The LattePanda Alpha is a tiny computer that measures about 4.3″ x 3.1″ x 0.5″ and a starting price of $298, but which has the same processor as an entry-level 2016 MacBook or 2017 Microsoft Surface Pro.

LattePanda ran  a Kickstarter campaign last year to raise money for the Alpha, and earlier this month the company started taking pre-orders for folks that missed out on the crowdfunding campaign.

It supports Windows 10 or Linux. But hackers have also figured out how to install macOS on the mini computer, making it one of the smallest Hackintoshes around.

One thing to keep in mind is that macOS isn’t officially supported. In fact, Apple doesn’t support installing macOS on anything other than an Apple computer. But people have been finding ways to do it on their own for years.

But if you’re willing to throw caution to the wind, there are two excellent YouTube videos that outline the process, one from Novaspirit Tech, and another from ETA PRIME.

A few things you should know before attempting to install macOS 10.14 Mojave on the LattePanda Alpha:

  • On-board WiFi doesn’t work, so you’ll either need to use an Ethernet connection or a USB WiFi adapter.
  • The OS can be installed on an M.2 SSD or a SATA drive with an appropriate adapter. But it doesn’t run from eMMC.
  • As of October 29th, onboard audio doesn’t work. That may be fixed soon, but in the meantime you may be able to get by with a USB audio adapter.

Update: Audio is now working.

The LattePanda Alpha features an Intel Core M3-7Y30 processor, 8GB of RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMi and 3.5mm audio jacks, and three  USB 3.0 Type-A ports and one USB Type-C port.

It has a microSD card slot and 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2.

The system is designed to be a hacker-friendly development board, much like the Raspberry Pi and many other single-board computers, so it also has two rows of GPIO pins and an Arduino Leonardo coprocessor.

The $298 starting price is for a model with no operating system and no eMMC storage. You can also pay more for a version with 64GB of eMMC storage and/or a Windows 10 Pro license.

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9 replies on “LattePanda Alpha Hackintosh: you can install macOS on this tiny PC”

  1. This seems cool but with no wifi you can’t use watch to unlock and probably handoff and a huge number of other OSX features. For 298 it’s not quite there. They get that stuff working and I’ll definitely buy one.

    1. It seems that with the correct WiFi card (type M.2 E-Key) it could be possible to add WiFi, and maybe BT. No guarantees though as I ha ent done it yet.

  2. This is basicly the same system as the GPD pocket 2. Could the same steps be taken to get osx running on that?

  3. There was a time when I would build one of these just for kicks. I no longer have the free time or extra cash. 🙁

  4. Pretty cool but with Apple’s party tomorrow a new Mac Mini might be on its way. If that happens and if that new Mac Mini is somewhat reasonably priced than I’d probably stretch to get official hardware that I know I’d get support and updates for.

    1. “if that new Mac Mini is somewhat reasonably priced”

      Ha ha, good one.

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