The realm of the Hackintosh is quickly coming to an end. As Apple turns away from Intel in favour of their own silicon, Hackintosh creators are on borrowed time. However, that isn't stopping to YouTuber Iketsj from making a mind-blowing handheld Mac that looks straight out of Star Trek.
Iketsj's handheld Mac
Revealed in a YouTube video on their channel, hardware modder Iketsj has created the world’s first handheld Mac. As fans clamor for Apple to bring MacOS to iPad for true portable computing, this YouTuber has created the dream of a (kinda) pocket-sized Mac.
Housed in a 3D printed shell, the portable Mac runs MacOS Big Sur, Apple’s latest commercial OS. Inside the plastic chassis, the PC is powered by a LattePanda Alpha board, an Intel Core m3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 240GB SSD.
Furthermore, the pocket ‘puter has on-board controls that seem usable in a pinch. Every physical button is part of a membrane dome keyboard. As we all know, dome keyboards are far cool ideal. However, a double of side-mounted USB ports means any keyboard will be functional on the device.
Unfortunately, not everything works on Iketsj's handheld Mac. In the video, it's revealed that the battery indicator isn't functional. The YouTuber did take a battery from a Chuwi notebook for the build, but it seems like a software error. Other than that, the device appears to be fully functioning.
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Why did he do this?
Towards the end of the video, the YouTuber explains that he's aware of the device’s impracticality. Hackintosh devices are going the way of the dodo, and there's already cheaper devices that come pre-built he could use. The YouTuber simply wanted something to do.
He said:
“Maybe you'll say that a handheld MacOS is not practical. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, sure, you're right, I just want[ed] to make one for myself. Besides, I think I'll mostly use this as a Mac mini. Oh, for that price you could've bought an M1 Mac Mini instead. I know! But where’s the fun in that?”
The device’s impracticality as a handheld Mac is pretty funny, but it's nice to see Iketsj just doing something for the sake of it. No matter how well it goes down, all I see is some weird modern Star Trek datapad.
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