Hackintosh: Build a DIY Mac mini

All the cool kids are doing it these days: they’re building Hackintoshes. Since Apple isn’t updating their desktop Macs as often as people want, some Mac users have gone the home-build route, making their own Macs using off-the-shelf parts and hobbyist software.

I have an old Mac mini that could do with a refresh, so I decided to try this out and build a Hackintosh mini. Here’s how it went.

WHY BUILD A HACKINTOSH?

I own a late 2011 Mac mini that I use as a media server to host and stream my Plex video library, and for Time Machine backups. It runs macOS Server, and uses its caching server feature to cache app updates. It’s not connected to a display, and I control it using Screen Sharing. It’s not a workhorse by any means, just an appliance that I use to manage files.

But at more than five years old, I felt it was time for a replacement. One thing this computer is lacking is USB 3; it was released before Apple adopted that protocol. My Plex library is on an external drive and file copies are slow. Streaming high-quality ripped Blu-rays can be problematic because the Mac mini can’t always read data fast enough to keep up.

Given the lack of updates to the Mac mini and the relatively high cost of a