What I’ve learned from building a Hackintosh
Recently, I built a Hackintosh system. It was not an easy process, but I managed to build a solid system. I have learned some valuable lessons from this experience, and I’d like to share them with you.
1. When you plan to build a Hackintosh, the most important thing to remember is to buy the right component, especially the motherboard(MoBo). If you choose the right mobo, half of your work is already done.
The conventional wisdom is that Gigabyte mobos are the best for this kind of tinkering. Many people have built Hackintosh system successfully using them. If you use a motherboard that has not been used to build a Hackintosh system, you will have to face some serious difficulties.
My advice is, go to a popular forum like tonymacx86.com and read several threads to find a system that has been built successfully that fits your price range. Usually people list the components they used(of course, it’s not important to use the same power supply or ram).
But, even with this method, you can face some unexpected difficulties. I’ve read ga-x58a-ud3r is a good motherboard to build a Hackintosh on, but later found out that I bought ga-x58a-ud3r rev. 2, and it turned out this rev. is quite different than rev. 1. How different? Well, I couldn’t install Mac OSX at all! Only after I understood the cause of the problem, I could find a solution from this thread.
CPUs are not a serious problem, and if you buy any one of the popular Intel CPUs that fits your motherboard, it should be okay. But, there are DSDT.aml that are built specially for a certain CPU, and if your CPU is different than the one it is built for, you may have a difficulty.
So, first of all, buy the components that are known to work perfectly with Mac OSX. It will save a lot of efforts and headaches.
2. There are easy ways of installing Mac OSX on a non-Mac system. I used Kakewalk, which I highly recommand. There is also iBoot + MultiBeast, which I didn’t try but heard many good things about. There are several other easy ways of installing Mac OSX. Do some research and find out which method fits your needs the best.
3. There are small problems that you are bound to face. It’s much easier to find a solution around the problem than to tackle the problem itself. For example, if you cannot make the on-board LAN work, buy a LAN card. If you cannot make the bluetooth keyboard work, buy a USB keyboard. In my case, when the bluetooth doesn’t work, I bought another buetooth dongle, then it worked. I also found that the volume level was too low, so I used iMic from Griffin Technology. It’s better to spend 20 euros more than to waste a week with a small problem that may not have a solution anyway.
4. Enjoy learning new things. If you are thinking of building a Hackintosh just to save money, don’t. You will be so frustrated at the end, that you will find it not worth the trouble. But if you take it as an adventure, and enjoy the learning experience, then it will enrich your life.
5. Make sure your components function normally. Sometimes the problem is not the fact you are building a Hackintosh but that you are building a system with faulty components. I had a problem with my new HDD, so I had to reinstall the OSX 5 times. I thought that was a normal part of building a Hackintosh. Later, it turned out that the HDD is faulty. When I put in a different HDD, it worked great.
6. Have another Mac system ready. You will need to do certain things on a Mac. If you have problem installing Mac OSX, you may need to use Mac system often. It’s not a good idea to borrow your friend’s MacBook for an hour only. Borrow it for a week. Or, if you can, buy a Mac. If you have a Mac, you can test if certain component works with a Mac(for example, I tested the problematic bluetooth dongle on my MBP, and saw that it didn’t work on it either. Then I could order a different one, instead of trying to make it work on Hackintosh) Besides, with an alternative system nearby, you will not be pressured to make it work quickly for your daily computing needs.
7. Don’t expect everything to work perfect. Accept the limitations of Hackintosh. My system didn’t sleep properly, and I had to wait a couple of minutes until it fully woke up. So, I accepted it(but, one day, I changed the sleeping setting in the System preferences, and the sleeping works well now). The point is, there are always small problems that you need to learn to live with. If you want your system to work perfectly, then buy a Mac. There is a reason Macs are more expensive, and Apple does not care too much about people installing Mac OSX on a PC.
8. Finally, consider buying a Mac. Mac minis are so cheap, that usually it is cheaper to buy them than to build a Hackintosh. It is not as powerful as a Hackintosh priced comparably, but it will make up the performance difference with the easy-of-use and peace of mind. Even iMacs are quite a decent deal nowadays. Only start your Hackintosh project when you have a good reason to do it.
