Install macOS outside the macbook

Experience looking for a laptop that suits your needs

Early in the morning at 05:00, I woke up from sleep. Before starting the day, I immediately brushed my teeth and opened my laptop which was a loan from the office. My goal this time is to find information about cheap, used but still powerful laptops. I’ve been interested in the Macintosh operating system made by Apple. The question is, can the operating system be installed on a laptop other than a MacBook? This curiosity made me decide to buy a new laptop, even though it’s not a MacBook. The reason is because the price is very expensive. Even the MacBook Air alone has reached tens of millions of rupiah, especially the MacBook Pro which can be up to tens of millions with standard specifications.

At 06:00, my phone rang. It turned out that there was news from a friend who wanted to take a trip to the city of Solo. I also welcomed this invitation, because actually I also wanted to visit there. The goal, apart from vacation, is also to buy a laptop and then go home. Long story short, this one friend became a travel guide from Jogja to the area behind Sebelas Maret University (UNS). Even though I know the way, I let him drive.

After arriving in Solo, we stopped first in the city center, namely Jalan Slamet Riyadi, to fill our stomachs before continuing our journey to the back of UNS. At 09:00, we went straight to the back of UNS through the back line, namely ISI Surakarta. We started looking for a laptop that fits the criteria I needed:

• Light (weight 1.3 kg)
• Core i5 to core i7 generation 5-10
• cheap (of course) and used
• Price 3 million

But after searching several shops, the results were almost the same. When I ask for a light and cheap laptop, the seller always offers a laptop with an Intel Celeron processor. Not giving up, I kept looking on the 3rd branch road. Finally, in the last store, I recommended the Lenovo ThinkPad Slim laptop. The price is 3.2 million, but unfortunately the goods are not ready. All the laptops in this shop are dead, while the ready-to-eat goods are at the UMS cloudy branch shop.

With a heavy heart, I decided to end the laptop search. But before going home, I turned the car again. I didn’t realize it, I arrived at Jalan Samanhudi, where I used to study. Near the campus, there is a laptop shop that I went to. I asked about the laptop according to the specifications I needed and the brand of the laptop.

The seller initially offered several series of ThinkPad. First, the 6th generation ThinkPad Core i3 laptop at a price of 3.2 million, but not slim. When I hold it, this laptop feels a bit heavy, about 1.5 kg. However, this laptop has a touch screen like a tablet. Furthermore, the seller offers the 8th generation ThinkPad Core i5 laptop without a touchscreen and is quite light. This laptop series is the Lenovo ThinkPad T480S (S here is Slim). The price difference is only 200 thousand, so I finally got this laptop for 3.4 million.

After paying, I got an invoice, then the journey continued home.

Preparation for Hackintosh installation

Some of the things I prepared, started from a tool to make hackintosh bootable and NVMe SSD. Because this new laptop uses a Windows system, the SSD doesn’t support Hackintosh yet. With a capital of 500 thousand, I took a pleasure to look for an SSD that supports Hackintosh and finally got Adata Legend 710. Not to forget, I stopped by a cafe near my house to download macOS Big Sur for 12 GB.

Next, I prepared a 16 GB bootable flash drive and Balena Etcher software. After everything is ready, I do the installation.

Materials needed for hackintosh installation

Here are the ingredients needed for the Hackintosh installation:

• laptop lenovo t480s core i5 gen 8
• NVME ADATA LEGEND 710
• Macintosh Big Sur
• EFI (you can find it on Google, by typing the laptop series and EFI Hackintosh)
• Flashdisk 16 GB
• Balena Etcher

The installation takes about 30 minutes. When finished and installed, I configure login data, language, keyboard etc. After that, the hackintosh will boot on your laptop. With a capital of no more than 4 million, you can already enjoy Hackintosh.