Why support older Macs?

Those patches essentially treat your machine as a “hackintosh” – the process that normally prevents you from installing the OS on hardware that doesn’t meet the requirements is subverted to allow it.

So long as you are very confident in your backups and don’t mind wasting a day and then just having to jump back to the previous version by way of that backup, then it can be fun to try these things.

But if you rely on your machine for work, then experimentation might not be the best route. You might find anything from:

  • zero functionality, won’t even boot
  • working, but screen is black
  • boots, and mostly working, but with strange video problems
  • working but with some piece of hardware failing: like no networking, no bluetooth, or no sound.

I have one Mac Pro from 2008 that falls into this category. I believe the only reason it’s not included is because it’s far too old. It’s very similar hardware to my 2010 models that work great with Mojave.

But these Mac Pros are work machines. I need them to behave in predictable ways so that I can test software. Running untested configurations is likely a way to make more work for myself.

But, I’m currently in a dilemma. All of my Mac Pros have fallen off the supported bandwagon. macOS 10.15 Catalina won’t install on them (although I highly suspect it would run just fine). The new Mac Pros are way outside my budget. A reasonable setup likely to be in the 7,000, to 8,000 range, not including the $1000 monitor stand. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

  • I can try the new laptop – but they’re also very expensive for their multi-processor performance – and hardly leave my office, so don’t need a laptop at all.
  • I can go back to the 2015 laptop. That’s before the terrible, no good, very bad keyboards. And the price is not too bad, but it’s also the previous generation processor. And like most of the new laptops they’re not very upgradable. And the battery will be shot after four years and is glued into the machine.
  • I wouldn’t ever buy another iMac. I’ve owned 4 and each has been end-of-lifed very quickly. They were expensive mistakes.
  • Mac minis are now quite overpriced for their hardware and performance. But I suspect that’s my best option for an Apple owned device.

Or I can go the hackintosh route. Which I may at least try this summer. If nothing else, I’ll end up with a very nice gaming PC. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Isaiah

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