Cheap Intel CPU laptop for MacIntosh setup

[HKPhysicist]

Dear Experts,
I am looking for a cheap Intel CPU (Pentium Gold, Core i3, etc) laptop for setting up as a MacIntosh macOS Sonoma.

Bluetooth must work. Wi-fi is highly preferred.

Please recommend.

 

[Edhawk]

Personally I would look for a Coffee Lake laptop with an 8th or 9th Gen CPU. One that doesn’t have a discrete GPU. An i5 would be a better option than an i3 and probably be more compatible with macOS.

Do not buy a Laptop with a Pentium or Celeron CPU. Get one with an Intel I-core CPU. Apple never used a Pentium or Celeron CPU and the integrated GPU in those CPU‘s are not supported in macOS.

You should be able to replace the WiFi/BT card in the laptop with a compatible Broadcom or Intel card, as long as the original card isn’t soldered to the motherboard.

You need to set a budget to give us some idea of what you are willing to spend, as saying cheap doesn’t tell us anything useful.
You also need to state where you live (Country) otherwise we don’t know which market you will be buying from.

 

[HKPhysicist]

Personally I would look for a Coffee Lake laptop with an 8th or 9th Gen CPU. One that doesn’t have a discrete GPU. An i5 would be a better option than an i3 and probably be more compatible with macOS.

Do not buy a Laptop with a Pentium or Celeron CPU. Get one with an Intel I-core CPU. Apple never used a Pentium or Celeron CPU and the integrated GPU in those CPU‘s are not supported in macOS.

You should be able to replace the WiFi/BT card in the laptop with a compatible Broadcom or Intel card, as long as the original card isn’t soldered to the motherboard.

You need to set a budget to give us some idea of what you are willing to spend, as saying cheap doesn’t tell us anything useful.
You also need to state where you live (Country) otherwise we don’t know which market you will be buying from.

Hello Friend,
I've found this one which is very close to my idea. It is cheap and new!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BS4BP8FB

Can it become a Ryzentosh running macOS 14 Sonoma?
It seems that its bluetooth and wi-fi are too new to be compatible with OpenCore v0.95.

 

[Edhawk]

Of course you can use an AMD laptop. The one you linked looks ok For a budget laptop.

Just check the WiFi/BT card can be replaced with a compatible card.

 

[HKPhysicist]

Of course you can use an AMD laptop. The one you linked looks ok For a budget laptop.

Just check the WiFi/BT card can be replaced with a compatible card.

Hello Friend,
My target CPU is an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U with a built-in GPU.

Does OpenCore support its graphic cores with 2D/3D acceleration?

 

[Edhawk]

OpenCore has nothing to do with GPU support. OpenCore is a boot loader not a graphics driver/kext.

What you should be asking is does NootedRed support the AMD 7000 series APU. I am not sure it does support your target CPU’s integrated GPU. As far as I am aware it supports the APU’s for Raven 1xxx through to 5xxx series APU’s. Plus some 7x30 CPU’s.

The Ryzen 3 7320 you are looking at using doesn’t seem to be supported. So buying that laptop may be risky.

See the IGPU compatibility section on the page linked below.

NootedRed

The AMD iGPU kernel extension.

chefkissinc.github.io

 

[ExtremeXT]

Dear Experts,
I am looking for a cheap Intel CPU (Pentium Gold, Core i3, etc) laptop for setting up as a MacIntosh macOS Sonoma.

Bluetooth must work. Wi-fi is highly preferred.

Please recommend.

Pentiums are not supported. Athlon Golds (Ryzen based only!) are supported though and they're the AMD alternative of Pentium Golds.

Hello Friend,
My target CPU is an AMD Ryzen 3 7320U with a built-in GPU.

Does OpenCore support its graphic cores with 2D/3D acceleration?

Unsupported. And again, I've told you in the other thread, OpenCore is a bootloader, unrelated to the GPUs that macOS supports.