Apple

It usually just works. I’d rather not have to spend hours in config files to get my linux system setup the way I want. I run linux in a vm. But I say this for a legit mac. If I was going to go to the trouble of running a hackintosh, I probably would just go to linux at that point. But there is the case of mac software too if there is something there that is a must have

A great many people really like OSX; its been a long time since i've daily driven it but there's stuff about the way it works that feels more efficient than windows, and easier than linux. That's not something that appeals to everyone but its obviously worked for a lot of folks.

So back in the day it was about getting to use OSX (and in other cases apps that were OSX only, or just ran better in OSX) but not having to pay so much for the hardware. That's a calculation that to me really only made sense for desktops; as for quite a long time Apple's laptops weren't actually massively more expensive than a similarly spec'd windows laptop.*

Overtime i'd argue that linux desktops have caught up to a lot of what made OSX feel good; but they're not like for like even now. Though take that with a grain of salt as I spend more time in cli/tui nowadays across my macbook, work windows laptop and various linux boxes i've got running :)

*The thing was that the average windows laptop was under-spec compared to a Macbook Pro so the latter always looked way more pricey.

I don't understand why you would want a hackintosh or a mackintosh for that matter. There's linux and openbsd. Sooo what's the advantage? Apple looking ui?

Commercial software on Unix system is appeal for many tech types that would dabble in hackintoshing. If you own some other Apple devices then integration becomes a big factor too. For me personally it's a taste of computing from the old days, I grew up in a world of C64s, Amigas, IBM compatibles. I used everything from FreeBSD, BeOS to hackintoshed MacOS and OpenIndiana as daily drivers. These days I use an M1 Air with MacOS since don't have that much free time.

Not being able to split screen without paying?

https://rectangleapp.com/

To compile stuff for macs without having to buy a mac

IIRC these services are tied to a specific MAC address (from real Macintosh hardware) that has to be whitelisted.

Edit: and it sounds like non-apple wifi cards may only be supported by older OS versions. Since Apple knows the exact configuration of every computer they sell, their OS only supports specific hardware configurations and doesn't have generic drivers. If Apple only sells macs which have a specific proprietary Wi-Fi card integrated on the motherboard than they'll just make it so only that Wi-Fi card is supported. This is similar to the fact that Apple stopped shipping hardware with Nvidia cards, so eventually Nvidia driver support just ceased to exist.

Saw a thread about this on Mastodon earlier, which made the entertaining point that the people who put so much effort into running macOS on non-Apple hardware are now putting as much effort into making Linux run on Apple Silicon. And I’m fine with that.

I have a 15” M2 Air, and it’s the best computer I’ve ever owned. It’s super-fast for my needs, can play most games I’ve thrown at it (at varying degrees of quality, to be fair), and the battery lasts a ridiculous amount of time. But I’m painfully aware that Apple want it to essentially be a big iPad, with their ability to EOL it the same they can an iPad.

Meanwhile, I have a 2014 Mac mini that I use at work and a 2011 13” Pro at home that are both running Sonoma just fine. Once Apple drops Intel support entirely, those two machines will be done with macOS. At that point, I’ll likely put Linux on them, and hopefully Asahi will be in a place that it’ll be great on my M2 Air.

Depends on the nomenclature - some people use OCLP to run new MacOS versions on older Macs and call those Hackintosh too.