either good documentation or laptops that are more welcoming to OS X\u00a0and in result require less manual work to work properly.<\/p>\n There is no perfect laptop for hackintoshing. If you’re building your own tower PC, you can get “golden builds” – a set of parts with either no or minimal issues\u00a0when installing OS X. In the laptop world – forget about it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Do not expect that it will install easily and without any problems. You can pray that it will, but do not expect it. If you want 100% compatibility – buy a MacBook.<\/p>\n I’m also here to get you ready for the\u00a0journey by showing you the best path to a hackbook that\u00a0was already proven\u00a0by other people.<\/p>\n If you’re new, you’ll be pleasantly surpised\u00a0by the hackintosh community<\/strong>. There are many hubs where these wonderful people gather. In this post you’ll see quite a few\u00a0links to TonyMacx86<\/a>\u00a0since there you can find most guides to laptop hackintoshing.<\/p>\n But no matter how\u00a0amazing this community is – you’ll have to solve the technical problems by yourself at the end (or maybe your tech friend).<\/p>\n OK, I’ve\u00a0got it. What now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I’ll start off from the key requirements for your new PC\/MacBook hybrid,\u00a0the common difficulties and finally – an EXACT list of laptops that you should consider.<\/p>\n Let’s jump right in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You might change your mind; you might end up not being able to convert it to a Hackbook; you might end up using\u00a0Windows A LOT more than OSX.<\/p>\n In all of those cases,\u00a0you’ll need a solid laptop\u00a0even without\u00a0considering OSX compatibility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In a few cases, I’ll prioritize simply very good and well-rounded laptops with a bit more difficult process of hackintoshing over easier to convert\u00a0but a lot weaker notebooks.<\/p>\n Every laptop has its own Achilles’ heel – sometimes it’s the processor, sometimes it’s battery life and if those two are alright – it’s probably the screen. I’ll check the benchmarks, independent tests and reviews to come\u00a0to an easy to understand judgment. There’s no one-size-fits-all option, especially when you’re on a budget.<\/p>\n We will look only into laptops with Intel\u00a0Haswell (4-th generation) and Broadwell (5-th\u00a0generation) processors.<\/p>\n Why Intel? Because AMD is way-way way more problematic. Why 4th and 5th generation? Because it’s 2015.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n Haswell has been compatible with OSX for about a year. Meanwhile Broadwell and its integrated graphics only recently were made to work<\/a> with hackintoshes.<\/p>\n In short, if you’re an AMD fan – get ready to welcome your new Intel overlords.<\/p>\n In every laptop there’s a\u00a0dedicated chip for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They come in various brands, families and flavors. Unfortunately, OSX\u00a0is allergic (read – does not support) most of these flavors.<\/p>\n If we’re very lucky – a laptop has a compatible Wi-Fi chip straight out the box. Sadly, this not the case of an overwhelming majority of laptops. If we’re lucky – an incompatible chip can be replaced with a working one. In some cases even that is not enough – some motherboards cannot accept a given Wi-Fi when it is not within the built-in list of supported models. On top of that, some motherboards can have their BIOS encrypted and digitally signed – preventing you from changing\u00a0these lists.<\/p>\n Then you end up with only one option – get an external Wi-Fi\/Bluetooth dongle. They will permanently occupy one of you USB slots, but apart from that they are cheap and small.<\/p>\n Here comes sad news to everyone hoping to play games on a hackintosh without booting up Windows.<\/p>\n Nvidia Optimus.\u00a0It is a graphics card switching mechanism that\u00a0in Windows environement allows to disable a\u00a0dedicated and power-hungry Nvidia graphics chip if the laptop doesn’t need that kind of power at that moment.<\/span><\/p>\n That comes in very handy when you are running Windows. But at the same time it renders Nvidia graphics useless in a hackintosh.<\/p>\n Yes, that’s right – you will not be able to have dedicated Nvidia graphics in your laptop<\/strong>. That’s because practically all new laptops that come with\u00a0Nvidia have\u00a0Optimus. As far as I know, no one has found a reliable way to enable Nvidia graphics chips in the new generation of hackintoshes.<\/p>\n You’ll still have integrated graphics that\u00a0will be enough in most cases. Though do not expect to get\u00a0a gaming machine or a video editing hackbook\u00a0out of it.<\/p>\n But… but what about AMD graphics?<\/p>\n A fair\u00a0point – but there\u00a0are very few laptops with Intel processors and AMD graphics. I have included one in the list.<\/p>\n Battery indicators, keyboard shortcuts, sleep mode, card reader, fingerprint reader etc. All of these features more often than not\u00a0don’t work after a fresh installation. Many of\u00a0the laptops I have filtered out\u00a0have a lot of these problems solved – but usually not all. Almost always something will not work correctly. Do not expect a flawless integration.<\/p>\n There is no guarantee that all or any of these laptops will be easily upgradable to\u00a0OSX El Capitan. But there’s a good chance that it will. Most of the guides for the recommended laptops use methods that withstood upgrades in the past and are likely to withstand them in the near future.<\/p>\n Also, the fact that these laptops are still rather new gives a lot of hope that the community will figure out a way how to port them to El Capitan if the upgrade will end up being more problematic than it should.<\/p>\n I went through all\u00a0active laptop guides for Yosemite, recommended laptops from other lists and sources. Also, I checked some laptops that should deserve to be Macintoshed.<\/p>\n Then I:<\/p>\n And that’s how my spare time looked past week:<\/p>\n In fact, since sharing is caring, here’s the link to the comparison spreadsheet<\/a>! Feel free to share it with others and come to your conclusions from the data I’ve collected.<\/p>\n Enough about the process, it’s time to see the results!<\/p>\n All suggestions are ordered by price – starting from the cheapest. I have included either the least pricey option of a compatible model or simply the most compatible model. In most cases, you will be able to scale up these models according to your budget. For example, Dell XPS 13 which starts from 900$ can go up to 1600$ if you want more memory, storage, a better resolution and a better processor.<\/p>\n Hackintosh Guide<\/a> | Review<\/a>\u00a0| Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][c small=”12″ medium=”6″]\n Unboxing<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Disassembly<\/a>\u00a0| Disassembly\u00a02<\/a>\u00a0| Disassembly 3<\/a>\u00a0| Hackintosh demo<\/a>\u00a0(not exact model)<\/p>\n[\/c][\/r]\n The best documented cheap laptop with a Haswell processor.\u00a0By looking into its parts and benchmarks, I can already point out the main problem. It will be problematic to work outside due to very weak screen lighting and a notably\u00a0finite battery life of 3 hours Wi-Fi browsing. It also weighs a bit on the heavy side even for a 15.6″ laptop (5.3 lbs\/2.4 kg).<\/p>\n This particular Acer model will not feel like a MacBook just due to its sluggishness and limited mobility.<\/p>\n But\u00a0even considering these drawbacks, for many use cases it still is your best option for an under 500$ hackintosh laptop. You could get Acer Aspire, a Wi-Fi chip replacement, an external mouse and additional\u00a08 GB of memory and still be under 500$.<\/strong> If that’s not a good deal for a fixed\u00a0budget, I don’t know what is.<\/p>\n Since this laptop is the cheapest option, and there is almost a 200$ step to the next laptop, I’ll list out a few optional\u00a0upgrades mentioned in the guide:<\/p>\n Surprisingly, this laptop maintains full webcam and touchscreen functionality. Have you tried to run a MacBook with touchscreen? Who knows, maybe you’ll take a glimpse into the future? Also, the guide provides the required files for\u00a0a lot of\u00a0minor functionality and\u00a0HDMI, Ethernet ports.<\/p>\n Hackintosh Guide<\/a> | Review<\/a> | Amazon page<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][c small=”12″ medium=”6″]\n Unboxing<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][\/r]\n A great laptop in its own unique ways. It is the only fanless laptop in this list making it the quietest\u00a0by default. It is also one of the lightest options (2.8 lbs\/1.3 kg) while offering almost 7 hours of real-life battery life. An SSD, a bright Full HD screen and… Intel Core M-5Y10 processor. Eh – what would otherwise be a match made in heaven ends up leaving a rather bitter taste.<\/p>\n But the main drawback for Asus is simply a very conscious trade-off. In fact, having a better processor would leave this Zenbook with a need for noisy fans and an hour shaved from its battery life.<\/p>\n Therefore, if\u00a0you prefer to have a powerful machine and couldn’t care less about the utter silence and battery life, this laptop offers – brush this computer to the side.<\/p>\n To sum it up,\u00a0if having a high-end\u00a0processor is not your priority – all other big pluses that Asus Zenbook offers makes it a sweet deal.<\/p>\n A few difficulties might be different touch pad patch files even in otherwise identical models, a long list of Kexts and patches and a limited discussion about the guide. However, with\u00a0enough time invested this\u00a0tough nut can be cracked.<\/p>\n Hackintosh Guide<\/a> | Review<\/a> | Amazon page<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][c small=”12″ medium=”6″]\n Unboxing<\/a> | Hackintosh demo<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][\/r]\n The most “in the middle” solution there is. It doesn’t disappoint us anywhere, but it doesn’t astonish us too. You could complain about the screen being just a bit too dim or be cheerful about a bit above average battery life, but that’s about it.\u00a0Good enough, I guess.<\/p>\n Even the hard drive is a compromise between an old-school disk-type drive and a new-gen SSD – an HDD\/SSD hybrid SSHD. Well played, Lenovo, well played…<\/p>\n The greatest strength, however, is the ease of installing OS X on this laptop.<\/p>\n A well-written guide, a long and still alive discussion around the transformation of this particular model ensures you won’t get lost on the way to OS X. Nothing to complain in this department. It also comes with a mostly standard set of problems even for a well-behaving laptop.<\/p>\n But even with these minor problems you won’t feel a hindrance when using your IdeaPad and MacBook hybrid (MacPad? IdeaBook?).<\/p>\n Hackintosh Guide<\/a> | Review<\/a> | Amazon page<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][c small=”12″ medium=”6″]\n Unboxing<\/a> | Hackintosh demo<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][\/r]\n This time, I’ll jump straight to the “catch”.\u00a0The display is\u00a0by far the biggest glaring weakness of otherwise a well-balanced business class ProBook. Even getting its configuration\u00a0for $1,000 leaves us with only HD screen. This\u00a0is outdated at the very best. It also has the second lowest brightness and the lowest contrast out of all suggestions here. But what we don’t do for those extra savings. Considering the price – it’s not THAT bad.<\/p>\n Notice!<\/strong>\u00a0HP Probooks with AMD graphics will not be able to use them in Mac OS X. So be careful if you try to buy some other model than the one I linked to.<\/p>\n HP laptops have been known for a long time for their ability to morph into a MacBook without much\u00a0trouble. And this stands true for this model. It might not be a\u00a01-click solution as older generations of HP, but hey, it’s close enough.<\/p>\n The guide is easy to understand with just enough illustrations at the tricky parts when installing Mac OS X for the first time. Also, as of now there are 4159\u00a0posts in HP Yosemite guide thread on TonyMacx86<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yes, you will need to filter through problems unrelated to your model and yes, that might be too many to simply skimp through to get a complete understanding, but with the help of search – nothing is impossible!<\/p>\n HP gave\u00a0us one fine\u00a0 Hackintosh Guide<\/a> | Review<\/a> | Amazon page<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][c small=”12″ medium=”6″]\n Unboxing<\/a><\/p>\n[\/c][\/r]\n Dell Inspiron 7548 is a solid option if you want a desktop replacement<\/a> while still being able to carry it with you. A pretty good mid-class processor, plenty of storage and a reasonable price.<\/p>\n But just like many laptops under $1000 it suffers from an unimpressive screen. A low contrast and brightness make it hard to use it outside without a continuous eye strain.<\/p>\n The laptop also lacks an SSD but for this price range it is nothing to be surprised about.<\/p>\n Also, there’s an another dicier but more rewarding option. Dell has also released this model with AMD Radeon R7 M270 graphics chip and Ultra HD (UHD) resolution. Refurbished version<\/a>\u00a0costs only $50 more than the model without it.<\/p>\n The guide is not a guide, but more of a helpful resource and a proof that it is possible. You will need to end up using the general Yosemite installation using Clover guide.<\/p>\n Also, there is not enough information about what is not working – you should assume the classic scenario of not working Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and card reader. All of these will need an external dongle.<\/p>\n Not enough information. Be cautious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/a>
What are we looking for<\/h2>\n
A good laptop even without its Hackbook\u00a0potential<\/h3>\n
A new and compatible Intel processor<\/h3>\n
\n
Optional – easy\u00a0Wi-Fi setup<\/h3>\n
And before someone cuts in, yes, there theoretically is another way of buying an Apple supported\u00a0Wi-Fi adapter then trying to trick BIOS into believing that it\u00a0is within the supported list and then somehow tell OSX that the chip is not the one the BIOS is tricked to believing it is, but actually something that Apple supports. Unless you are obsessed about having an internal Wi-Fi, and you’re a master of inception\u00a0–\u00a0just buy a Wi-Fi dongle.<\/p>\n
General problems<\/h2>\n
Nvidia graphics chip<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
Every single small thing<\/h3>\n
A note on El Capitan<\/h3>\n
Selection process<\/h2>\n
\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Suggestions<\/h2>\n
Acer Aspire E5-571P<\/a><\/h4>
Links<\/h6>\n
Videos<\/h6>\n
Evaluation<\/h5>\n
Hackintosh<\/h5>\n
\n
Not working when\u00a0hackbooked:<\/h6>\n
\n
PARTS TO REPLACE the MISSING FUNCTIONALITY:<\/h6>\n
\n
Asus Zenbook UX305FA<\/a><\/h4>
Links<\/h6>\n
Videos<\/h6>\n
Evaluation<\/h5>\n
Hackintosh<\/h5>\n
For a first time hackintosher this could end up being a very challenging project to take on. That’s\u00a0mostly due to the guide being described as\u00a0“a synopsis of the steps I took to get a stable OS X install.” A quite detailed synopsis, though.<\/p>\n
Not working when hackbooked:<\/h6>\n
\n
Lenovo IdeaPad U430<\/a><\/h4>
Links<\/h6>\n
Videos<\/h6>\n
Evaluation<\/h5>\n
Hackintosh<\/h5>\n
Not working when hackbooked:<\/h6>\n
\n
HP ProBook 450 G1<\/a><\/h4>
Links<\/h6>\n
Videos<\/h6>\n
Evaluation<\/h5>\n
Hackintosh<\/h5>\n
ProBook<\/del>\u00a0HackBook. Sadly, its dim\u00a0screen\u00a0and lack of portability for its size\u00a0doesn’t make it the best choice for everyone.<\/p>\nNot working when hackbooked:<\/h6>\n
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Dell Inspiron 15 7548<\/a><\/h4>
Links<\/h6>\n
Videos<\/h6>\n
Evaluation<\/h5>\n
Hackintosh<\/h5>\n
Not working when hackbooked:<\/h6>\n