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OLD Sony Vaio - can I install OSX on it?


noobishjoe

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Hello,

I have a Sony Vaio VGN FE41E (yes, I know it's a 8 years old model) and I was wondering if there's any way I can install OSX on it (obv. I won't expect to run the latest). Any version will do, I just want to get used with the system before purchasing a MacBook (that's gonna happen in about 1 year). The laptop's specs can be found here : http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-vaio-vgn-fe41e-15-4-core-2-duo-t5500-vista-home-premium-1-gb-ram-120-gb-hdd/specs/. It has 2 GB ram. Thanks a lot.

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Thank you for your quick answer Bronteck. Well, I hope someone might have that info related to arch as well. I was about to throw the laptop in the garbage sack because it's too old, but now I really have hope that I can use it to actually learn something useful.
Can you recommend me an installation guide for my specs? I know there are many videos on youtube and similar sites related to hackintosh, I just don't know if they are useful based on my configuration. Thank you so much for your time once again.

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you can try with the d620 nvidia boot pack here http://www.osxlatitude.com/edp/compatibility/ but the dsdt.aml might not work for your system, the rest should though in theory.  I recall VAIO being a bit of a pain to hack; but its worth a shot if it brings new life to an older machine. The link has a boot pack for both snow and lion. if the d620 nvidia pack does not work you can try one of the other D620 gma packs depending on your native screen resolution. if i recall the differences are in the org.chameleon.Boot.plist options and DSDT. you can also try a newer chameleon boot loader as they have added graphics support over the years. i hope it will fully detect your graphics in the boot loader instead of having to maybe use EFI strings or NVenabler kexts. it's been a long while since i have dealt with that hardware and my memory is not as good as it used to be. :) as apple is constantly dropping support for hardware as OS X progresses. as what might work in lets say 10.6.0 might not work the same as in 10.6.3/4. it's up to you if your up too a good challenge.

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I can confirm Bronxteck's statements. Due to chipset/GPU, this old laptop will only support OS X in 32bit kernel mode so the upper limit is Lion 10.7.5. You may attempt ML with the special MLPF hack but it's kind of awkward and a little buggy anyway. Best to stick to a full vanilla installation.

 

The GeForce 7400 should be supported by the standard nVidia kexts (NV40 architecture from memory) but getting full graphics acceleration may require a DSDT patch or an EFI string injection (more or less the same effect), indeed as per the Dell Latitude D620/D820.

 

No Intel wireless card will be supported and would therefore have to be replaced by a supported model in order to enjoy wireless networking.

 

Regarding an installation guide, I invite you to consult the myHack-based installation instructions found in the EDP->Documentation page.

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