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HacBook Elite is a $329 macOS machine, how long before China gets at it too?

Yash GargAugust 30, 2016

Earlier today, I came across a news bit which talked about a new ‘company’ that’s offering a ‘MacBook’ (Hackintosh) for $329.

This is around 1/3rd the price of a similar MacBook that Apple offer. The HacBook Elite is essentially an HP laptop hacked to run macOS, of course illegally because the makers of the macOS don’t allow that.

This made me wonder. What’s stopping small-time Chinese OEMs (that are so small that Apple wouldn’t waste time chasing them) from doing similar stuff? For all we know, (knowing Chinese manufacturers) we could be in for a $200 later this year.

Or perhaps someone could port macOS onto the Mi Notebook, just for the kick of it?

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After Windows + Android powered tablets, we’re starting to see near-fully functional laptops from Chinese OEMs. It feels like it’s only about time that a hackintosh revolution takes over the Chinese laptop sphere!

Something like a 2K 13-inch ‘HacBook Elite alternative’ machine with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and the usual others for $300? Or 15-inch ‘budget’ machine with 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD for $200? I don’t see why that can’t happen.

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About the author
Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91

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Michael Ogbonnaya
August 30, 2016
I have been hacking MacOS X into my HP laptop since the days of Leopard and Snow Leopard. This isn’t new. Currently I’m running the Yosemite on my current laptop with much better specifications than the so called Hackbook Elite.
I’d rather just buy a regular laptop and install any MacOS X of choice therein.
- NextHype
  August 30, 2016
  Thanks for your sincerity, Mr Ogbonnaya. Please don’t evade your country in the next weeks as our lawyers will get in touch with you to drain your incomes.
  Apple
  - - NextHype
      August 30, 2016
      Thanks for your comment Mr Yasir. As from now on our lawyers will pressure every Chinese OEM to make sure there will NEVER be any cheap gaming laptop built in this country.
      Apple
      - Dante
        August 30, 2016
        Haha theres still India – But im afraid that Indian Call Center Scammers will have some participation in it – Plus the quality would be shte
        Plus Apple Doesnt even have a gaming laptop

Wolvie
August 30, 2016
They are really daring crazy to openly selling a hackintosh to pubic. Apple will chase them with a team of their high paying lawyers and make sure they pay dearly for what they are doing now.
What i want to know if they really hack the hardware for those HP notebook into a real original MAC machine so OSX thumbdrive can install natively, or they merely only do the same as before, put fakeSMC to fool the OSX.
If they really can hack/alter the hardware that OSX will think this is the real MAC, then they are quite genius to break the OSX software protection that can only run on real MAC machine. Then probably it is worth to buy from them.
If only use the regular FakeSMC, etc then you better build your own hackintosh as it will be much cheaper with better H/W specification.
- Wolvie
  August 30, 2016
  LOL got a damn funny typo, should be “Public” not “Pubic”
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  OS x software protection isnt that hard to break – Considering that majority of Skylake/Haswell… Cpu’s Run it great (tho on Igpu) Considering that future macbooks will use polaris im 100% sure theyll add native support of it
  so all current 4xx series will be usable
  Tho y can use a 280x/7970 ghz edition Without any prob And some 3xx Gpu’s Because apple partially has native driver’s for those because last macbook pro used the r9 m380x
  - Wolvie
    August 31, 2016
    No, what i mean as native is IF (we are talking a very BIG IF here) they somehow can hacked the hardware BIOS until OSX also being fooled to believe that this piece of machine is really a MAC machine so we no need to do manual clover bootloader, FakeSMC, extra non-standard kexts, etc etc.
    The last hackintosh that i did (for fun only) if i can remember correctly is only up up to maverick. After that i really don’t have time to play around with it. Heck i don’t even use MAC for my daily work LOL
    Btw i think you don’t need to use those hack tools to install a real MAC, i never have a real MAC before so i don’t have a clue.
    - Dante
      August 31, 2016
      Nah that was just hardware for Mac’s that needs minimal installation and supports autoupdates (wth some hacks)
Karly Johnston
August 30, 2016
Ancient specs, just buy a used one.

Michael Ogbonnaya
August 30, 2016
I have been hacking MacOS X into my HP laptop since the days of Leopard and Snow Leopard. This isn’t new. Currently I’m running the Yosemite on my current laptop with much better specifications than the so called Hackbook Elite.
I’d rather just buy a regular laptop and install any MacOS X of choice therein.
- NextHype
  August 30, 2016
  Thanks for your sincerity, Mr Ogbonnaya. Please don’t evade your country in the next weeks as our lawyers will get in touch with you to drain your incomes.
  Apple
- Challenge Accepted
- NextHype
  August 30, 2016
  Thanks for your comment Mr Yasir. As from now on our lawyers will pressure every Chinese OEM to make sure there will NEVER be any cheap gaming laptop built in this country.
  Apple
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  Haha theres still India – But im afraid that Indian Call Center Scammers will have some participation in it – Plus the quality would be shte
  Plus Apple Doesnt even have a gaming laptop

Guest
August 30, 2016
They are really daring crazy to openly selling a hackintosh to pubic. Apple will chase them with a team of their high paying lawyers and make sure they pay dearly for what they are doing now.
What i want to know if they really hack the hardware for those HP notebook into a real original MAC machine so OSX thumbdrive can install natively, or they merely only do the same as before, put fakeSMC to fool the OSX.
If they really can hack/alter the hardware that OSX will think this is the real MAC, then they are quite genius to break the OSX software protection that can only run on real MAC machine. Then probably it is worth to buy from them.
If only use the regular FakeSMC, etc then you better build your own hackintosh as it will be much cheaper with better H/W specification.
- Guest
  August 30, 2016
  LOL got a damn funny typo, should be “Public” not “Pubic”
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  OS x software protection isnt that hard to break – Considering that majority of Skylake/Haswell… Cpu’s Run it great (tho on Igpu) Considering that future macbooks will use polaris im 100% sure theyll add native support of it
  so all current 4xx series will be usable
  Tho y can use a 280x/7970 ghz edition Without any prob And some 3xx Gpu’s Because apple partially has native driver’s for those because last macbook pro used the r9 m380x
- Guest
  August 31, 2016
  No, what i mean as native is IF (we are talking a very BIG IF here) they somehow can hacked the hardware BIOS until OSX also being fooled to believe that this piece of machine is really a MAC machine so we no need to do manual clover bootloader, FakeSMC, extra non-standard kexts, etc etc.
  The last hackintosh that i did (for fun only) if i can remember correctly is only up up to maverick. After that i really don’t have time to play around with it. Heck i don’t even use MAC for my daily work LOL
  Btw i think you don’t need to use those hack tools to install a real MAC, i never have a real MAC before so i don’t have a clue.
- Dante
  August 31, 2016
  Nah that was just hardware for Mac’s that needs minimal installation and supports autoupdates (wth some hacks)

Muhammad Yasir
August 30, 2016
“After Windows + Android powered tablets, we’re starting to see near-fully functional laptops from Chinese OEMs.”
Exactly !
THE ONLY THING MISSING IS … cheap gaming laptops from China !
- DEPTHCOREX75
  August 30, 2016
  China isn’t a huge market for gaming laptops, most people in the country play smaller e-sports titles.
  - Muhammad Yasir
    August 30, 2016
    - Dante
      August 30, 2016
      Yes Also Pc parts have pretty hefty markups in china The Biggest man’s Colorful and Palit (palit is great even for western and offer the smallest prices usually but ironically theyre the biggest manufacturer and ahs very good models) Gaming Laptops are very Niche in china since they mostly play light Moba’s So even what you would consider a noname would be expensive or equal to western brands
      Your only chance is An Oem who cares anough about the western market to release it with hefty specs (Xiaomi /Letv?) But china is all about ultrabooks lately so thin chances

balcobomber25
August 30, 2016
It’s very easy to make your own “Hackintosh” there are entire websites set up with guides to which laptops work the best for it.
I think the reason Chinese companies aren’t doing it is because they can now get full Windows license often times for free. There really is no need to use hacked software anymore.
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  There Are some huge compatibility problems with El Capitan And sierra
  Processor are not an issue But the GPU is – Yll need to find a laptop with the r9 m380x / 750m(whch sucks) Youll have to flash a lot of your own stuff for your hardware which isnt particularly a problem put is pretty annoying doing this at every update(in majority of cases which wipes the disk completely)
Guest
August 30, 2016
“After Windows + Android powered tablets, we’re starting to see near-fully functional laptops from Chinese OEMs.”
Exactly !
THE ONLY THING MISSING IS … cheap gaming laptops from China !
- DEPTHCOREX75
  August 30, 2016
  China isn’t a huge market for gaming laptops, most people in the country play smaller e-sports titles.
- Guest
  August 30, 2016
  damn
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  Yes Also Pc parts have pretty hefty markups in china The Biggest man’s Colorful and Palit (palit is great even for western and offer the smallest prices usually but ironically theyre the biggest manufacturer and ahs very good models) Gaming Laptops are very Niche in china since they mostly play light Moba’s So even what you would consider a noname would be expensive or equal to western brands
  Your only chance is An Oem who cares anough about the western market to release it with hefty specs (Xiaomi /Letv?) But china is all about ultrabooks lately so thin chances
balcobomber25
August 30, 2016
It’s very easy to make your own “Hackintosh” there are entire websites set up with guides to which laptops work the best for it.
I think the reason Chinese companies aren’t doing it is because they can now get full Windows license often times for free. There really is no need to use hacked software anymore.
- Dante
  August 30, 2016
  There Are some huge compatibility problems with El Capitan And sierra
  Processor are not an issue But the GPU is – Yll need to find a laptop with the r9 m380x / 750m(whch sucks) Youll have to flash a lot of your own stuff for your hardware which isnt particularly a problem put is pretty annoying doing this at every update(in majority of cases which wipes the disk completely)