Why you shouldn’t Hackintosh a laptop…
One exceeding common question we get in the Hackintosh community is “What laptops are good for OS X?” Well…a MacBook Pro. Hackintoshing on a laptop is very difficult, for a number of reasons. The hardware is a lot more customized by the manufacturer, so it’s a lot harder to find a machine with all the right parts. Moreover, Apple makes really good laptops. You may be able to find a laptop with the same specs for cheaper than a MacBook, but you’d be hard-pressed to find something of the same build quality and reliability.
Why you totally should anyway…
Because you can. I don’t recommend that anyone purchase a laptop specifically for Hackintoshing. However, if you’ve already got a laptop, or are going to buy a Windows laptop anyway, go for it. Because it is a lot less popular, there is moreHackintoshh support for laptops at least one generation old (I’m seeing stuff generally up to Ivy bridge now). The more people with machines trying stuff though, the better the support can get.
What to expect…
You will almost certainly have to replace your wifi card to get wireless see Hackintosh WiFi.
The next main issue is graphics. A limited number of integrated graphics chips are supported. HD 2500, 3000, 4000, 4400 and 4600 are all working at this point. More may be supported in the future.
Discrete graphics cards generally cannot be used because of the graphics switching technology, Optimus, is incompatible with OS X. This means that your battery would be drained extremely quickly if you used your card. To get around this, most users simply disable their graphics card in the BIOS.
You may also have to install a PS/2 interface driver for your keyboard and mouse to work. This means that you may have to use a USB keyboard and mouse to get through the installation process.
Other than this, the installation process is the same as with a desktop.
There certainly can and probably will be other issues, so don’t get into this unless you have the knowledge and the desire to push through and solve them. As always, if you have any questions for me you can leave them in the comments.
Some good Hackintosh laptop resources
Hackintosh Shop Laptops have some collection of Hackintosh compatible laptops.
OS X Latitude – It is an entire site dedicated to Hhackintoshing laptops. They even have some customized installer software. Definitely worth checking out.
Insanelymac’s Netbook Section – This forum is pretty small, but it does have a lot of advanced users and guides.
Macbreaker’s Laptop Guide – Macbreaker has listed some compatible laptops. They’re a bit dated though.
Tonymac’s Laptop Section – I am not a fan on Tonymac at all, but their laptop section is actually pretty good.