Dualbooting a ProBook/EliteBook with OSX & Win

[alexl102]

Apologies if this is the wrong section for this!

In my last thread on the MacBook Pro section I asked for suggestions of what to replace my dying MBP2011 with, as my budget's not big and I could do with a little more power. One person suggested buying a second-hand HP ProBook/EliteBook and putting OSX on it.

I'd like to know more about this, but I have no knowledge/understanding/experience with the ProBook or EliteBook so wondered if someone could help me with just a few questions?

1. What's the difference between Pro and Elite? Is the Elite better?

2. What is involved in putting OSX on one of these machines? I presume it's not just putting my hard drive in and booting it up?

3. Is it possible to dualboot with both Windows and OSX? Will it run smoothly on both? Can I put OSX on and then restore that partition from my Time Machine backup?

4. How much scope is there for upgrading the insides? The user on the previous thread suggested it was possible to do so, but I wasn't sure if it was just RAM/Hard drive capacity or if there's more flexibility.

Thanks so much

 

[BrianBaughn]

Based on the wording of your question I'd say your a long way from successfully having macOS on the HP. Just take a look at this forum at tonymacx86.com and see if it looks like fun to you.

 

[alexl102]

Thanks Brian. You're right - tricky. Cheers!

 

[Hater]

1. What's the difference between Pro and Elite? Is the Elite better?

Yep, with ZBook being the top of the range Xeon/64GB RAM workhorse. elitebooks generally have better (1080/4k) screens, ProBooks tend to be cheaper but are more basic specs wise.

2. What is involved in putting OSX on one of these machines? I presume it's not just putting my hard drive in and booting it up?

Yep. You boot up the USB key installer, run a few prebuilt scripts once the install is done and it works fine. The good thing about the HP laptops is that they're well supported, other laptops are generally a bit of a fiddle to get working.

Here's the specific ProBook guide:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...book-zbook-using-clover-uefi-hotpatch.232948/

It looks daunting at first, but it's really not that hard. Make a USB key, install MacOS (same as a real Mac) then run some scripts from a git repo.

3. Is it possible to dualboot with both Windows and OSX? Will it run smoothly on both? Can I put OSX on and then restore that partition from my Time Machine backup?

Heaps of people dual boot them. I don't. Yep you can restore user settings from a Time Machine backup.

4. How much scope is there for upgrading the insides? The user on the previous thread suggested it was possible to do so, but I wasn't sure if it was just RAM/Hard drive capacity or if there's more flexibility.

They're business laptops, theyre intended to be upgraded. It really depends on which model you get, but I've replaced the screen on mine (gone from 720p to an 1080p screen) and replaced the wireless with an AC+ card. The CPU's are not soldered or anything funny like that so you can drop in faster processors too, but I didn't have to do this as mine came the highest spec CPU as far as Ivy bridge i7's go.

It's worth noting, in order for wireless to work you will need to replace the wireless card it comes with with one that is compatible with AirPort. Mine cost me $15.

The best thing about them being modular is that if they break, they're easy to fix, and being business machines, parts are available everywhere.

 

[alexl102]

Thanks Hater, that's amazing.