CPU : Intel® Core™ i7-8665U
GPU: Intel® UHD Graphics 620
RAM: Micron 16GB 2666Mhz x 2 (32GB)
Display: 13.3 FHD 1920 x 1080 IPS (Chi Mei: CMN1382)
Touchscreen: WCOM48E2 (Wacom)
Wi-Fi/BT Card: BCM94360NG NGFF M.2 (Swapped from Intel® Dual Band Wireless AC 9560; However, it requires MHF4 cable extension)
SSD: SK Hynix PC 401 512GB (Both macOS and Windows on the same drive)
Audio: ALC295/ALC3254 (Layout-ID 77, Headphone jack requires ALCPlugFix to be functional)
Left side ports:
- USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps; DisplayPort (4K60FPS); Thunderbolt port comes as an option)
- HDMI 1.4b (Supports up to 4K30FPS)
- USB-A (USB 3.1 Gen 1 5Gbps)
- Smart card reader
Right side ports
- USB-A (USB 3.1 Gen 1 5Gbps)
- microSD card reader (RTS525A PCIe)
- Headset / Microphone (Universal Jack)
- micro-SIM card (Optional)
BIOS Revision: 1.32.0
SATA Operation -> AHCI
Lid Switch -> Enabled
Secure Boot Enable - > Disabled (Required)
Absolute® -> Disabled
SMM Security Mitigation -> Disabled
Intel AMT Capability -> Disabled
Intel Turbo boost -> Disabled for Windows 10 to reduce fan noise, sacrificing performance. (This option will be ignored in macOS however)
** Note that in order to boot macOS, only change required to make from its default setting is "Secure Boot Enable" **
These modifications in BIOS are not required to boot macOS at all and can be ignored, but is done to enable features that are otherwise would not be available.
To change below BIOS settings, ModGrub is required
For Dell BIOS extraction to find offset, please refer to Dreamwhite's guide.
BIOS Version: 1.32.0
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Disable CFG Lock -> (offset 0x6ED)
setup_var 0x6ED 0x0 (This will disable CFG Lock) setup_var 0x6ED 0x1 (Back to default) -
Set DVMT Pre-allocated to 64MB -> (offset 0xA10)
setup_var 0xA10 0x2 (This will set DVMT to 64MB) setup_var 0xA10 0x1 (Back to default) -
Enable USB Wake Support -> (offset 0x149A)
setup_var 0x149A 0x1 (This will allow system to wake via USB peripheral devices(Keyboard/Mouse)) setup_var 0x149A 0x0 (Back to default)
Note:
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Once the DVMT is set to 64MB, make sure to remove framebuffer-stolenmem property from the config.plist as this will ensure 4K60FPS resolution option is enabled via (USB-C/DP-Alt-Mode). The HDMI port on this laptop will only support up to 4K30FPS with capable external monitor.
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USB Wake support does not show up as an option in BIOS and there is only a checkbox option for "Wake on Dell USB-C dock". At r/Dell, there are some posts complaining about this issue. Nonetheless, the option is there, hidden. If this option is disabled as in default, the BIOS will remove power from all of the USB ports. This causes a problem with Bluetooth, connected USB drives, and more.
Upon waking, it will take a while for Bluetooth to reconnect and with lid open wake, notice blutoothd process taking high CPU usage around 200% that the Bluetooth has to be toggled off/on to stop the high CPU usage. As for the connected external USB drives, of course there is going to be a "Disk not ejected properly" pop-up every time.
By enabling USB Wake Support, all of these issues can be resolved given that there are no other problems causing these issues. However, as the description in BIOS(Although, the option is missing, ironically, there the description for it -_-) the USB Wake is functional only when the AC Power adapter is connected prior to standby mode.
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Restart/Shutdown
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Sleep(Idle/Lid close/Manual)
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Wake (Lid open/Power button/External USB or Bluetooth keyboard/mouse/trackpad when AC adapter is plugged in)
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Clamshell mode
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Trackpad/Touchscreen with gestures
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Keyboard (Volume+/-/Mute with Fn+F1/F2/F3, brightness +/- with F6/F7, keyboard backlight with Fn+F5)
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Display: 4K60FPS resolution via USB-C(DP-Alt-Mode) port / 4K30FPS via HDMI1.4b port / Dim display on battery
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Built-in Camera. (Though, much better image with using iPhone as webcam)
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Audio: Built-in speaker; Headphone jack requires ALCPlugFix to get sound
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Battery Status
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iMessage / Facetime
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Airplay/Airdrop/Handoff/Continuity including iPhone as webcam (Requires natively supported Wi-Fi/BT card such as BCM94360NG)
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AirplaytoMac/Sidecar/Universal Control (Requires natively supported Wi-Fi/BT card such as BCM94360NG)
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Apple Music Lossless Audio (unfairgva=4; by spoofing board ID to iMacPro1,1(iGPU-less), lossess audio works in Apple Music; however, do note that spoofing board-ID to iMacPro1,1 on iGPU only system may break iGPU encoding/decoding functions and seemingly have issues with rps-control patch or Apple GuC firmware as the iGPU clock frequency and the power consumption can get stuck at max. This behavior is triggered when attempting video playback while having Apple Music play)
- DRM in Safari/Apple TV+ (Chrome browser will do)
- Fingerprint sensor
- Wake via built-in trackpad/keyboard
macOS: Big Sur ~ Ventura (Tested to work but older macOS like Sierra should also be possible with some spoofing)
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macOS High Sierra - Catalina
- SMBIOS -> MacBookPro15,2 (For High Sierra)
- Set SecureBootModel -> Disabled
- UEFI -> APFS -> MinDate and MinVersion -> -1
- IGPU may require some spoofing in macOS High Sierra. Refer to WhateverGreen Manual for supported ig-platform-id
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macOS Big Sur ~ Ventura
- Works without making any changes to posted EFI.
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macOS Sonoma 14.4+
- To install or update to Sonoma 14.4+, SecureBootModel needs to disabled.
- For macOS Sonoma+, Broadcom Wi-Fi has to depend on OLCP patch to be functional.
Mostly follow laptop, Whiskey-Lake section of Dortania guide.
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ACPI
ADD:
- SSDT-AWAC.aml (Disables AWAC clock and HPET; enables RTC to fix system clock)
- SSDT-ALS0.aml (Ambient Light sensor fix; works with SMCLightSensor kext; "Slightly dim the display on battery" feature becomes functional)
- SSDT-Bridge.aml (Injects missing IOReg names; cosmetic)
- SSDT-DMAR.aml (Modified DMAR table to prevent issues when enabling AppleVTD)
- SSDT-EC-USBX.aml (Fake embedded controller with USB power properties)
- SSDT-GPI0.aml (Ensures VoodooGPI0 is attached to GPI0 for Trackpad and touchscreen to work)
- SSDT-LPCB.aml (Injects fake devices, ARTC, DMAC, FWHD, and PMCR; cosmetic)
- SSDT-MCHC.aml (Injects fake MCHC device)
- SSDT-PLUG.aml (Injects plugin type 1 to load XCPM for CPU PMGMT; No longer required beginning with Monterey 12.3)
- SSDT-PNLF.aml (Fixes backlight control -> brightness control; sleep with lid closed while AC adapter is plugged in)
- SSDT-USBP.aml (ACPI USB Port Mapping Table; correctly define USB connector type for each USB ports and disable unused ports at ACPI level using GUPC and TUPC method)
Delete:
- Drop OEM DMAR Table
- Drop OEM USB Table
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Device Properties
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ALC295 audio layout-id <4D000000>
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Intel UHD-620
Property Data Remarks AAPL,ig-platform-id <00009B3E> device-id <9B3E0000> enable-backlight-registers-fix <01000000> Required to prevent Blackscreen framebuffer-stolenmem <00003001> Remove this property if DVMT is set to 64MB (Modified in Grub shell) framebuffer-patch-enable <01000000> Enables framebuffer patch framebuffer-con0-enable <01000000> framebuffer-con0-alldata <00000800 02000000 98000000> BusID 0; Pipe 8; LVDS 0002; Flags 0098 framebuffer-con1-enable <01000000> framebuffer-con1-alldata <01010900 00080000 87010000> BusID 1; Pipe 9; HDMI 0008; Flags 0187 framebuffer-con2-enable <01000000> framebuffer-con2-alldata <01060A00 00040000 87010000> BusID 6; Pipe 10; DP 0004; Flags 0187 enable-backlight-smoother <01000000> Brightness control smoothing backlight-smoother-steps <19000000> backlight-smoother-interval <05000000> backlight-smoother-lowerbound <BC020000 Sets the built-in screen's minimum brightness level, preventing screen from going completely dark at its lowest rps-control <01000000> Improve iGPU performance igfxfw <02000000> Forces loading Apple GuC Firmware; either use rps-control or igfxfw force-online <01000000> Use this property to workaround coldplug not working on HDMI Port Please refer to WhateverGreen Manual for more detailed explanation.
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Kernel
Add:
- VirtualSMC and its plugins
- SMCBatteryManager (Required for correct battery status/No battery patching needed)
- SMCLightsensor (Ambient Light Sensor; works with SSDT-ALS0.aml)
- SMCDellSensors (Needed for Dell CPU fan monitoring)
- Lilu/AppleALC/WhateverGreen
- CPUFriend/CPUFriendDataProvider (Configure CPU powermanagement)
- VoltageShift (To disable Turbo Boost/Undervolt/Power Limit; the kext itself won't do anything unless settings are configured at OS level; Undervolting requires unlocking Overclock Lock in BIOS mod)
- RealtekCardReader/RealtekCardReaderFriend (For microSD card reader)
- NVMeFix
- VoodooPS2Controller/VoodooPS2Keyboard (For Keyboard)
- VoodooI2C/VoodooInput/VoodooI2CServices/VoodooGPIO/VoodooI2CHID (For Trackpad/Touchscreen)
Patch:
- AppleRTC patch to disable RTC alarm wakes.
Quirks:
- AppleXcpmCfgLock -> Set to No if CFG Lock is disabled. Otherwise, enable this quirk.
- CustomSMBIOSGuid -> If dual booting to other OSes other than macOS, set this to yes along with setting UpdateSMBIOSMode to "Custom" in PlatformInfo section.
- DisableIoMapper -> No (If enabling AppleVTD)
- DisableIoMapperMapping -> Yes (If enabling AppleVTD in Ventura+)
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Misc
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Security -> ScanPolicy -> 0 (Set it to 2,687,747 if you wish to hide unnecessary entries)
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SecureBootModel -> j213
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PlatformInfo -> Generic -> SystemProductName -> MacBookPro15,4
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PlatformInfo -> Generic -> UpdateSMBIOSMode -> Custom
- HS01/SS01 -> USB-C port
- HS02/SS02 -> Left side USB-A port
- HS03/SS03 -> Right side USB-A port
- HS06 -> Webcam
- HS08 -> Fingerprint Sensor / Smart Card Reader (Disabled)
- HS10 -> Bluetooth
Troubleshooting (Hackintoshing)
Display
- Black screen on built-in display -> Inject enable-backlight-registers-fix was required to resolve this.
- Black screen on built-in display when rotating or connecting/disconnecting to/from external display -> This was due to using custom resolution to enable HIDPI resolution. Workaround is to set display resolution back to its default in prior and scale the resolution afterwards.
- Black screen on the HDMI port connected display -> bus ID of the HDMI port needs to be patched to 0x01.
- HDMI port coldplug not working -> Workaround is to inject force-online property. It will still take around 10 sec to come on with couple of flickers.
- NO 4K resolution via external monitor -> Set DVMT Pre-allocated to 64MB using modGrub as there is no option for it in BIOS. (Make sure to remove framebuffer-stolenmem property)
- Brightness control keymapping (F6/F7) -> Add scan code 40=65 and 41=66 in VoodooPS2Keyboard.kext-> info.plist -> Custom Profile -> Default -> Custom PS2 Map. There are alternative ways to remap Fn+F6/F7 key such as Brightnesskeys.kext or SSDT-BRT6.aml which require patching _OSI, OSID and BRT6. For me, F6 and F7 will do.
Audio
- ALC layout-id 28 or 77 works. Some other(incompatible) layout-ids can lead to kernel_task causing high CPU usage.
- Unfortunately, the headphone jack on this laptop requires AlcPlugFix to be functional. (alc-verbs <01000000>, Node ID 0x19, Param 20, temporary disable SIP)
- Boot-Chime not working in OpenCore boot menu -> Looking at the debug log, it's similar to issue described here. The solution is to upsample audio file to 48kHz. However, I usually don't like to use Boot-Chime as AudioDXE.efi driver causes delay when posting.
CPU Powermanagement
- Inject CPUFriend.kext with configured CPUFriendDataProvider.kext.
- VoltageShift.kext to disable Intel Turbo Boost and keep the fan noise down.
Sleep/USB
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Looking at the power event log, the system has been darkwaking every 1~2 hours due to all kinds of reasons -> The solution is to pmset to Hibernatemode 0, proximitywake 0, tcpkeepalive 0 and apply AppleRTC kernel patch.
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The system will only wake via power button or by opening the lid, but not via external USB keyboard/mouse -> To wake via USB, USB Wake Support(only supported when AC adapter is plugged) option needs to be enabled and is to be done in alternative way as this option is not available in BIOS mode.
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"Disk not ejected properly" pop-up notification with USB drive -> Enable USB Wake Support.
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Bluetooth takes a while to reconnect upon waking -> Enable USB Wake Support.
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bluetoothd process with high CPU usage on lid open wake -> Enable USB Wake Support.
What if you are on battery power? Consider using Bluesnooze, Blueutil or manually turnoff Bluetooth.
Standby / Hibernatemode (Works)
From pmset Man page
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Hibernatemode 0
- Completely disables hibernation
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Hibernatemode 3 (pmset standby to 1)
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Misc -> Boot -> Hibernatemode -> NVRAM
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Misc -> Boot -> HibernateSkipsPicker -> Yes
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Disable AppleRTC kernel patch if enabled (patch to disable scheduled RTC alarm wake)
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Inject HibernationFixup.kext
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Add boot-arg -> hbfx-ahbm=5 (Need this flag with value of at least 1 to put system in standby mode; refer to its manual for various configuration)
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Set standbydelay time that suits your need in terminal (This sets the RTC alarm wake schedule). The system will darkwake from normal sleep as set by standbydelay argument then decides whether to transition to standby mode. If transions to standby, it saves current session to disk in var/vm/sleepimage and turns off some of the hardware systems to save power)
Sudo pmset -a standbydelay 7200 (In seconds; This will put the system in standby mode after 2 hours of normal sleep)Power event log after waking up from standby mode with hibernatemode 3
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00:23:11 - The system initiates sleep upon lid closing and goes into normal sleep.
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02:23:33 - The system darkwakes after 2 hours(RTC alarm wake schedule set by standbydelay 7200) of normal sleep
(The battery drain during the normal sleep of 2 hour frame is around 3%) -
2:23:38 - The System transitions from normal sleep state to standby mode
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7:59:38 - The System wakes from standby after 5 hours due to user intervention
(The battery drain during 5 hours of standby is 0% )
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Hibernatemode 25 (pmset standby to 1)
Hibernatemode 25 will immediately put system to standby preserving battery life.
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Misc -> Boot -> Hibernatemode -> NVRAM
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Misc -> Boot -> HibernateSkipsPicker -> Yes
OC log during wake from standby
Power event log after waking up from standby mode with hibernatemode 25
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11:41:15 - The system initiates idle sleep and goes into standby mode immediately.
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18:02:35 - The System wakes from standby after 6 hours due to user intervention
(The battery drain during 6 hours of standby is 0% )
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Note that when in standby mode, the system could only wake via powerbutton and it will continue from splash screen then straight into macOS if HibernateSkipsPicker is set to Yes
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Hardware
CPU Fan
- This laptop seems to have a fan curve mode where it won't start spinning until the temp reaches above 70c and stops spinning once the temp cools down to around 50c (Optimized setting in Thermal Management).
- Has a single pipe heatsink -> Swapped with dual pipe heatsink from Latitude 5310 model(Had to bend one of the pipes a little bit). If I had known a difference it made, I wouldn't have bothered swapping. I think laptop cooling pad will probably do a better job.
- The CPU fan can be controlled with MacsFanControl app which is very limited in terms of what you can control. The fan RPM can be adjusted from 3400 ~ 6000RPM at constant. Do note that this will only work if Fan Control Override is enabled via BIOS mod. This feature is not accessible from the BIOS menu.
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
- Comes with Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 9560 -> Swapped with BCM94360NG module to enjoy Airplay/Airdrop/continuity features. MHF4 extension cable was required as one(main) of the two antenna cables was too short to reach the main antenna port on BCM94360 module.
WWAN slot
- Looking at the motherboard's schematic diagram of Dell 5300, it does seem to support SSD via WWAN Slot. However, it did not work with B+M key 2242 M.2 (NVME/SATA)SSD.
- Apple Inc for MacOS.
- Acidanthera Team for OpenCore Bootloader, its documentation, and KEXTS.
- Dortania's OpenCore Install Guide for thorough explanation.
Big thanks to Hackintosh community and those who contributed to make hackintosh possible from the beginning to the end!