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Making Your Own Mac

RossoA

RossoA

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Has anyone ever made their own Apple computer?

I was just wondering if it was possible, and if it is, what people used to do it.

Thanks 🙂
 
Even if you could find all the parts that would be supported by OSX drivers, the EULA of OSX prohibits running it on anything but apple hardware
 
Over the years there have been a couple of non-apple mac os computers, some sanctioned some not, but currently the only way to "have a mac" is to get one apple has made.
 
THere are folks that hack together old macs, but it's not like building a windoze or linux box from scratch.
 
To people with the really useful posts, you really need something better to do with your lives than be useless on a forum.

To the answers, right, cool, I wasn't looking to make anything anyway, as I'm happy with my iMac and Macbook, but I was just pondering whether or not it had been done.
 
pretty much atm the only way to build your own mac is to build your own mac pro on the online apple store. lots of configs to choose from 🙂. unfortunately the mac pros are a hole in the pocket so hopefully a customisable mac mini or a mid range mac will come out soon.
 
Theoretically it is possible to make your own mac but it would have to run off an intel processor.
 
If you're talking about building an Apple machine from proper Apple parts, then you can install OS X on to it, it'd be more expensive than just buying a new one.

If you mean cobble together a PC with generic parts and then install OS X then it's pretty pointless as you'd have driver issues and stuff. Breaking the SLA of OS X is mainly a moral issue as I doubt Apple would chase you legally.

But you'll get no help from people on MacRumours as it's against forum rules to ask for help hacking.
 
Well back in 2000 we threw together and LCII, Apple II and a G3 powermac all together in the AppleII case. Thats not really building from scratch...though.
 
You can buy a PC motherboard and install OS X on it after a lot of messing about. But then you just have a PC running OS X.

If you wanted a Mac, you'd need a Mac logic board with EFI (not a BIOS chip on it). Which would mean getting hold of one of those. The only way to do that is to buy a Mac, or steal one from their Chinese factory.
 
I'm a repair tech for sony and asus, and after doing some research regarding disassembly and reassembly....

looks VERY easy to me...😎

But cost in attaining parts and the time it takes to receive the parts...that's a turn off. But putting together a mac/macbook from scratch should take maybe 20 min at most.
 
bartelby said:
But you'll get no help from people on MacRumours as it's against forum rules to ask for help hacking.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there'd be some people who could help me...

...Oh, and as far as forum rules are concerned, is there any point being on this forum if you can't freely discuss stuff about Apple and it's computers. If what you say about hacking is true though, there are about 500 iPhone hacking threads that you should close.

It's not like Apple likes these forums anyway? Why are the mods so bitchy about stuff? 😕

Theoretically it is possible to make your own mac but it would have to run off an intel processor.
Click to expand...

So, theoretically, I could buy a 3.0GHz Intel Duo Core Extreme and create a Mac in 20 mins.

Sounds good.
 
RossoA said:
I'm sure there'd be some people who could help me...

...Oh, and as far as forum rules are concerned, is there any point being on this forum if you can't freely discuss stuff about Apple and it's computers. If what you say about hacking is true though, there are about 500 iPhone hacking threads that you should close.

It's not like Apple likes these forums anyway? Why are the mods so bitchy about stuff? 😕
Click to expand...

I quite agree about the iPhone threads.
 
RossoA said:
Then, friend, you have quite little the life if you actually care and think that people shouldn't be allowed to talk about stuff like that.
Click to expand...

he just stated the forum rules and made you aware of them. then agreed with you about the iphone threads. he's not a mod so he can't close them

don't state "you have quite little the life" as that is not kind
 
swiftaw said:
Even if you could find all the parts that would be supported by OSX drivers, the EULA of OSX prohibits running it on anything but apple hardware
Click to expand...

I knew somebody was going to raise this objection, having seen this question and similar replies before.

What I don't understand is what constitutes "Apple hardware." Does Apple manufacture any of the components that go into a Macintosh or does Apple provide the artistry that lets components from other manufacturers work well together?

On a similar vein, if Apple doesn't want people running OS X on computers they've built, isn't it a bit contradictory to design software that lets people run Windows on "non-Microsoft hardware"?
 
If you buy OS X, there is nothing illegal about putting it on a PC if you can manage it. It may be against an EULA clause, but that's not a contract—and more importantly it isn't legally binding...at least not in this country (USA).

They can "not support" such use. That's well within their power. They can make it difficult to install on non-apple hardware, and they have done that. But it isn't illegal and there will never be a court case where Apple is suing a user for buying a copy of OS X off the shelf and installing it on non-Apple branded hardware. Because they know they would lose such a case before it ever even made it to a full trial.

And if we can talk about "unsupported" iphone stuff on this forum, then we can talk about running OS X on a PC. And yes, you can do it. The hard part is the EFI-emulation. It's been mostly solved, but of course Apple can break any 3rd party solutions with an "update" to OS X. (Sound familiar?)

If you know what you're doing, you can make a very nice machine and run OS X on it with minimal consequences. It will take a while to get it working, though, and you need some experience dealing with drivers and hardware, but it works. Since OS X arrived on intel processors, it has gotten a lot easier and better. I have seen a couple "generic" macs that are a good bit faster than your average mac pro and cost less.
 
You can't "build a Mac" unless you work on Apple's production line. It's like asking if you can build a Dell. It's impossible - you can build an x86 compatible computer which can run all the same software if you want, but that won't make it Apple/Dell branded hardware.
 
swiftaw said:
Even if you could find all the parts that would be supported by OSX drivers, the EULA of OSX prohibits running it on anything but apple hardware
Click to expand...

I just don't understand how buying all parts you can get in a Mac Pro and then putting them in your own case with OS X is any different than buying a MP from Apple. (As far as "Apple Hardware" is concerned.)
 
On the whole osx86 thing, I have a theory..........I mean why do apple give away apple stickers with things if not to stick onto non apple hardware ? 🙂 Perhaps secretly maybe they support such things!!!
 
one of my best mates put OS X 10.4 on an AMD4200+ using osx86

he says it took him ages to find all the relevant drivers, and ran natively very fast.


so in short, if you trowl through the internet, you can find out how to put OS X on any hardware, but i suspect it would be easier if you researched first and then bought your parts carefully

:apple:
 
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