Comment by linguae

I used to love macOS in the 2000s and 2010s. I never made a Hackintosh but I was always intrigued by them. Before WSL was introduced, the Mac was the best platform for people who needed to use proprietary software packages such as Microsoft Office and the Adobe Creative Suite while running Unix. There was (and still is) a lot of native software on the Mac that is well-polished, such as OmniGraffle and Keynote.

Times have changed, though. While macOS still provides a more consistent user experience, IMO, than Windows or Linux, Windows with WSL means I can run Microsoft Office and other proprietary apps alongside a seamlessly integrated Linux environment without needing to SSH into a VM. The popularity of Electron apps undercuts the Mac’s consistency while also making Linux a more viable option since Linux can run the same Electron apps macOS and Windows do. Microsoft Office is now available as a Web app via Microsoft 365; while I prefer the macOS and Windows versions to the in-browser version, the in-browser version gives Linux users access to Office. I also believe macOS’s Unix environment has not kept up with advances made in the BSD and Linux world. Windows can be quite annoying with its notifications, but unfortunately the Mac in recent years also has annoying notifications; I know this because I use a work-issued MacBook Pro regularly.

In my opinion, the most compelling reason for a Hackintosh in 2024 is for Intel Mac users reliant on Mac software tools to still use them without being restricted to Apple’s hardware. The 2019 Mac Pro is still very expensive, and Apple’s ARM lineup requires paying substantial sums of money for RAM upgrades with no workaround since there are no DIMMs.