In the summer of 2024, I became interested in building my own Hackintosh. I had not used MacOS since 3rd grade at my elementary school, and since then had used primarily Windows with the occasional linux distro attempted every other month. I was so interested that when it was time to upgrade my graphics card, I dropped the NVIDIA 1650 Super for an AMD RX 6600 for better compatibility with macOS, per the Dortania OpenCore Guide. This guide can be a little overwhelming and is not completely up-to-date, but it is a good starting point for anyone wondering if it is even possible to Hackintosh their system.

Within 24 hours, I had a working macOS Sonoma install on my desktop, dual booting with Windows 11. I made my EFI “by hand” per the guidance of Dortania, so that I could learn the basic workings of OpenCore in case of troubleshooting (which there was). Currently, I use OCAT in order to update the EFI in a less time-consuming manner.

After a few hours of tinkering around in this new (to me) macOS world, one question remained in my mind: “What now?” I hadn’t put much thought into what I would actually do with it. Gaming was pretty quickly ruled out. Using macOS for gaming while having a perfectly good Windows setup is like converting your car into a unicycle for commuting to work. For productivity apps, MacOS can be beneficial over Windows. Thing is, Photoshop worked fine on Windows, and I didn’t see myself deciding to pick up Final Cut Pro on a whim.

What I finally ended up utilizing this partition for (after 6 months), in March of 2025, was iOS app development using Xcode. I could develop apps and test them on my actual phone. This was in contrast to the app development I was doing in my Software Design class using Android Studio, relying on only the virtual device to test the feel of my app. Actually being able to swipe and feel how an app would in my hands was very addictive.

I think even if I didn’t find something of value to do with the MacOS partition, the lessons I learned while troubleshooting made the experience both educational and gratifying.

My EFI can be found here.

Skills learned/practiced:

  • EFI bootloader configuration and troubleshooting
  • Understanding of OpenCore and Hackintosh architecture
  • Dual-boot setup and partition management
  • Problem-solving and research using forums and guides
  • Patience and persistence in debugging hardware/software compatibility
  • Using tools like OCAT for EFI management
  • Documentation and sharing solutions with the community