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Comment by Samuel_Michon | Hacker News Reader

The author wanted a Mac Pro, but couldn’t wait a few months for it to be released. He could’ve bought an iMac and then sold it when the Mac Pro was available, that would’ve cost him $300 at the most.

Instead, he chose to spend 4 full working days to build a computer that doesn’t work as well as a Mac and can stop working altogether any day with no recourse. A computer that is worth zero in the resale market. A computer that Apple will not service.

By the sound of it, this is the author’s only computer, which he is dependent on to make his living, and it seems he isn’t planning to buy another Mac (even though he is a professional iOS developer).

This is a cautionary tale, an extreme example of being penny wise and pound foolish.

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As I stated in the post I also have a MacBook Air that still functions perfectly for development work. I would never recommend a Hackintosh as a developers sole computer. I also mention that I pursued this route because my gaming pc needs a refresh cpu/mb wise and this can be easily converted by dropping in my existing high end GFX card.

You are right about one thing though, it is a cautionary tale. I wrote it because I didn't see enough showing the pain involved.

In the article, you wrote you gave your MacBook Air to your girlfriend. I guess she doesn’t use it often and you have made separate user accounts?

As for the part about you wanting a gaming PC anyways, I had somehow missed that. (I have to admit I zone out whenever video games are mentioned.)

> seeing as my gaming PC was due for a refresh I figured I could give it a go and if it all went to hell, I’d suffer through the pain then move it to that role when the Mac Pro was ready.

he chose to spend 4 full working days to build a computer

Interesting that you count build time against his billable hours, but not resale time for the canned system. Selling something does not take a negligible amount of time or effort.

I sell a Mac about every year. It takes me under 5 hours of work. That includes formatting the drive and reinstalling OS X, placing the ad, negotiating with buyers, and having them visit to inspect it and seal the deal.

It isn’t skilled work and it’s not taking time away from my actual work. It’s hard to put a price sticker on, just like I don’t calculate how much money I waste by going to a movie.

There is another reason why I didn’t mention the time it takes for resale. From reading the article I got the impression that OP didn’t count the time it took to research the various components of his Hackintosh, the time it took to look them up and order them, and dealing with the delivery. I think those activities easily take longer than reselling a recent Mac.

Interesting that you say selling things isn't skilled work - when you need to know how to get payments, where to list, how best to list, how to deal with purchasers, what the best way to take payment is, figuring out shipping and packaging. These things are skills, and once you know them, sure, it's easy... but you still had to learn those skills.

While I think it's less time overall to resell than build, for sure, I also think you're stacking the deck by handwaving away the time and skills involved in reselling.

Could have got a previous gen off ebay. Lotsa cores, lotsa ram etc.

It's not worth zero.

Looking at eBay listings, lots of used Hackintoshes are offered, but very few are sold.

If OP wanted to successfully sell his computer, he would have to put Windows on it before offering it on eBay. And even then, I don’t think he’d get much more for it than the price of the Windows license.

On the other hand, had OP spent his $800 on a Mac mini, he would be able to sell it for close to retail price. Even after a year, he could easily resell that computer for $600.

Used Apple products do hold their value better than anything - personally I think people pay way too much for used Apple gear, but hey, they have their high-end niche and people are willing to pay for it.

But to say that selling his computer would net him little more than the Windows license is absurd. It wouldn't be Apple resale prices, but he should definitely be able to get %50 back. He'd get the most value by parting out the system.

So what you’re saying is that, of the $850, he’d be able to recoup $425, as long he’s willing to take the computer apart, put all the components back in their boxes (assuming he kept those), listing all the components as separate ads (writing descriptions, taking pictures), communicating with all the buyers and sending out a dozen packages to separate addresses? They will easily take 20 hours. Unless his time is worth less than $22 per hour, he’d be losing money by selling the computer as parts.

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