General

Look up Hackintosh. It's possible since Intel CPUs were used in Macs for a long time. I've never built one, but expect there to be some nuances in the hardware support and possible functionality. Alternatively, I believe you could run MacOS in a virtual machine on your Windows computer.

Modern Macs now use a very different CPU architecture, and older Intel-based Macs are being phased out in favor of those. So even if you build an Intel Mac, it won't be able to get the latest programs or anything because of this new chip.

Depending on what this person is using it for you can get a Mac mini or an iMac.

You can't really "build" one though since apple doesn't sell parts including the M chips.

I think I will go the Hackintosh route and see what the last x86 version was

I have a hackintosh that I built in 2012, still going strong! I have a drive with windows on it, dual booting is pretty easy. Updates are a chore, but my system is too old to update now anyways. Tonymacx86.com is the place to go.

Had to look up this "Hackintosh" business... interesting... so basically, it's a PC running macOS... but cheaper and POSSIBLY slightly slower (from what I read in comments of the shared video link).

I would have to agree... since you can't really buy the parts to "build" a Mac... it's going to be a PC running the software... but hey maybe this lady's dumb enough to not know the difference anyways since she thinks "Apple is better and more secure."

Also if she was a true Apple fanatic, she'd be spending that hard earned money on the "real thing" and not trying to get you to build one....

I watched this video from 2 years ago.

https://youtu.be/Gaosub7FRf4?si=55YZQywWy81Y5_5p

And again, Intel Macs are officially deprecated and will stop being supported in a couple of years. Most newer software will cease to stop working on those, and Hackintoshes are completely unsupported by Apple.

This lady is only gonna be left without any sort of security updates from Apple. If she wants a Mac, then tell her to get a Mac.