The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is about the only  Hackintosh alternative under $300. and it’s one of the easiest MacOS installs. It is vintage 2011, but it does have an Intel Core i5-2540M 2.60 GHz Dual-core processor that may be my fastest computer at the moment. I was looking for a 13″ screen lightweight laptop that traveled well. It has a 12.5″ screen and weighs 3.8 pounds. I found a refurb on Newegg for $155 and a MAC OS X compatible WiFi card for $13.

Mac OS X Mojave 10.14 (9/24/18) does not easily support the ThinkPad X220 hardware. Therefore, Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 (9/25/17) is what I will install with no plans to upgrade. I will use the McDonnel Tech guide for installation.

1. Install the modified BIOS version 1.46 to remove the whitelist check and permit the installation of the Dell DW1510 WiFi card. Mac OS must be installed before installing the WiFi card.
2. Create a USB installer using an existing Mac OS X computer following the guide.

I’m using the guide from tonymacx86 and a computer with an Asus P5KPL-CM motherboard, an E5300 @ 2.6GHz with 4 GB of memory.

1. Follow guide. There was no ACHI mode in my BIOS so I skipped that part
2. Boot iBoot and follow guide to install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard from CD
3. Download Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update and MultiBeast for Snow Leopard
4. The network did not work so I added a network card (?) and it worked

Getting Started

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Links

Here are my solar panels.

Here is my plan.

PV Array Tilt Angle Calculator. (13 – 59 degrees)

Voltage Drop Calculator

Build a DIY Solar Tracker

Build A DIY Solar Tracker video.

Where to place your Solar Panels? video.

SunCalc.

Convert Amp hour to Watt hour