Laptop Model Advice

Hi all,

This is my first post on here, so apologies in advance if the format or content is incorrect. (I'll try and do better next time!)

I've been looking for a new laptop for university to replace my base model MacBook Pro that I currently have, as the hardware just isn't up to the work that I use it for. I'm tied to using MacOS for the work that I do, but I decided I wanted to try and build a Hackintosh rather than just get another MacBook for a number of reasons - 1. Less expensive; 2. Better hardware options; 3. Better repairability (the battery on my MacBook has just died and it's a minimum 2 hour job to replace it); 4. I'm hoping to be able to dual-boot with Windows to allow me to run additional software that's not available for MacOS.

Originally I was looking at getting a Framework as their repairability and spec options blows everything else out of the water, but the lack of support for integrated graphics on the 11th gen chips means that's not possible. However, finding a new laptop which still ships with the 10th gen chip and integrated Iris Plus graphics has proved to be pretty difficult. I do a fair amount of audio and video processing with my laptop, so I'm concerned that relying solely on the Intel UHD graphics which most Intel processors seem to come with could be a bad decision.

My minimum spec requirements are as follows:

• Intel i7 processor
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB SSD (ideally 1TB)
• Intel Iris Plus graphics OR a dedicated GPU which is supported by MacOS (haven't found a single laptop with one of these, so this basically limits me to only the i7-1065G7 processor model)

After some lengthy research, the only option I've found which ticks all these boxes and I can still buy brand new is the Acer Spin 5 SP513-54N (https://store.acer.com/en-gb/acer-spin-5-convertible-laptop-sp513-54n-grey). The basic specs for this are as follows (more detail at the link above):

• Quad-core Intel i7-1065G7
• Intel Iris Plus Graphics
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB SSD
• 3:2 aspect ratio (2256 x 1504) touchscreen display (not worried about touchscreen functionality)
• Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 wireless card (this will need to be changed)

From reading through the FAQ and various hardware guides linked on the subreddit, as far as I can tell this hardware should all be suitable for running MacOS with all features functional, with the exception of the Wi-Fi card which I'll have to replace with a Broadcom one if I can find one to buy separately. From this disassembly video (https://youtu.be/kjO4abTIDEY), it looks like it should be fairly easy to replace - I'm just a little concerned I may not be able to find one that fits in the small space available.

Can someone with more experience than me have a look and let me know if this is a suitable laptop to purchase for a fully working hackintosh, or if there's anything that I've forgotten about or overlooked which is going to prevent something from working? Do you have any other recommendations of different models that fit my requirements which would also work? Finally, is there a specific Wi-Fi card which would work best, and where would be a good place to buy it from?

Thanks in advance for your invaluable help.