Virtual Apple Mac OS a thing or just buy the hardware

[bunchofkeys]

I'm in a position where i need to learn how to be an administrator in the world of Mac OS. I've never dabbled with the OS on a Mac and so this is a vulnerability that i need to address.
Working in world of IT i know my way around a MS Windows OS like the back of my hand, but I'm absolutely stumped with Macs.
Ideally there would be an online version of the OS that i could play around with, instead of having to go and buy the hardware, does such a thing exist?

Otherwise, what's the oldest/cheapest hardware that i could buy, to support the most relevant version of the OS?
Since the introduction of the M1 chip has the OS changed to accommodate, or can i look at getting an older Intel Mac (or is this too old)?

[Magnum 475]

I recently picked up a base M2 Mac Mini for £320 from Apple’s official refurbished store. So full Apple Warranty & support. Not the fastest Mac, but my use doesn’t need speed.

Could be ideal for your situation.

[megaphone]

Only the most recent Intel Macs will run the latest OS, and they will not be supported for much longer, usually around 6-7 years after production. I would look at an M1 minimum. Do you want a laptop or desktop? MacBook Air or Mac mini would be a good choice.

That said there is a way of running the latest OS on an older Mac using a patch, I have done it with some success. Loads on YouTube

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher...

You could buy a cheap Mac and try it, check the compatibility though as not all older Macs will work.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 16th May 10:52

[EmailAddress]

You can lease/ rent cloud hosted Macs to the spec you wish if you can put it under a Business account.

Needs a fairly durable connection obvs.

[trebnamo]

Depending on how valuable your time is, you could consider trying to set up a Hackintosh: https://hackintosh.com/

Alternatively there are 2nd hand Apple silicon Mac Minis for £200+, either on ebay or from cex: https://uk.webuy.com/search?stext=mac%20mini

About six years ago I was where you are, having changed jobs to a place that mandated macOS. I jumped in and forced myself to get used to it as a daily driver, nowadays I hardly touch Windows. Window management is a pain (although there is native window management in the OS as of Sequoia) and a lot of things are counter-intuitive, but getting over the early hurdles is worth the effort. Gestures are well worth learning as they make the OS really flow for me.

[bunchofkeys]

Hardware, probably a laptop. Just so i'm not stuck in my home office.
This means i could sit on the sofa and piss about in the OS, whilst the missus watches drivel on the TV and we can "spend time" together.

[bunchofkeys]

EmailAddress said:

You can lease/ rent cloud hosted Macs to the spec you wish if you can put it under a Business account.

Needs a fairly durable connection obvs.

Thank you. Unfortunately i'm not a powerful director that can put this through a business account. Seems quite steep too (first example found in a Google search) at 74 euros per month for a M1. I though it would be much cheaper than that.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Friday 16th May 12:05

[bunchofkeys]

trebnamo said:

Depending on how valuable your time is, you could consider trying to set up a Hackintosh: https://hackintosh.com/

Alternatively there are 2nd hand Apple silicon Mac Minis for £200+, either on ebay or from cex: https://uk.webuy.com/search?stext=mac%20mini

About six years ago I was where you are, having changed jobs to a place that mandated macOS. I jumped in and forced myself to get used to it as a daily driver, nowadays I hardly touch Windows. Window management is a pain (although there is native window management in the OS as of Sequoia) and a lot of things are counter-intuitive, but getting over the early hurdles is worth the effort. Gestures are well worth learning as they make the OS really flow for me.

Thanks for the link, much appreciated

[bunchofkeys]

Magnum 475 said:

I recently picked up a base M2 Mac Mini for £320 from Apple’s official refurbished store. So full Apple Warranty & support. Not the fastest Mac, but my use doesn’t need speed.

Could be ideal for your situation.

That's an ideal price, i suspect that laptops will be a great deal more?

[bunchofkeys]

megaphone said:

Only the most recent Intel Macs will run the latest OS, and they will not be supported for much longer, usually around 6-7 years after production. I would look at an M1 minimum. Do you want a laptop or desktop? MacBook Air or Mac mini would be a good choice.

That said there is a way of running the latest OS on an older Mac using a patch, I have done it with some success. Loads on YouTube

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher...

You could buy a cheap Mac and try it, check the compatibility though as not all older Macs will work.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 16th May 10:52

Ok, so a M1 laptop it is then. Thank you

[vaud]

bunchofkeys said:

Ok, so a M1 laptop it is then. Thank you

The M1 is a surprisingly capable piece of kit.

[Magnum 475]

bunchofkeys said:

That's an ideal price, i suspect that laptops will be a great deal more?

Check the Apple UK Refurbished store. The stock changes constantly, but usually some good deals, especially if you check back regularly.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/refurbished/mac

[cb31]

bunchofkeys said:

Ok, so a M1 laptop it is then. Thank you

You could get a cheap M series Mac mini and then Remote Desktop or ssh into the Mac from your Windows laptop, may be cheaper than a Mac laptop

[wyson]

I never tire of threads where Apple is the answer.

Just to confirm, any M chipped Mac will do.

Definitely don’t get an Intel chipped one, Apple Silicon is soooo superior, its not even funny.

[Captain_Morgan]

Just a cheaper option given your planning to learn the system and evaluate you could:

Buy a older intel Mac, I have a 2013 mbp with a dead battery and it runs sequoia if a touch slow to boot up.

Look at Opencore legacy patcher.

An overview from 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGR2qGw9lG8

A shorter update on the latest Sequoia & Opencore legacy patcher:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAwi09UB-nY

This means instead of £250-300 for a M1 you have options to learn with a £50-100 intel device & if it works you can shift to M platforms in the future.

[Uncle Meat]

You might not need to buy any new hardware.

I used to run Mac OS VMs on my (intel) laptop
https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-macos-virtu...

However, I'm not sure if this still works as it's been a few years since I used it.

[bunchofkeys]

A bit of spec creep, so 16GB instead of 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD instead of 128GB, but my 13" MacBook Air arrive today from Back Market.
£470 for a pristine condition unit, i must admit, they do look nice. 91% max battery capacity and 193 Cycle count, i don't know if that's good or not.
If i went with a "good" condition with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD it would have been a lot cheaper, however it is possible that this laptop could be used later for something, and so the higher spec would be beneficial.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Friday 30th May 11:39

[vaud]

Good call. Operating systems only ever take more RAM; good future proofing and good for resale.

[megaphone]

Now you have to get used to the Mac ways, there is a thread 'sticky' at the top of the forum. You may get frustrated at first as some obvious Windows things aren't the same.

1st thing to do is enable right click for the track pad and mouse if you use one. Also enable 'tap to click' on the track pad.

[wyson]

My 16GB MB Pro complained of low ram for the first time after enabling Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence is useless now, but might develop. In that case, I'd probably be looking at 32GB machines, although I do some intense work on mine.

With Apple Intelligence, I think 16GB is the new 8GB. Apple definitely didn't make 16GB the base spec on all new machines out of the goodness of their hearts.

Edited by wyson on Friday 30th May 12:25