Which macOS patcher do I need for my mac mini?

[adrian0883]

While I was working on making a hackintosh machine with my desktop I got my hands on an old mac mini from 2007. It was thrown out and I want to see what I can do with it.

This one:

Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 1.83 Specs (Mid-2007, MB138LL/A, Macmini2,1, A1176, 2108): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 1.83. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

I upgraded the 80GB HDD to a 320GB HDD that I had in my stash and the ram from 2GB to 4GB, but I wanted to know if there is a way to go past macOS 10.7 Lion. I see there's a lot of patchers, but I have NO clue as to which one I need for my system. Can someone guide me in the right direction?

Sidenote: This is a project. It's not a necessity. My Xeon workstation will still be my main system. I just want to play with this thing and learn macOS in the process.

 

[wicknix]

You can install 10.8 with MacPostFactor, but when i did it on the same machine, video playback lagged badly, and you really don't gain anything over 10.7. Personally, i'd recommend 10.6 on it for Rosetta support, and it'll be a bit more nimble.

 

[theMarble]

@wicknix I don't personally recommend using MacPostFactor as there is no hardware acceleration. NexPostFacto is the better option in this case.

NexPostFacto 10.8 32-bit is the higher you can go on a 2007 mini. The Merom CPU and GMA 950 are too old to run the dosdude1 and OpenCore patchers, since they need 64-bit firmware, which the 2007 mini doesn't have.
There is no way to hack a 64-bit EFI onto a 2007, it's a hardware limitation and you could brick the Mac in the process.

Both of those patchers can take a supported Mac up to modern macOS versions (Catalina for dd1, Ventura for OC), but the oldest Mac mini they support is the 2009 mini, which has a 64-bit EFI and a decent GPU (GeForce 9400M).

Sidenote, the GMA 950 is not (and wasn't when it was new) a good video chip by any stretch of the word. I would personally stick with Snow Leopard (10.6), which not only is much faster than 10.7 and 10.8, but also is way more reliable (in my opinion) and supports PowerPC apps with Rosetta. You can run Chromium Legacy (which is the newest Early Intel Mac browser) on 10.7 Lion, however performance on practically any modern website will be abysmal thanks to the GMA 950.

 

[wicknix]

NextPostFacto wasn't available a few years ago when i did the upgrade. Good to know hardware acceleration is fixed. Still not worth the 10.8 upgrade in my opinion however.

 

[adrian0883]

I see that the upgrade is not worth it with my hardware so I will avoid it, but do I need to downgrade my OS? I installed 10.7 from the start. Would 10.6 be a better option and where can I obtain it?

 

[Amethyst1]

Would 10.6 be a better option and where can I obtain it?

You can find an install DVD image here (second download).

 

[adrian0883]

You can find an install DVD image here (second download).

Thank you very much!

 

[Amethyst1]

The Merom CPU and GMA 950 are too old to run the dosdude1 and OpenCore patchers, since they need 64-bit firmware, which the 2007 mini doesn't have.
There is no way to hack a 64-bit EFI onto a 2007, it's a hardware limitation and you could brick the Mac in the process.

An even bigger roadblock is the lack of SSE4 instructions which Sierra and later versions require and which can't be overcome.

 

[Ctrlos]

Don't bother. I patched Catalina onto my 2011 Mac Mini and it was constantly overheating even when idle. I downgraded it back to High Sierra and it runs like a charm.