So, I'm a lifelong Windows user but have owned a MacBook Air previously and hackintoshed a previous machine, so have some experience of OSX and know what to expect.

I have a powerful Windows laptop, but I am contemplating whether to buy a used MacBook Pro. I would ideally want one with an i7 processor and RAM that would ideally be upgradeable (ideally to at least 32GB).

Are there any oer MacBook Pro laptops worth considering from the early to mid 2010's that would have an i7 processor as well as upgradeable RAM? Are these upgradeable to the latest OSX?

The use case of the laptop would be for writing in apps Ike Scrivener and Final Draft, but I would likely also use Logic Pro/Cubase from time to time too for making house and techno music, as well as perhaps the odd film score type of track. I also have some friends that use Apple products that's I'd like to collaborate with, so using Logic Pro to do that would be essential as they use it, including some of the built in features and plugins. It would be nice to explore Thunderbolt too and whether my primary use case laptop could be switched over to this when using Thunderbolt for extra devices and connections.

As this would be a secondary machine for specific, fairly low use case, I would ideally want the cheapest route possible (though I appreciate "cheap" and "Apple" don't always go together, hence why I'm looking at older used options).

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2023

the best way to buy a Mac is to see how much money you can dedicate to buying it. After that, you are bargain hunting for the best used machine you can get for that money.

The used market for MacBook Pro will have a ton of supply because so many people are (needlessly) upgrading to m1s or will be soon.

 

"newest" MacBook Pro with upgradeable RAM and SSD is from 2012, and limited to 16GB ram,
last MacBook Pro with regular USB-A ports is from 2015,
oldest MacBook Pro with USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports is from 2016,
current Logic Pro 10.7.6 version requires at least MacOS 12.3 Monterey, expect MacOS 13 Ventura as minimum requirement within a year,
oldest MacBook Pro compatible with current MacOS 13 Ventura is from 2017,
last Intel-based MacBook Pro is from 2019 (2020 for 13" model),
i7 and i9 models overheat crazy and throttle performance, crazy enough "weaker" i7 variants often outperform i9 versions,
older = cheaper,

as you can see, your consideration cannot be made real unless you adjust your demands to what's actually possible

ps: that said, you can always go hackintosh on Apple to make unsupported MacOS versions possible on newer Macs, but similarly as with hackintoshes, it's OpenCore based and limited mostly to graphics compatibility

 

i think you can only upgrade ram to 2012 MBP. From 2013 on, it wasn't possible anymore. to be sure i would also check if this also applies to the retina models or if these weren't upgradable at all.
the last OS for 2012 models should be 10.15 or 10.16 if i remember right.
i upgraded last year from my 2012 MBP to a M1 machine as i was sick of the OS limitations to new Apple Software like Logic or Final Cut.

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2023

LPX is quite restrictive with the minimum MacOS versions so you might run into version conflicts when exchanging projects with others.

 

just hopping in here to recommend that whichever 2nd hand/old macbook you pick up - i highly recommend re-applying the thermal paste!
you can do it yourself if youre tech savvy, or just go to a technician to do it for ya, it helped both me and another friend of mine TREMENDOUSLY in terms of thermals and thus - performance.
a 2017 macbook pro was going fans full power with just a few tabs of chrome -> sent it to a shop where they cleaned it from dust and also re-applied the thermal paste and the difference was night and day. (its generally a good practice with any 2nd hand/old laptop)
goodluck!

 

With OpenCore Legacy Patcher you will get any MBP from 2012 on to run MacOSX even Ventura. I still have my Mid-2012 MBP and upgraded the RAM to 16GB, added an SSD and it’s the one I use in the field to play my stuff. My M1 MBP 14” stays safely at home.

You have experience with hackintoshes, etc., so I hope you find the right solution for your needs.

 

This, my 2011 16" was a fucking powerhouse during its time when I added 16gigs to it. Added an SSD and it was an amazing machine for me... til I had a power surge in my house that fried the battery... and I still have it torn down in a cabinet somewhere. Then I got a 2015 from family and it was not as good and could only do 8gig ram

 

As you already have some experience with installing macOS on generic hardware, maybe a used (gaming) laptop is a solution. At least it is the ONLY solution with upgradeable RAM and/or SSD.

I recently did this on a very cheap 6 year old Acer Laptop with i5-7300 4 core CPU and GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GPU (only the iGPU HD 630 can be used in macOS, but the dGPU can be disabled with OpenCore leaving it useable in Windows). I put in a compatible Broadcom WiFi card which works out of the box and the machine is running Monterey 12.6.2 with Logic 10.7.6 very well. It's got 16GB DDR4 2400 RAM and 1 TB M.2 SSD and an additional 2.5 SATA slot, where my 2TB sample SSD is installed, formerly connected via USB3 externally.

Upgrading RAM to 32GB DDR4 2400 would cost 80 Euros, M.2 and SATA SSDs are also cheap.

Sure it's no stylish MacBook and Intel CPUs are going to be abandoned in the next years, but most gaming laptops have a decent cooling solution which is far superior to any MacBook, so it wont't throttle and stays calm. Also in this case the CPU is rather slow compared to newer ones, but
if you aim for a 9th to 10th generation 6 or 8 core CPU, it will be quite good.

I just read your signature, I think your ASUS GL503GE will also work very well! So you could just start by buying an SSD and reading this: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/

 

With an old MBP, you'll probably run into compatibility issues pretty quickly. Especially when it comes to collaboration and sharing projects.
If it's really important for you to work with Logic and collaborate with others, you should buy a new device and set the specs as high as your budget allows. You won't be able to upgrade later.
Tip: If mobility is secondary, see if a Mac mini might be right for you. More performance for less money.

 

if you open a project from a new version of Logic, it just warns you. I get this all the time when using 10.4 to open newer projects. You will not have problems unless you try using missing features, like EXS or Ultrabeat vs Drum Machine Designer. and obviously Atmos plugins. The 10.5 upgrade is where you see some of these features that got exchanged like Ultrabeat for DMD and EXS for QuickSampler.

 

laptops are still more tricky for hackintoshing than desktops, especially due to lack of dedicated gpu support gaming laptops aren't a good deal for sole MacOS use, and speaking of specs, nowadays 2x32GB DDR4 desktop kit is under 160€, so performance-wise, desktop would be better again,

MacMini is definitely better value than MacBook, but then we're back in desktop comparison where any good hackintosh eats Mac for breakfast

 

Can the OpenCore Legacy Patcher or Hackintosh installer be created on a Windows machine? I have no access to an Apple OSX device (only have an iPad) and those who I know that have an Apple device are very pro-Apple and anti-Hackintosh types of people so would not likely be willing to help create one.

My desktop is not compatible with Windows 11 due to its Core i7 4960X CPU. It also has 64GB RAM, SSDs, and a GTX 1080Ti GPU, so I could Hackintosh that I guess....if I could create an installer

 

This is actually possible: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore...-guide/windows-install.html#downloading-macos

But I have never done that myself because I have several Hackintoshes running and also a real MacBook.

Ivy Bridge CPUs work up to macOS Monterey, your i7 4960X is on a LGA2011 socket which is something special, but it should work. Your GTX 1080 Ti will NOT work with Mojave or later, so you would be stuck to High Sierra which is not very useful today.

 

you can always run MacOS in virtual machine, my favourite way is Proxmox, but that's a bit of overkill for sure,
I do have 1080Ti and I did run hackintosh on it with X99 i7-5820K, limit for nVidia is 1000 series and High Sierra because of Apple vs. nVidia fuckery, with Mojave or anything newer either weak Intel igpus or AMD cards are mandatory,
I also have i7-4770 (and igpu) hackintosh which seems to be compatible with Ventura (though not really usable for daily tasks imo), but Big Sur is good enough on that machine so far to be honest

anyway, let me know if you need a clean MacOS installer, it's no big deal, it's easier to be done within MacOS (but you can go Virtual Machine route to trust your creations), I usually use MacDeployStick free Mac utility to create proper .dmg installer image, then OpenCore bootloader is a separate image to actually boot from

 

those 2012 Macs (be it MBP, MacMini , or cheesegrater MacPro) are also somewhat limited to High Sierra if you want decent performance, so running 1080Ti and High Sierra (which does natively support things like APFS format and NVME SSD boot) still remains a fully functional borderline okay solution for people who already have such PC hardware to fun test things out

 

my 2010 5.1 is "limited" to High Sierra but only because of the GPU. You need a "Metal Compliant" GPU to install Mojave. That is the only difference. It is a big difference though, because most of the applications which are now demanding newer operating system versions demand Mojave. The latest version I have seen as a requirement has been Catalina. That was on literally 1 program so far; most just require Mojave still.

That is a very small list. Of course Final Cut,etc.; but Logic is stuck at 10.4 on a non-Mojave machine. After that it doesn't matter again. If it even matters at all, I'm using 10.4 instead of my laptop which is 10.7 and 7 years newer. But it does not have a dual processor or 64 gig ram, so the 2010 is better for music anyway. If I ran out of CPU on something I guess I would use Audiogridder and the additional i7 for some extra cpu.

If you cannot make music with 10.4 there is another problem. Here, we have a windows user wanting to buy a My Little Pony, and a page later he is building the Death Star; needing Spatial Mixing on an m1+ pro. You can get such a stable and useful Mac so cheaply now.

 

Last edited: Jan 7, 2023

Besides other details already mentioned. The hardest part probably is to find one that can handle 32+GB RAM. There're really good MacBook oldies that are still quite powerful but age is merciless with RAM.

 

So if I was to use my LGA2011 socket X79 Asus Sabertooth motherboard with my Core i7 4960X Extreme Edition CPU and 64GB DDR3 RAM, what is the latest OSX I could install?

I am happy to sell my Nvidia GTX 1080 GPU and replace with something OSX friendly. What's the options for the GPU to get to the latest OSX?

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2023

Ivy Bridge CPUs like yours can run up to macOS Monterey without problems. It is possible to run Ventura with some workarounds, but it's likely that Apple drops this functionality with an update. It's because your CPU is rather old and has no AVX2 instructions, which are used much in Ventura. So Monterey should be ok, it also supports the (at this moment) latest version of Logic Pro 10.7.6.

Most of the AMD GPUs of the last years will work, again Dortania's tutorial is a good resource: https://dortania.github.io/GPU-Buyers-Guide/modern-gpus/amd-gpu.html#native-amd-gpus

Up to Monterey, even quite old cards are still working with full Metal support. For example, I'm using a 10 years old Radeon HD 7750 in an ITX build running Monterey 12.6.2 just fine. Unfortunately, Apple drops support for a lot of older GPUs with Ventura.

So the best option for your X79 i7 4960X should be Monterey I think, as it runs without patching, so SIP (system integration protection) can be kept enabled. And you can get a lot of used cheap AMD graphics cards which will work out of the box without patching.

Please invest some time and read Dortania's guide: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/

You can get all information you need to get your installation up and running in this guide. It's also good that your machine is already running Windows, so you can get hardware and chipset information from there and (important!) get the mapping of your USB ports right.

Again, it's NOT plug and play, but you don't have to be a coder to do this. But as you mentioned you did a "Hackintosh" (I hate this word) install before, you should know what to do if you follow the guide.