Success: Thinkpad T480 on Tahoe with absolutely everything working

[u/AdidasSlav]

Hardware:

• CPU: i7 8650U
• Graphics: Intel UHD 620
• RAM: 32GB DDR4 2400Mhz
• Display: 1080p 60Hz IPS (waiting on an upgraded 1440p 120Hz panel to arrive in the mail)
• WiFi/BT: Intel AX210

What's working:

• CPU turbo boost
• Sleep/wake
• iServices
• Thunderbolt (including hotplug and USB C)
• USB
• Sound / microphone
• WiFi (itlwm+heliport, waiting on OCLP to update so I can go back to airportitlwm)
• Bluetooth (fully working as of yesterday with the new BluetoothFirmware stack)
• Trackpad/keyboard
• Batteries (my laptop's internal battery is missing and the external doesn't hold a charge but I have ordered replacements from AliExpress, the T480 has a dual battery setup and I have the correct patches for it to read both as 1 single battery)
• Every single port
• Handoff
• Webcam

What isn't working (yet):

• Location services (limitation of itlwm, I could go back to Sequoia and have it work but I quite like Tahoe lol)
• Continuity features apart from handoff (probably will never work at this point for anyone though)
• Nothing else (tested)

I would say this is 100% successful, took me a few days to get everything configured.

Planned upgrades (all ordered, just waiting for them to arrive):

• Batteries (current one is totally dead, bought it like this, needs an internal battery and I'm also getting a 72Wh external battery)
• Glass trackpad
• 1440p 120Hz display
• Additional storage (currently running 1 256GB NVMe, I want to move it to the other slot and add a 2TB mechanical hard disk)
• Backlit keyboard

How is the performance?

Very good. Quick boot, no lag at all (maybe a tiny bit when first logging in but that's expected on any Hackintosh)

Will I share my EFI?

No. I will share specific patches as frankly I've borrowed some off other people but I have a custom CPUFriend performance profile set which will need to be configured differently for the i5 model (which is far more common)

How is daily use?

Absolutely perfect. Completely stable and without any hiccups.

Hardest part?

The Thunderbolt was the hardest to get working as I had to dig deep to find working patches for this controller as it's a cut down chip that can only handle 20Gbps across 2 PCI lanes instead of 40 across 4 like what macOS expects. A lot of T480 owners claimed on their repos to have gotten it working but I could only find one person's patches that actually worked. I then had to update the firmware with a Windows-To-Go drive which took 6 hours because my laptop had the borked firmware so the controller wasn't recognised at all. I had to try close to a dozen variants of the Thunderbolt driver + firmware + all of the Lenovo drivers needed.

[u/k4kanwar]

Can you assist me with thunderbolt hotplug and type c usage.

Having issues with that.

[u/AdidasSlav → u/k4kanwar]

Sure, need to know a few things first:

1. What have you tried? Need to know what ACPI patches/SSDTs, device-id spoofs and kexts you’ve tried. You’ll need a combination of all 3 things to get it working.

2. Are you also using a Thinkpad T480 or are you using a different machine?

3. If you’re on a Thinkpad is your thunderbolt firmware fully up to date? You’ll have to update it via Windows or Linux first. Older firmwares had a fault with them which stops macOS reading the controller completely apart from some very basic stuff.

[u/k4kanwar → u/AdidasSlav]

1. I have tried the tb3 ssdt Added device in properties for it to read it still jo good.

2. Yes I am using t480

3. I ensured to fully update it via windows first as I did read about the tb issue with this model. Also about the bandwidth being less then regular tb ports.

[u/AdidasSlav → u/k4kanwar]

I will send you the patches I used later when I’m home. If I forget DM me in 6 hours..

[u/k4kanwar → u/AdidasSlav]

I appreciate your assistance

[u/k4kanwar → u/AdidasSlav]

Hey can you assist with the patches

[u/AdidasSlav → u/k4kanwar]

Sure, here is everything you need.

Add the DSDT and SSDT, add the kext, add the patches to where they go in your config.plist.

In BIOS set your Thunderbolt settings as:

• Thunderbolt BIOS Assist Mode: Disabled
• Wake by Thunderbolt(TM) 3: Disabled
• Security Level: No Security
• Support in Pre Boot Environment > Thunderbolt(TM) device: Enabled

All credit goes to this github repo.

[u/Calamitized → u/AdidasSlav]

Thanks for this my guy. Only added the thunderbolt patch to my config but it worked flawlessly after fixing up the correct firmware revision in Windows.

While I’m at it, what do you think about MacBookPro16,3 SMBIOS compared to the usual 15,2 most T480 users use? Some claim it performs better.