Building a Hackintosh

Apple’s overpriced offering is moving away from modular, upgradable hardware. Some recent unveilings of the iMac, Mac Pro, and MacBook Pro failed to meet the expectations of many professionals who demand improved specifications. A Hackintosh can provide an ideal developer environment by pairing Unix with more powerful hardware. For example, at the time of writing, my build uses Kaby Lake, while current Apple hardware doesn’t offer the newest Intel generation. Kaby Lake support is still experimental in the community, but more stable Skylake options exist.

I first started developing on a MacBook. There are aspects of Apple’s laptops that other hardware manufacturers have not been able to match for me quite yet. But for a desktop where form factor, sleek aluminum design, and the responsive trackpad are not concerns, a Hackintosh is the way to go for tabletop computing.

Should you build a Hackintosh? Probably not. It’s a breach of Apple’s macOS Terms and Conditions, and they have sued companies that attempt to turn a profit. However, Apple has been kind and hasn’t litigated individuals. Building a Hackintosh involves a lot of troubleshooting and tinkering. If you’re okay with that, start by lurking in the community (/r/hackintosh).

I’ve posted a guide to my most recent build. The build uses the latest Kaby Lake Intel processor and motherboard, along with an NVMe SSD, Bluetooth accessories, iMessage, and other necessary features. My passion for Hackintosh fluctuates with my availability, but you can see my builds, guides, and troubleshooting research at brettinternet/hackintosh.

Feb 2019 update: Proprietary software can be frustrating. Apple appears to be straying further from the light on privacy and developer support. I’ve archived my personal Hackintosh project and moved on to Linux.