The Merged Hackintosh Thread

[ease718]

i got everything at newegg.
i got my info at insanelymac dot com

mobo = gigabyte p35 D3SL =$80
processor = core 2 quad 2.4GHz (oc'ed at 3.6GHz) = $279
ram = 4-4-4-12 ddr800 (runs fine at 1000MHz) = $142
hd = WD Raptor 10000 rpm system drive = $89
processor fan = freezerpro7 = $11
firewire card = $14
geforce 7300 turbo graphic card = $89

os10.5 = $129

satisfaction = priceless
i enjoy this computer more than any of the numerous real macs i have owned.

one of the most reliable macs i have owned, it just works and its stinking fast. infact its faster than apples quads.

[aaronw1986]

You can't call it a mac. It just runs OS X against the EULA. Why would you post that here? Are you looking to get flamed?

[Dimwhit]

Very nice!

[dukebound85]

You can't call it a mac. It just runs OS X against the EULA. Why would you post that here? Are you looking to get flamed?

i think its cool

whats wrong with him posting about this? the eula? then better shut down iphone hacks forum....

[remmy]

Cool

What case to house everything?

[ease718]

i started this thread so other people could also build their own hardware for running osx.

i have great satisfaction from doing this and want to share some info of my system.

this is the most reliable computer i have ever owned. i have owned apple computers from before they even made a mac. i am sick of being ripped off.
look at the other topics in this forum, a lot of people have problems with 'real' macs.

i encourage all interested to go to insanely mac dot com and roll their own, its a great experience.

i used a case and powersupply off a pc i had built for me a few years back for running autocad

this hacintosh is the first time i have 'built' a computer myself

[ease718]

You can't call it a mac. It just runs OS X against the EULA. Why would you post that here? Are you looking to get flamed?

go ahead flame away

[trip1ex]

Nice, but using the "most reliable" tag is pretty ridiculous since you just built the thing. :D

I was thinking about building one, but if I lost some of my data like my photos etc because of the hackintosh then my wife would kill me. Who knows what updates are going to do to it. And you have to wait for the hackers to issue a patch to Leopard. Besides I actually much prefer the iMac all in one.

Maybe as a second Mac for editing and storing video since I could just pop hard drives in and out and use Quad Core cpus. Then I could also use it as a Windows machine for gaming, but I game less and less so ....

[Infrared]

i got everything at newegg.
i got my info at insanelymac dot com

mobo = gigabyte p35 D3SL =$80
processor = core 2 quad 2.4GHz (oc'ed at 3.6GHz) = $279
ram = 4-4-4-12 ddr800 (runs fine at 1000MHz) = $142
hd = WD Raptor 10000 rpm system drive = $89
processor fan = freezerpro7 = $11
firewire card = $14
geforce 7300 turbo graphic card = $89

os10.5 = $129

satisfaction = priceless
i enjoy this computer more than any of the numerous real macs i have owned.

one of the most reliable macs i have owned,

How long have you had it?

Reliability can only be measured over a reasonable period of time.

[ease718]

Nice, but using the "most reliable" tag is pretty ridiculous since you just built the thing. :D

it is actually the most reliable mac i have used. i know this sounds crazy but it is true. i didnt just build it last week, i've had it for well over six months on 24/7, it is just very stable. i run parallels with xp a lot of the time also, works great.

i'm a designer so i have been using macs since my first se20. you dont want to know what i went through with apple customer service and my last alum powerbook lol

there is little learning to do in the setup. i also keep a system backup 'just in case' but no problems at all so far.

[stomer]

i got everything at newegg.
i got my info at insanelymac dot com

What about updates? Don't you have to be careful not to bork your install?

[johny5]

The whole point of me jumping onto the apple bandwagon was for dedicated software created on specific hardware, less chance of things going wrong, hanging, crashing whatever you call it.

I have a few old pc bits kicking around but I just cant get my head around using a "hacked" OS on knocked together varied hardware. Surely this opens up chance of things not going too well certainly not as well as dedicated hardware).

anyway that's my 2 cents, I daren't try it as I said I don't want to go back down that world that I came from :D but I love tinkering around with things like this anyway. If I want more OSX in the house then I will purchase Apple.

But well done on the purchase and I hope it all goes well for you :D keep us updated on here.

[ease718]

What about updates? Don't you have to be careful not to bork your install?

yes i always check on the insanelymac forums BEFORE i do any software updates.

the osx hacked install disks are getting very good now, very easy also. I still bought leopard though i used the kalyway installer. osx4all is also good i have heard.

i did build my hardware to be as compatible as possible, however anything with SSE2 or SSE3 should work.

coreduos work great.
the cheapest core duo is like $80 and can be oc'ed to 3.0GHz add a cheap $50 gigabyte mb and $60ram and you can use your old hd and case. real cheap and plenty quick.

[tmelvin]

The whole point of me jumping onto the apple bandwagon was for dedicated software created on specific hardware, less chance of things going wrong, hanging, crashing whatever you call it.

I have a few old pc bits kicking around but I just cant get my head around using a "hacked" OS on knocked together varied hardware. Surely this opens up chance of things not going too well certainly not as well as dedicated hardware).

anyway that's my 2 cents, I daren't try it as I said I don't want to go back down that world that I came from :D but I love tinkering around with things like this anyway. If I want more OSX in the house then I will purchase Apple.

But well done on the purchase and I hope it all goes well for you :D keep us updated on here.

I'm with you. Use to like tinkering with that stuff. Call it age, laziness, all of the above...but I like going to the Apple store or online. Buy it, take it home, unbox a few things, plug it in and wala! The idea of having to go to a web site, download this and that, untar this/that, recompile, blah blah....eck!

[Mackilroy]

The only part I don't like about your hackintosh is the 7300. ;)

Though you might not be a gamer for all I know.

[Wild-Bill]

Wow, a Geekbench of 7100. That's pretty impressive, considering my Mac Pro at stock scored 7325. After upgrading to 6 gigs of RAM and throwing in a Raptor my score is now 7793.

Congrats on your Hackintosh. I had a Tiger Hackintosh on my older AMD hardware. I bought the Mac Pro because I always wanted one, and I didn't feel like tinkering this time around. I'd been building my own PC's for years and just didn't want the hassle this time around.

The OSX86 scene has come a long way over the last year.

[tom.]

i have owned apple computers from before they even made a mac. i am sick of being ripped off.
look at the other topics in this forum, a lot of people have problems with 'real' macs.


People seem to persist to push this myth of macs being overpriced. You get a fully built high-spec (providing you buy at the right time, which most do), with customer service, optional support and now upgradeability. I love having a place to take my machines when something goes wrong, not like Dell or PC equivalents. You get a hell of a lot for your money when buying a mac. I built PC's for years, but ever since i made the move its nice to relax, upgrade when you need to, and have the ability to dump your problems on someone else and play ignorant. Every little touch is worth something, and you don't get that from a newegg bargain purchase.

Also, if you haven't noticed, this is a 'mac' forum so people with problems are going to come here. Come back when you have some statistics on the number of macs sold over a 12 month period, against the number of problem posts here. Go to any manufacturers website or related forum and it will be rammed full of people with problems. That claim is completely irrational and unjustified.

However, I do think what OP has managed is cool, if it gets people using OS X and compatible apps then I don't see a problem. The fact he purchased OS X (supposedly ;P) is impressive when it's so easily available on usenet and P2P. Apple is not just about the hardware and I love to see people using OS X regardless of how they've done it, so well done!

[ease718]

i agree a faster graphics card would be great if i played directx10 games.

this is the gigabyte 'turbo' oc version which is meant to be about 35% faster than the 7300 in the powermac. works great though. when i built this the directx10 cards 8600 8800 where still very very expensive.

i have tried CD4 and bioshock when i boot from the xp drive, worked great though they are dx9 games.

i have no gripes with those people who would rather just buy a 'real' mac. for me finances where a major motivator, and i didnt have a problem with the fiddle factor lol. if i had more $$ and less time i would buy apple.

[ease718]

People seem to persist to push this myth of macs being overpriced.

its just that $700 for 4gb of slow ram is way overpriced when you can build a system for that

[FireSlash]

FB-DIMMs are much more reliable than standard DDR. While DDR800 is faster in some cases, it is much more prone to failure and has nothing viable in fault tolerance. If DDR is bad, you'll know because suddenly your PC is crashing, doing weird things, or corrupting your data.
You've overclocked the bloody hell out of your CPU and ram. They might appear stable, but can these settings be maintained during long (see: 4+ hrs) of abuse? I can see ambient temps topping out and causing the ram to overheat. On the subject, the D3SL has an ambiently cooled northbrige, and you've got that system clocked pretty hard. I know the Ga-K8N Ultra-9 I run for gaming gets over 160F on it's much larger passive cooler, and the sucker isn't even OC'd. We won't bring in the fact that you're using non-apple hardware and most likely apple drivers interfacing with hardware they were never designed for.

Other than that, not bad. I can't stand hackintosh though, had way too many problems getting updates to install, things to not crash, and getting a kernel that would do simple things like shut down properly.

[tom.]

its just that $700 for 4gb of slow ram is way overpriced when you can build a system for that

Granted, Ram and HD direct from Apple is over-priced, however you do have the ability to add your own, and it is much cheaper elsewhere. Machines on the whole, are good value for money.

[aaronw1986]

Granted, Ram and HD direct from Apple is over-priced, however you do have the ability to add your own, and it is much cheaper elsewhere. Machines on the whole, are good value for money.

Though still expensive for RAM, you can get 4GB for $380 from OWC. Keep in mind Mac Pro RAM is special.

[ease718]

my machine has run 24/7 for over six months. i only have one case fan and a fan-less graphics card. no overheating so far. the q6600 G0 stepping is great with regards to heat. i my run ram @1000MHz and like you said if there is ram problem youll know fast

[ease718]

Though still expensive for RAM, you can get 4GB for $380 from OWC. Keep in mind Mac Pro RAM is special.

even 380 is expensive. i want ddr3 lol.

[FireSlash]

my machine has run 24/7 for over six months. i only have one case fan and a fan-less graphics card. no overheating so far. the q6600 G0 stepping is great with regards to heat. i my run ram @1000MHz and like you said if there is ram problem youll know fast

Wow. +1 for danger will robinson.

DDR doesn't get much airflow short of the bank closest to your CPU fan. The NB only has the draw from your rear exhaust, and the video card is the same. If you ran this system at 100% for extended periods of times, thermal overload would win.

I hope you're at least running a temp monitor.

[dukebound85]

i built a gaming pc a few months ago with the following specs.

q6600 at 2.4 with g0 stepping
4 gig 800mhz ram
ds3l mb
8800gt
500 watt psu

this setup including case and whatnot cost me 900 bucks ish

i had since loaded up leopard as i have a couple licenses left over on my family license to see if it works

to say the least, the machine is FAST and being able to tri boot xp,vista and leopard is pretty dang sweet if you ask me

i have had no reliability issues thus far either

all i can say is handbrake is well uber fast now over my macbook cd 2.0ghz lol

[ease718]

i built a gaming pc a few months ago with the following specs.

q6600 at 2.4 with g0 stepping
4 gig 800mhz ram
ds3l mb
8800gt
500 watt psu

this setup including case and whatnot cost me 900 bucks ish

i had since loaded up leopard as i have a couple licenses left over on my family license to see if it works

to say the least, the machine is FAST and being able to tri boot xp,vista and leopard is pretty dang sweet if you ask me

i have had no reliability issues thus far either

all i can say is handbrake is well uber fast now over my macbook cd 2.0ghz lol

good to see that i'm not the only one, c2quad is sweet with osx!!!

did you oc ?

[dukebound85]

good to see that i'm not the only one, c2quad is sweet with osx!!!

did you oc ?

no. but i hear its easy to get past 3.0ghz with the stock cpu fan.

i just havent done so yet as i really dont need the extra speed

[ease718]

agree its still fast @2.4

for those looking to oc the p35-D3SL...

try going 8x400 for 3.24GHz at 1600fsb.
try 3.325-3.5 volts cpu add +.2v ram +.1V fsb +.1v gmch

for a fan i use a freezer pro 7. $11@newegg
set ram to 2.5x NOT auto !! also use standard not turbo for acell.

turn off bios cpu management where possible.

check temps in xp

hope this helps.

[brand]

It still isn't a Mac Pro or Power Mac therefore is does not belong here.

[Wild-Bill]

It still isn't a Mac Pro or Power Mac therefore is does not belong here.

I'm sorry. Who elected you forum thread police?
:rolleyes:

[waremaster]

here are my Geekbench results NO OC On the hackintosh

Geekbench Score 4726
Version Geekbench 2.0.15
Platform Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Build 9C7010)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Model Hackintosh
Memory 2.00 GB 1872 MHz DDR SDRAM
Integer Score 4307

Blowfish
single-threaded scalar 1986
87.2 MB/sec

Blowfish
multi-threaded scalar 7771
318.5 MB/sec

Text Compress
single-threaded scalar 1891
6.05 MB/sec

Text Compress
multi-threaded scalar 6793
22.3 MB/sec

Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1668
6.86 MB/sec

Text Decompress
multi-threaded scalar 6508
25.9 MB/sec

Image Compress
single-threaded scalar 1735
14.3 Mpixels/sec

Image Compress
multi-threaded scalar 6450
54.3 Mpixels/sec

Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar 1413
23.7 Mpixels/sec

Image Decompress
multi-threaded scalar 4636
75.6 Mpixels/sec

Crafty Chess
single-threaded scalar 2042
1.03 Mnodes/sec

Crafty Chess
multi-threaded scalar 5143
2.50 Mnodes/sec

Lua
single-threaded scalar 2582
994.3 Knodes/sec

Lua
multi-threaded scalar 9681
3.72 Mnodes/sec

Floating Point Score 6931

Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar 1793
1.19 Gflops

Mandelbrot
multi-threaded scalar 6885
4.51 Gflops

Dot Product
single-threaded scalar 2886
1.39 Gflops

Dot Product
multi-threaded scalar 9217
4.20 Gflops

Dot Product
single-threaded vector 1986
2.38 Gflops

Dot Product
multi-threaded vector 5879
6.11 Gflops

LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar 690
614.3 Mflops

LU Decomposition
multi-threaded scalar 2727
2.39 Gflops

Primality Test
single-threaded scalar 3428
512.0 Mflops

Primality Test
multi-threaded scalar 9923
1.84 Gflops

Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar 4853
11.3 Mpixels/sec

Sharpen Image
multi-threaded scalar 17553
40.5 Mpixels/sec

Blur Image
single-threaded scalar 6250
4.95 Mpixels/sec

Blur Image
multi-threaded scalar 22973
18.1 Mpixels/sec

Memory Score 2750

Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar 3797
4.65 GB/sec

Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar 3256
2.23 GB/sec

Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar 1974
7.37 Mallocs/sec

Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar 2163
4.48 GB/sec

Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar 2560
2.64 GB/sec

Stream Score 2432

Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar 2534
3.47 GB/sec

Stream Copy
single-threaded vector 2760
3.58 GB/sec

Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar 2587
3.36 GB/sec

Stream Scale
single-threaded vector 2607
3.52 GB/sec

Stream Add
single-threaded scalar 1890
2.85 GB/sec

Stream Add
single-threaded vector 2882
4.01 GB/sec

Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar 2033
2.81 GB/sec

Stream Triad
single-threaded vector 2164
4.05 GB/sec

System Information
Platform Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Compiler GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Build 9C7010)
Model Hackintosh
Motherboard ASUSTeK Computer INC. Maximus Extreme Rev 1.xx
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Processor ID GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11
Logical Processors 4
Physical Processors 1
Processor Frequency 2.40 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache 32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache 32.0 KB
L2 Cache 4.00 MB
L3 Cache 0.00 B
Bus Frequency 1.06 GHz
Memory 2.00 GB
Memory Type 1872 MHz DDR SDRAM
SIMD 1
BIOS American Megatrends Inc. 1001
Processor Model Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

And then The Mac Pro Results.

Geekbench Score
4999
Version
Geekbench 2.0.15
Platform
Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Operating System
Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Build 9C7010)
Processor
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5150 @ 2.66GHz
Model
Mac Pro
Memory
4.00 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
Integer Score
4802
*
Blowfish
single-threaded scalar
2208
97.0 MB/sec
*
Blowfish
multi-threaded scalar
8988
368.3 MB/sec
*
Text Compress
single-threaded scalar
2102
6.72 MB/sec
*
Text Compress
multi-threaded scalar
7753
25.4 MB/sec
*
Text Decompress
single-threaded scalar
1846
7.59 MB/sec
*
Text Decompress
multi-threaded scalar
7156
28.5 MB/sec
*
Image Compress
single-threaded scalar
1919
15.9 Mpixels/sec
*
Image Compress
multi-threaded scalar
7438
62.6 Mpixels/sec
*
Image Decompress
single-threaded scalar
1581
26.6 Mpixels/sec
*
Image Decompress
multi-threaded scalar
5713
93.2 Mpixels/sec
*
Crafty Chess
single-threaded scalar
2249
1.14 Mnodes/sec
*
Crafty Chess
multi-threaded scalar
5315
2.58 Mnodes/sec
*
Lua
single-threaded scalar
2644
1.02 Mnodes/sec
*
Lua
multi-threaded scalar
10317
3.97 Mnodes/sec
*
Floating Point Score
7698
*
Mandelbrot
single-threaded scalar
1987
1.32 Gflops
*
Mandelbrot
multi-threaded scalar
7768
5.08 Gflops
*
Dot Product
single-threaded scalar
3028
1.46 Gflops
*
Dot Product
multi-threaded scalar
9262
4.22 Gflops
*
Dot Product
single-threaded vector
2036
2.44 Gflops
*
Dot Product
multi-threaded vector
5667
5.89 Gflops
*
LU Decomposition
single-threaded scalar
784
698.0 Mflops
*
LU Decomposition
multi-threaded scalar
3022
2.65 Gflops
*
Primality Test
single-threaded scalar
3795
566.9 Mflops
*
Primality Test
multi-threaded scalar
11314
2.10 Gflops
*
Sharpen Image
single-threaded scalar
5374
12.5 Mpixels/sec
*
Sharpen Image
multi-threaded scalar
20513
47.3 Mpixels/sec
*
Blur Image
single-threaded scalar
6924
5.48 Mpixels/sec
*
Blur Image
multi-threaded scalar
26302
20.7 Mpixels/sec
*
Memory Score
2165
*
Read Sequential
single-threaded scalar
2598
3.18 GB/sec
*
Write Sequential
single-threaded scalar
2976
2.04 GB/sec
*
Stdlib Allocate
single-threaded scalar
2088
7.79 Mallocs/sec
*
Stdlib Write
single-threaded scalar
1571
3.25 GB/sec
*
Stdlib Copy
single-threaded scalar
1592
1.64 GB/sec
*
Stream Score
1919
*
Stream Copy
single-threaded scalar
1927
2.64 GB/sec
*
Stream Copy
single-threaded vector
2134
2.77 GB/sec
*
Stream Scale
single-threaded scalar
2012
2.61 GB/sec
*
Stream Scale
single-threaded vector
2041
2.76 GB/sec
*
Stream Add
single-threaded scalar
1698
2.56 GB/sec
*
Stream Add
single-threaded vector
2145
2.98 GB/sec
*
Stream Triad
single-threaded scalar
1830
2.53 GB/sec
*
Stream Triad
single-threaded vector
1565
2.93 GB/sec
*
System Information

Platform
Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Compiler
GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
Operating System
Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Build 9C7010)
Model
Mac Pro
Motherboard
Apple Computer, Inc. Mac-F4208DC8 PVT
Processor
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5150 @ 2.66GHz
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 6
Logical Processors
4
Physical Processors
2
Processor Frequency
2.66 GHz
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
4.00 MB
L3 Cache
0.00 B
Bus Frequency
1.33 GHz
Memory
4.00 GB
Memory Type
667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
SIMD
1
BIOS
Apple Computer, Inc. MP11.88Z.005C.B08.0707021221
Processor Model
Intel Xeon 5150

[brand]

I'm sorry. Who elected you forum thread police?
:rolleyes:

The name of the forum is Mac Pro, Power Mac (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1), perhaps you missed that.

[Wild-Bill]

The name of the forum is Mac Pro, Power Mac (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1), perhaps you missed that.

The title under your nickname says "forum regular" and not "Moderator". perhaps you missed that.



-Waremaster, can you run the 64 bit Geekbench as well ? Pimp that thing out with some more memory and I'm sure you'll see a big difference.

[waremaster]

The title under your nickname says "forum regular" and not "Moderator". perhaps you missed that.



-Waremaster, can you run the 64 bit Geekbench as well ? Pimp that thing out with some more memory and I'm sure you'll see a big difference.

I didn't purchase geekbench so it does not allow me to bench in 64bit.

[kgarner]

The name of the forum is Mac Pro, Power Mac (http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1), perhaps you missed that.

Seriously, calm down. The fact that Hackintoshes exist and people are talking about them here, doesn't mean that our Mac Pros are somehow less valuable/powerful/cool. I think it's impressive what these guys are doing. I probably would never build one myself, but it is still a valid topic to discuss and it relates to this forum better than any other.

[waremaster]

Seriously, calm down. The fact that Hackintoshes exist and people are talking about them here, doesn't mean that our Mac Pros are somehow less valuable/powerful/cool. I think it's impressive what these guys are doing. I probably would never build one myself, but it is still a valid topic to discuss and it relates to this forum better than any other.

I agree. I own both machines so making valid comparisons should be quite legit on these forums. It's not like anyone is posting links or files.

[ease718]

waremaster - My geekbench scores without the oc are similar to yours. basically my oc took me from almost 5,000 to what you see below. i havent tested 10.5.2. your score was so close to the mac it is just down to the speed differential.

there is a photoshop benchmark set here on the forums that this hack was very fast on. it lost nothing at all to the latest 8 core macpro's.

Geekbench Score 7098
Version Geekbench 2.0.8b
Platform Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Build 9B18)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz << was @ 3.6
Model Hackintosh
Memory 4.00 GB 800 MHz RAM

btw.
i have nothing against apple except how osx 10.5 tries to limit your helvetica choices, plain dumb and evil, and my dealings with customer service lol.
i have owned many macs and may possibly buy more apple branded machines in the future
but for me, right now, i'm loving my hackintosh.
i'm excited to have other choices outside of laptop in a desktop box (imac or mini) or a server misconfigured, sold at a premium and used as a desktop. the core2quad is a much more suitable desktop cpu than the xeon. xeon is designed for server usage.
apples laptops are great although the air is not a fav of mine. wish it where like the modbook lol

am i the only one who remembers when UK macworld mag put an NT box on the cover ?? just after apple shafted umax and power computing, killing the clones.. return of the clones !!!

[waremaster]

My geekbench scores without the oc are similar to yours. basically my oc took me from almost 5,000 to what you see below. i havent tested 10.5.2. there is a photoshopo benchmark set here on the forums that this hack was very fast on. it lost nothing to the latest 8 core macpro's.

Geekbench Score 7098
Version Geekbench 2.0.8b
Platform Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Build 9B18)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz << was @ 3.6
Model Hackintosh
Memory 4.00 GB 800 MHz RAM

Well if nothing else I am glad to see that the machine you have when not OC'd runs similar to mine. :-)

[Infrared]

My geekbench scores without the oc are similar to yours. basically my oc took me from almost 5,000 to what you see below. i havent tested 10.5.2. there is a photoshopo benchmark set here on the forums that this hack was very fast on. it lost nothing to the latest 8 core macpro's.

Geekbench Score 7098
Version Geekbench 2.0.8b
Platform Mac OS X x86 (32-bit)
Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Build 9B18)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz << was @ 3.6
Model Hackintosh
Memory 4.00 GB 800 MHz RAM

Geekbench (32-bit) on a 2.8 GHz, 8-core, 4GB MP: 7623

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an eyeball to edit in Ps :)

[ease718]

Well if nothing else I am glad to see that the machine you have when not OC'd runs similar to mine. :-)

to be totally honest if i had to A<>B oc versus non-oc'ed i really dont know if i could tell the difference from everyday use lol :cool:

[JackButler]

ease718,

Thanks for posting this info... very interesting indeed.

How compatible is your machine with CS3 & how about Apple software... Aperture or FC Studio?

[dukebound85]

i personally have had no compatibility issues including cs3

[ease718]

ease718,

Thanks for posting this info... very interesting indeed.

How compatible is your machine with CS3 & how about Apple software... Aperture or FC Studio?

no problems also. i dont use aperture or fc but cs3 and all my audio software work great. i even run win audio software in parallels fine.

it is more work than buying a mac in a box, but not that much.
also the satisfaction is priceless

i recommend it to anyone on the fence, just check the various osx86 resources on google
it is so easy now compared to how it used to be 1 year ago.

[DakotaGuy]

Seriously, calm down. The fact that Hackintoshes exist and people are talking about them here, doesn't mean that our Mac Pros are somehow less valuable/powerful/cool. I think it's impressive what these guys are doing. I probably would never build one myself, but it is still a valid topic to discuss and it relates to this forum better than any other.

I agree. Apple knew that this was going to happen when they switched to Intel. If they were so worried about it they would still be running PowerPC.

[Sesshi]

it is actually the most reliable mac i have used. i know this sounds crazy but it is true. i didnt just build it last week, i've had it for well over six months on 24/7,

Didn't the board come out well under six months ago?

[dukebound85]

I agree. Apple knew that this was going to happen when they switched to Intel. If they were so worried about it they would still be running PowerPC.

i dont think that was a factor lol

[Firefly2002]

You can't call it a mac. It just runs OS X against the EULA. Why would you post that here? Are you looking to get flamed?

Lol... you think what you're running is a Mac? Unless you've got a PowerPC (or I guess 68k...) processor onboard, you're running a PC like everyone else. Apple doesn't make any of the hardware anymore, or virtually none of it.

If I'm going to get a new "Mac," it's going to be a Hackintosh.

I sort of like the idea of using an e8400 and OCing it above 4 GHz, but at ~3.6 GHz a quad core would be faster in many tasks. Oh well. Perhaps I could wait for the ...hexa-core Nephalem, or something. Would be a nice compromise, I think. Would certainly run SLI and DDR3.

[statikcat]

So you can still dual boot Windows via bootcamp on these machines?

[waremaster]

So you can still dual boot Windows via bootcamp on these machines?


Actually I QUAD boot my system, XP, Vista, Suse 10.3 and Leopard.

[ease718]

So you can still dual boot Windows via bootcamp on these machines?

yes

i just use f12 at startup to select a hd though.

[ease718]

Didn't the board come out well under six months ago?

i have a rev1 board that is indeed over six months old.

most common boards are gigabyte p35-D3xx and D4xx also asus p35 boards.
intel and abit also work well.

its nice to know that when 8cores on a chip is affordable and here, i can upgrade myself esp if see what others have done on the forums. i can also check and see what hd works best which sata dvd drive works well etc.

[dukebound85]

So you can still dual boot Windows via bootcamp on these machines?

i am tribooting leopard, xp and vista at the moment


not with bootcamp though

[ease718]

Actually I QUAD boot my system, XP, Vista, Suse 10.3 and Leopard.

thats hot. how do like suse, thats my next empty HD project.

for all stuff except games (some surprisingly work ok still) i just use parallels if i need xp.

also i just have xp no vista, am i missing anything ?

[Brutus Rex]

ease, what is the fastest (geekbench) hackintosh system you have seen? what were the components?

[trip1ex]

it is actually the most reliable mac i have used. i know this sounds crazy but it is true. i didnt just build it last week, i've had it for well over six months on 24/7, it is just very stable.

Leopard came out not quite 6 months ago.

You were hacking Tiger too? :D

Come on. You just loaded Leopard on it the last few days and that's why you just posted.

[noi375]

Leopard came out not quite 6 months ago.

You were hacking Tiger too? :D

Come on. You just loaded Leopard on it the last few days and that's why you just posted.

OP never explicitly said he was using Leopard (sort of implied, for sure) - I was messing around with the hackintosh Tiger for a bit before deciding to spring for a Mac Pro (boot to Windows most of the time because I played games like Lotro and EQ2).

I gave it up because it was more headache then it's worth, unless you like to mess around with the stuff - kind of like some people that like to mess around with their cars.

[waremaster]

thats hot. how do like suse, thats my next empty HD project.

for all stuff except games (some surprisingly work ok still) i just use parallels if i need xp.

also i just have xp no vista, am i missing anything ?

I find Suse 10.3 to be a very polished OS hardware support is outstanding and package management is great. The other OS I play around with is Ubuntu which is also an awesome OS and 8.04 is looking to be a winner.

[ease718]

Leopard came out not quite 6 months ago.

You were hacking Tiger too? :D

Come on. You just loaded Leopard on it the last few days and that's why you just posted.

initially i used the xXx tiger release.

then brazilmac leo, then TOH leo, now Kalyway.

i first used EFI v3 or v4. now with the Kalyway installer, which installs EFI v8.

Thanks to netkas for hacking EFI things have got a lot easier.

I just installed other peoples hacks, i didnt 'hack' any code myself lol.

i have uploaded a screengrab from of the 'about this mac' window. that was grabbed in mid nov. i'm not about to post my receipts lol. you can also find me on other boards posting about my hack from last year.


re the quickest hacks i've heard about. Some guy built a 8 processor machine . for the money its hard to beat a well cooled core2quad. and core2 chip that is suitably oc'ed should be great for osx.

[kittiyut]

You can't call it a mac. It just runs OS X against the EULA. Why would you post that here? Are you looking to get flamed?

Why flame?? Are you jealous that he can do it? I think this is VERY COOL !!!
This is the kind of posts that is VERY INTERESTING.

Kudos to the OP ;)

[JollyRogers]

I run one also since Jan08. In fact it is what got me "into" purchasing my Mac Pro AND convincing my boss to let me get a MacBook.

If I had not tried it I probably woudn't have bought one as my last experience with Apple was a Performa something in the early-mid 90's and OS9 I think.
I wanted to try OS X, but not buy a low end mac mini. So I tried the Hack route on my existing PC and let me tell you it wasn't easy on an nforce chipset motherboard (680i). Regardless, it runs well and I triple boot Vista64, OSX 10.5.2, and Ubuntu Gutsy 64 via the grub boot loader. I am not using EFI on mine though. Updates are interesting sometimes, and getting a kernel that works on my hardware is not to hard. Currently this kids are using that box, but I see them using Vista a LOT!

I am thinking about grabbing a P35 or such intel chipset motherboard and pulling that hard drive just to run OSX on a separate machine. All I need is a CPU/MB as I have everything else.

[teohyc]

I tried building one before.

My sound card/graphics card didn't work properly.

It's fun to try.

I'm now a Mac Pro owner though

[ease718]

I tried building one before.

My sound card/graphics card didn't work properly.

It's fun to try.

I'm now a Mac Pro owner though

its getting much easier as time goes on. good that you had fun. its not so hard and really enjoyable.

I'm sure apple sells a lot of mac pros and macs of all types through people that come to know osx through a positive experience with either installing it where possible on their existing windows based hardware or building a cheap hackintosh. many of those people will go to become hardware customers. i'm sure this point isnt moot to apple.

[statikcat]

I tried building one before.

My sound card/graphics card didn't work properly.

It's fun to try.

I'm now a Mac Pro owner though

Same here - when I installed some Nvidia driver thing it bombed my comp on boot. I have an older Nvidia FX card in my PC though. I may be willing to try again with some research. I just use that machine to play videos to my TV - but I would prefer OSx on it if possible.

[Infrared]

Actually I QUAD boot my system, XP, Vista, Suse 10.3 and Leopard.

Any advance on quad, then? :)

And.. what *do* you call it when you multiboot
5 different OSes?

[tom.]

Any advance on quad, then? :)

And.. what *do* you call it when you multiboot
5 different OSes?

I think you call it 'overkill' ;)

[macsrules]

This guy walks you through building one with screen shots

1. http://macapper.com/2008/01/19/diy-hackintosh-tutorial-build-a-mac-pro-for-cheap/

[tom.]

This guy walks you through building one with screen shots

1. http://macapper.com/2008/01/19/diy-hackintosh-tutorial-build-a-mac-pro-for-cheap/

hehe, i think you mean photographs? Been using your computer too much! :P

[Infrared]

I think you call it 'overkill' ;)

Heh :)

[Consultant]

I thought all hackintosh have issues with sleep?

[macsrules]

tom,

you are right I have been on this computer too much.;) :D

[tom.]

I found it funny because i did exactly the same thing, out loud the other day. Somewhat worrying!

[Firefly2002]

I'm almost tempted to build one of these in an old PowerMac 9600 or Sawtooth case. That would be neat. Hm.

[ease718]

i would love to build one in an old apple case.

the alum cases are pretty expensive.

i have seen some compact 'shuttle' cases that are cool

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101039
case mb + ati3100 $224

just add a core 2 quad for 239,
or a dual core for $80, 2 gb ram for 50 and a $50 hard drive ie roughly $400 .

shuttles have great reviews, compact size, very quiet.

[cherry su]

This QWNS (better than PWN) the lame Psystar failure.

[ease718]

mine sleeps fine, even deep hibernate type sleep. it all depends on the kernel that you use.

I thought all hackintosh have issues with sleep?

[JackButler]

ease718,

Hi... Your chip is a single qaud 2.4 over clocked to 3.6? can you really over clock it that much or should I just look for a faster chip? Also didn't your MB come with Firewire? I probably will be using a new ASUS mb.

Thanks,

I'm also looking to use an 8800GTS card since the prices are dropping.

[Firefly2002]

I... dual boot on my G3... Tiger and OS 9 =p

Tri if you count OS 9.2.2/10.4.9/10.4.0 as tri =p

Anndddd... Tri boot on my laptop with... XP SP2 Pro, Mac OS 8.6 [Sheepshaver] and Mac OS 7.6.1 [Basilisk].

Okay that doesn't count. So what :D

[cherry su]

You can get a Core 2 Quad Q6600 for $199 at Micro Center :D

Stuff is so cheap these days

[jons]

I think I may have to build a new system soon...

[JackButler]

You can get a Core 2 Quad Q6600 for $199 at Micro Center :D

Stuff is so cheap these days

Thanks for the heads up, I have to go look around there this weekend (if I have the time).

[YahonMaizosz]

This thread is making me more and more tempted to try and install Leopard in my Vista machine.:D:D

Just a quick question, with my hardware setup, do you think that the Hackintosh would work?

ASUS Maximus Formula
Intel Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz
OCZ 8GB DDR2 960
3x150GB RAPTOR (10K) RAID 0
EVGA 7950GX2
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
2x30' DELL 3007WFP-HC

Thx for the help..;)

[ease718]

This thread is making me more and more tempted to try and install Leopard in my Vista machine.:D:D

Just a quick question, with my hardware setup, do you think that the Hackintosh would work?

ASUS Maximus Formula
Intel Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz
OCZ 8GB DDR2 960
3x150GB RAPTOR (10K) RAID 0
EVGA 7950GX2
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
2x30' DELL 3007WFP-HC

Thx for the help..;)

you might want to try on a single hd rather than raid and same goes for the graphics cards but it looks like a compatible system. Asus boards work well.

also $199 is a great price on a quad if thats a G0 version thats a bargin.

[ease718]

ease718,

Hi... Your chip is a single qaud 2.4 over clocked to 3.6? can you really over clock it that much or should I just look for a faster chip? Also didn't your MB come with Firewire? I probably will be using a new ASUS mb.

Thanks,

I'm also looking to use an 8800GTS card since the prices are dropping.

yes single quad 2.4 overclocked to 3.6.
i use a cooler called a freezer pro 7 ac, $11 @ newegg

d3sl mb does NOT come with fw. i use a cheap 4x card. other versions of this mb do come with fw.

the faster chips do the same 3.6 ( or better ) for slightly less temp but more $$
the q6600 is a great price/performance balance for many people.

[benpatient]

I thought all hackintosh have issues with sleep?

You mean like Mac Pros and iMacs?

That's just more evidence that they are as good as the "real" thing...

[JackButler]

also $199 is a great price on a quad if thats a G0 version thats a bargin.
I read that on another site... but how do I tell, is it correct to assume the Retail package is the G0 model?

My understanding is that a G0 version is better for over clocking.

Thanks for your help btw. I want to build one of these primarily for running CS3 as an upgrade from my G4.

[dukebound85]

whats the safest to oc to on the q6600 with g0 with the stock fan?

[YahonMaizosz]

whats the safest to oc to on the q6600 with g0 with the stock fan?

The Q6600 is an OC BEAST! You can get it to 3.2Ghz with STOCK voltage and with STOCK heatsink..

Now, that is something to be proud of..:D

[LethalWolfe]

If I had the free time to build machines again I'd probably put together a Hackintosh (among other things) just for the hell of it. An old quote seems appropriate here, "Linux is only free if your time isn't worth anything." ;)


Lethal

[sushi]

An old quote seems appropriate here, "Linux is only free if your time isn't worth anything." ;)
There is a lot of truth in that quote. :)

[aaron.lee2006]

Recently made a hackintosh out of the PC in my sig. Runs better than my MacBook Pro :P Took a lot of work to get it going, it doesn't like my DVD drive so I have to use an external and it hated my original on board Ethernet port so I had to tear an old one out of another computer. I'm actually using it right now. So call it wrong if you want but I already own two Macs so whatever. It's just cause of my mobo I had some problems. nForce boards aren't that great for the hackintosh.

[M-apple-T]

Are there hardware limitations for the hackintosh?
Like if I wanted, could I maybe have a geforce 9800gx2 in it?

[aaron.lee2006]

Are there hardware limitations for the hackintosh?
Like if I wanted, could I maybe have a geforce 9800gx2 in it?

There are some reports of SLi boards working but some also say they had to take out one of their GFX cards for OS X to boot. I don't have an SLi board so it wasn't a problem with me. 1x 8600 GT OC here :p

[GFLPraxis]

So I decided a couple of days ago to build a Hackintosh and just spotted this thread, giving me a bit more confidence :) I ordered a motherboard already that several guides had used and that the OSx86 community had used for testing so it works perfectly out of the box without any special driver hacks.

Hardware should be here by wednesday. I'm excited!

I fully realize I'm sacrificing a certain measure of Apple's traditional ease of use (namely, I have to be careful about how I install updates and keep track of driver issues whereas on Macs you never worry about drivers) for customizability and lower price- but frankly, I actually consider a project like this to be fun.

And I'm building a PC for $900 that outstrips a $2300 Mac Pro.
Mac Pro @ $2299:
Quad-core 2.8 GHz Xeon
2 GB of RAM
320 GB hard drive
Radeon HD 2600


My machine @ $900:
Quad-core 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad (slower than the Xeon)
4 GB of RAM
660 GB of hard drive space
Geforce 8800 GT ($150 extra on the Mac Pro)
built in WiFi


Weaker processor, better video card, more RAM, more hard drive space. Screaming deal. Though it'd never touch an octo-core Mac Pro :)

I own a MacBook, and I've purchased a licensed copy of Leopard. I can't afford the desktop Mac I'd like (heck, the lowest-end iMac is too expensive at the moment). $900 is about the best I can spare, and any Mac in that range won't have anywhere near the performance I'd like. My options are to either wait a year and buy a Mac Pro, or I can build this machine. :)

[Wild-Bill]

Overclock that puppy to 3.0 Ghz. I think that chip will be more than capable of hitting 3 gigs.

[dukebound85]

Overclock that puppy to 3.0 Ghz. I think that chip will be more than capable of hitting 3 gigs.

with stock cooling? you think 8 x 400 will be ok? it is 9 x 266 stock

[Wild-Bill]

with stock cooling? you think 8 x 400 will be ok? it is 9 x 266 stock

I'd say 10 x 300, if the multi goes up to 10. Aftermarket air cooling, probably to be on the safe side with a 120mm fan preferably to keep the noise level down.

[dukebound85]

I'd say 10 x 300, if the multi goes up to 10. Aftermarket air cooling, probably to be on the safe side with a 120mm fan preferably to keep the noise level down.

the q6600 is limited to 9

i do have 2 120mm case fans in addition to the stock cpu fan

kinda dont want to f up my system but i would think that 8 x 400 or even 9 x 300 would be safe as i wouldnt be raising the voltages at all

what are your thoughts?

[krye]

I'm with you. Use to like tinkering with that stuff. Call it age, laziness, all of the above...but I like going to the Apple store or online. Buy it, take it home, unbox a few things, plug it in and wala! The idea of having to go to a web site, download this and that, untar this/that, recompile, blah blah....eck!

I used to be the same too. I used to hack it, and rip it, and download it, etc. Once you have bills to pay, rent/mortgage, kids and a wife to take care of, things like this and stuff like downloading .mp3s and pirating software seem so past tense and childish. I'm too old to be going down for that stuff. I have responsibilities now. I guess some of us get smarter as we get older. Back in the day I used to spend more time getting my PC/Linux boxes running right, that there was no time to actually do anything with them. My Dad would ask me, "You're always messing with those things. What do you actually use them for?" As I think back on it, "Not much" would have been a good answer.

Now, I'm all about things working right out of the box. Since I've gotten my Mac Pro, I've never been happier. And my productively has gone through the roof. I get more done in a day than I used to in a week. I spend zero time hacking and tweaking and everything works just like it should. I think putting OS X on your own PC build will be no different than any other run of the mill PC, and I bet you'll have to same config/stability/compatibility/performance issues to boot.

Anyway, not that I agree with you violating the EULA (along with those iPhone hackers gosh darn-it!) but, good luck, and let us know when you "come around".

[GFLPraxis]

Overclock that puppy to 3.0 Ghz. I think that chip will be more than capable of hitting 3 gigs.

Won't I need special cooling?

[JackButler]

I own a MacBook, and I've purchased a licensed copy of Leopard. I can't afford the desktop Mac I'd like (heck, the lowest-end iMac is too expensive at the moment). $900 is about the best I can spare, and any Mac in that range won't have anywhere near the performance I'd like. My options are to either wait a year and buy a Mac Pro, or I can build this machine. :)
I'm in the same boat here... I need to upgrade form my G4 desktop as well as my G3 powerbook (which I will replace with a macbook soon). I don't see spending 2800 on Macpro as a good deal and have never been a fan of the all-in-one iMac's.

Good luck with your build and let us know how it goes. I have other bills to pay right now so have put buying hardware parts off a bit.

[dudeofblokes]

out of curiousity i decided to do a poll on hackintoshs and simply want to ask what do you think?

are you for it or against it?

with the release of psystar this is getting alot of coverage and look forward to hearing everyones views.

[richard.mac]

Hackintoshs break Mac OS X's EULA.

other than that i think its a great way for users to get into OS X if they cannot afford Apple hardware or if you are curious and want to check out OS X on your PC before you buy a Mac.

ive checked out InsanelyMac.com before becuase i was curious to see how hard it is and if its stable. i was suprised to see that a large quantity of the users are doing it for a hobby and actually own Mac hardware and an OS X license.

if your into building gaming rigs and love OS X its a good opportunity to fuse the two together.

[Tallest Skil]

Well, historically we're not allowed to discuss them here, so... :p

[geek-inthe-pink]

I think that Hackintosh's are really quite unethical. They're not really being honest to Apple, or yourself. And they break the EULA.
Even then, one of the reasons I use a mac is because the Software and Hardware are made by the same people. That minimizes the chances of crashes, plus the hardware and software are literally MADE for each other. Like, lots of the fun would be lost running a thin impersonation of the Macbook Air, because there would be no gestures. Also, people have to make modifications deep within your system (kinda like a NEWB tinkering with a PCs registry), and those haxies make me uncomfy.
Oh, and also did I mention that Apple has the capability to detect whether you are using their hardware? In some later release, like 10.5.8, say, they could halt your upgrade because your mac isn't authentic. Plus you can't have them fix something or transfer files either.


Well, I said it. This is just my own humble opinion, but I would still like to discourage you from buying a hackintosh, even if you can't afford a real mac. Doing it the right way is more rewarding, I promise.

[kuwisdelu]

As I recall, arn doesn't mind discussion of hackintoshes as long as the topic never, ever delves into ways to pirate OS X. Otherwise, it's okay.

Personally I have no problem with hobbyists making hackintoshes, as long as they pay for the operating system. From what I hear, they're usually more trouble than their worth, which puts them more in the realm of hobby territory in the first place than your average Joe who can't afford a real Mac.

I do have a problem with people who pirate OS X, and I think most forum members do.

I also have a problem with Psystar. A hobbyist making a hackintosh in his own home for fun is completely different than a company selfishly making money off of lots of other people's hard work (both Apple and people of project OSx86). Count me among those who want to see Psystar bite the dust. But anyone who wants to dish out the $129 for Leopard and want to try to build their own hackintosh? I say let them. But the selfish people at Psystar shouldn't be profiting from so many other people's hard work without doing any of their own.

[ChrisA]

out of curiousity i decided to do a poll on hackintoshs and simply want to ask what do you think?

I think the most interresting thing is that Apple has been so quiet about this. They have not even gone so far as to complain, even once to people who are selling these (pystar) or those publishing the technical informatiion about how to build one. Nothing. It is as if Apple is saying they don't care.

This would not be so odd if Apple were not so quick to take action on others who would even leak rumors and photos. Apple's leagal department i not known for inaction.

Why is Apple silent? My guess is they absolutly do not want their EULA tested in court. If they were to loose it would be a huge blow. The court could very likely toss out the concept of a EULA.

After all how can a contract be binding if only one party agrees to it? Who ever heard of a "shrink wrapped contract" that you don't get to read untill after you open a box but then opened boxes are not returnable? LOTS of reason for Apple not wanting to take this to court. Better for Apple to ignore the problem

As for the Hackentosh itself. It is mostly done by people who just want to learn how everything works or kids who don't have the money to buy a "real" Mac. I doubt any of them cost Apple a lost sale

One other thing that may be holding Apple back is that when yu add it all up, I think half of Mac OSX was not written by Apple. They are using a TON of Open Source software they got for free from other people. The entire BSD kernal is the result of decades of work all done for free and given away. Much of the user space is free software too. All of Apple's printing and Postscript stuff and the ftp and http and networking. Apple may actually be worried about ethics bout ow they can take so much fromthe open source comunity and not give anything back. Actually I doubt they care about ethic, more likey it's perception and image. How would it look if Apple in effect said "hey we collected all this free stuff and put it in a box and now you arn't playing with it the way we want you to." Apple has all the right to say that but how would it look if they did?

[Alloye]

If I wanted to futz around trying to make my OS work on a given set of hardware, I'd run Linux. ;)

[slapguts]

Macs can be had on the cheap. I'm typing this on a G4 iMac I bought of Craigslist for $60, due to a failed attempt at replacing the hard drive. The kid broke the jumper for the monitor off the logic board. I bought it, brought it home, and plugged in an external monitor. Fired right up. Sold the iMac monitor and arm on ebay for $110.

[JollyRogers]

I run a hackintosh and it was a pain to get working on my hardware. I did it to see if I would like it (so I would fall into the hobby catagory). It triple boots Vista/Ubuntu/OSX86 and since running OSX86, I have purchased TWO macs in the last 3 months and will be purchasing another in June or July for my son for college. Obviously I was impressed.

I think that speaks volumes of why Apple turns the other way. They don't have to support it and it gives free advertising for their OS.

[dudeofblokes]

sorry i never thought to mention when starting this post that its to discus peoples views on it not how to do it, i like a lot of others dont condone piracy nor should it be mentioned in this listing.

i just want to know what people think of the subject of hackintoshs and their experiences if going the way of them.

[mrwizardno2]

Personally, I have only ever run OS X on macs, but I think that it's cool that people can take it and make it run on other hardware. Of course, there is nearly nothing to it - but those first few who figured it out on their own... that was pretty cool.

I don't see anything wrong with it. If the license for it was acquired legally, who cares whether you're running it on Apple hardware or a junk x86 box. I know everyone on this forum bitches about the EULA, but I'd love to see that attempted to be held up in court. If people are paying for it... they may not be springing 5k on a mac pro... but they're still dishing out the dough for the software.

[costabunny]

Well my 'Hackintosh' gained apple sales of a Macbook Air and Mac Pro. I firmly think that people who manage to run a hackintosh (and I mean those like me who DIY, not companies selling them as thats another issue), are generally the curious types. I had mine running for three weeks to ensure I could find apps to do all the things I do in Vista (and guess what - most i didnt need to look for as OS X did them out-of-the-box).

I do agree that some folks will build a hackintosh and never even consider purchasing an apple machine of software licence. These folks are not costing sales as they wouldnt buy it anyways.

The danger is the hackintosh sellers - they are selling a product which is based on a breach of the software licence and also is not a true representation of what it means to be Apple branded. These should be stopped.

Otherwise I think everyone should be shown how MacOS X works - even it means making a 'live' disk and giving it away on Computer Shopper. After all many users dont go-mac not because they dont want to, but becasue they simply are timid about something different to windoze.

[rhett7660]

Not to sound like a prick, but if you do a search there are plenty of posts on this website that pretty much tell you what people on this board think of them...

[solaris]

Don't like it!
Simply because its against the EULA

[viggen61]

I think that they generally break the whole Macintosh computer Model - something that is easy to use, easy to configure, and works out of the box.

Even the clones back in the mid-90s had issues. Far fewer than PCs had, but some.

I agree with the poster about Linux. Though Linux has gotten a lot better recently, especially Ubuntu.

:apple::apple:

[beige matchbox]

Meh, Can't say i really care one way or another.

I do find it interesting though, that these people are willing to put up with, in some cases, worse stability and issues than a windows system...

[macrem]

Macs can be had on the cheap. I'm typing this on a G4 iMac I bought of Craigslist for $60, due to a failed attempt at replacing the hard drive. The kid broke the jumper for the monitor off the logic board. I bought it, brought it home, and plugged in an external monitor. Fired right up. Sold the iMac monitor and arm on ebay for $110.
Way to go slapguts, you demonstrated that not only is it possible to get an affordable mac, not only is it possible to get a mac for free, its possible to make a profit :D

[dudeofblokes]

Not to sound like a prick, but if you do a search there are plenty of posts on this website that pretty much tell you what people on this board think of them...

i hate when people say i dont mean to ..... if they didnt mean to they wouldnt do it. as stated at the start of this post this is a poll i was wanting to do, yes others may have done this before but this was something i wanted to know in a convient place thats all.

[Quillz]

I really don't care one way or the other. If someone wants to go out, buy a copy of Mac OS X and then install it on any generic PC hardware, then that's great. But, yeah, it really doesn't affect me one way or the other.

[italiano40]

i think they are wantabe mac users

[Baffles]

I have a hackintosh, it was actually a computer I got for $50 on black friday which I purchased because it looked OS X compatible. Turns out it runs Leopard flawlessly.

I may get some flak here, but I'm running pirated Leopard on it. Cheaper and better machine than buying a used mac in the same price range. However, it turned me from being indifferent to OS X to liking it. If not for that pirated copy of Leopard running on my $50 box, I wouldn't be planning to buy a MacBook Pro, so I suppose the hackintosh community earned Apple at least one sale.

Linux can't touch OS X. Linux is fine on my headless servers, but I dislike it on desktop. It's not functional enough in my opinion, and I'm not thrilled with the ugliness of it. Gnome and KDE are both ugly.

[ZiggyPastorius]

It doesn't really make any difference to me. I do have a problem with companies like Psystar doing it, because whether or not it is legally enforcable, I don't think it's right to blatantly ignore the restrictions placed on one's own intellectual property and make a profit on it. That said, if everything is done legally (as in, you're not pirating it or anything) I don't have a problem with hobbyists doing it, as it really does nothing to me.

I have a hackintosh, it was actually a computer I got for $50 on black friday which I purchased because it looked OS X compatible. Turns out it runs Leopard flawlessly.

I may get some flak here, but I'm running pirated Leopard on it. Cheaper and better machine than buying a used mac in the same price range. However, it turned me from being indifferent to OS X to liking it. If not for that pirated copy of Leopard running on my $50 box, I wouldn't be planning to buy a MacBook Pro, so I suppose the hackintosh community earned Apple at least one sale.

Well, I don't think that makes it all right, but, who am I to judge you ;)

[blakintosh]

A cheaper way to try Mac OS X and get better/cheaper hardware

[njstam]

Having a hacked computer increases the chance of something going wrong. Then when something does, you have no support because it was hacked!

I don't believe in the hackintosh.

[Muncher]

I tried it once with an old sony (I owned a mac at that time). It was meant as a hobby project, and to hold my dad over until he got his own. Needless to say, the sony used a lot of proprietary hardware, so it failed.

I support Hack macs for (temporary!) experimental purposes.

That sony is now running Ubuntu 8.04, which in my opinion is better than it running leopard; leopard would lag horribly.

[teksurv]

I tried this briefly, and it took quite a bit of work to get OS X to run on my PC laptop. It did however interest me enough to purchase a used Macbook.

[alphaod]

I've install OS X when it was first announced for x86 on a regular PC; Installed it for the heck of it and people would give me looks; now I'm totally for a hacintosh as long as people buy a copy of Leopard when they install.

[benzslrpee]

i don't really have an opinion either way...you have a real iMac good for you. you built your own iMac equivalent good for you.

[nateDEEZY]

I don't believe in the hackintosh.

Lol, it's not about belief. :rolleyes:

Anyways I'm typing from my newly built Hackintosh, atm. No issue what so ever :D It definitely was a b!tch patching the leopard dvd. Geekbench scores 4664 and xBench scores were quite impressive. When I initially got it installed on my "back up" 500gb drive xBench scores were 218~220 after I decided to do the install on my terabyte drive score went down to 180~190 :( the 1TB drives show poor performance on the random write section.

This desktop effectively pushed my Macbook Pro into the living room. If this wasn't originally intended as a gaming rig (Wolfdale Dual Core), I can't Imagine how it would run with Yorkfield Quad Core.

My thoughts on it is, this whole Hackintosh "community" makes it clear (to me at least) that there is still a market for mid-range/level desktops running OSX. Faster than iMac's but not quite as fast as Mac Pro's.

Just my .02 cents.

[mithrilfox]

Well, just to clarify, Mac software and hardware are not created by the same people per se, but they are very comfortably linked. For example, Apple didn't make the ATI RADEON card series, for instance. In fact, they don't make most of the hardware, but just rely on carefully selected manufacturers, which means their system works without a hitch on the hardware you get.

Hackintoshes are dangerous for serious work. Would you ever want to build one and run FCP with a huge video project? Of course not, because if that system were to hiccup on you, you could lose all of your work, fail to meet a deadline, or waste a lot of time. Also, each new OS update could "break" your current system. Any firmware updates would be dangerous to say the least. Additionally, if Apple introduced a new software feature into the OS to detect and disable Hackintosh use, you could find your time and money all for naught. And, it's also illegal.

Aside from that, I think it's interesting and it fascinates me. If I had lots of money to spare, I might try to do it, using my family license version of Leopard (which currently installed on only two computers, leaving three available).

But herein lies the problem: why would you? If it were to make a cheap machine to do daily tasks with the Mac OS (internet, mail, random games, media), not a big deal. But the real reason you would do it, I imagine, is to build a super machine without spending the big bucks on a Mac Pro. If you are building a super machine, you must be doing something super with it. Games on Mac OS X is ... well... they just aren't really there. So, if you're not gaming, you must be doing some sort of serious graphics/video work. In that case, you would be creating a very risky setup for such serious work. Sure, any system can crash and burn, but we gotta admit that a hacked system like this is definitely going to have a higher chance of doing so.

[nateDEEZY]

Well, just to clarify, Mac software and hardware are not created by the same people per se, but they are very comfortably linked. For example, Apple didn't make the ATI RADEON card series, for instance. In fact, they don't make most of the hardware, but just rely on carefully selected manufacturers, which means their system works without a hitch on the hardware you get.

Hackintoshes are dangerous for serious work. Would you ever want to build one and run FCP with a huge video project? Of course not, because if that system were to hiccup on you, you could lose all of your work, fail to meet a deadline, or waste a lot of time. Also, each new OS update could "break" your current system. Any firmware updates would be dangerous to say the least. Additionally, if Apple introduced a new software feature into the OS to detect and disable Hackintosh use, you could find your time and money all for naught. And, it's also illegal.

.....

But herein lies the problem: why would you? If it were to make a cheap machine to do daily tasks with the Mac OS (internet, mail, random games, media), not a big deal. But the real reason you would do it, I imagine, is to build a super machine without spending the big bucks on a Mac Pro. If you are building a super machine, you must be doing something super with it. Games on Mac OS X is ... well... they just aren't really there. So, if you're not gaming, you must be doing some sort of serious graphics/video work. In that case, you would be creating a very risky setup for such serious work. Sure, any system can crash and burn, but we gotta admit that a hacked system like this is definitely going to have a higher chance of doing so.

I agree you have a valid argument. With that sad I know several music producers who's systems range from Dual G5's to Mac Pro's that once they get there software running they use there systems solely to do those functions. Most of them don't even bother to connect them to the internet, hell I know one that still runs panther on a dual g4 and refuses to upgrade his OS. Pro Tools works perfect with it, why bother updating something that isn't broken.

At the moment, it's my understanding that the x86 community likes to push the lines and boundaries and see how far they can keep up with apple updates till it officially breaks there system.

I'm perfectly comfortable with 10.5.3 on my Hackintosh, at the moment there is no issues that I have come across. *Knocks on wood* But I'll continue using it daily/normally to see how it performs and test it's stability. It's an overclocked system, so that even adds more fun to the equation. >;P

[jeremy.king]

I don't think it's right to blatantly ignore the restrictions placed on one's own intellectual property and make a profit on it.

This is how the Personal Computing turned from hobby to mainstream. Without these rogue companies, Apple included, the industry would stagnate...For a good read, google Apple Xerox Microsoft (http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+Xerox+Microsoft)

I only have beefs with people using non-legitimate licenses, as long as you buy OS X, do what you want with it. Apple is still profiting.

[brand]

I only have beefs with people using non-legitimate licenses, as long as you buy OS X, do what you want with it. Apple is still profiting.

Not like if you had bought a computer from them instead of completely disregarding the EULA.

[johngardiner]

I don't have a problem with people building their own hackintoshes either. Especially if it's just to try the OS. From reading this thread you can see a number have people have done it, then bought Mac's right after which is promising!

As for companies like Psystar, I also don't have a huge problem with it. They don't advertise their computers as hackintoshes, instead as open souce computers that can run any OS... and after you configure one you can choose which OS to buy with it. It's also a good way for people who can't afford the quality premiums on Macs to get into OSX and try it out. Competition is a great thing, and once the legality issue is sorted out (note that if it is in fact illegal I won't support Psystar) this kind of company could bring down the cost of buying an authentic mac... because let's be honest in the end we all want an authentic Mac not a clone!

[spamdumpster]

This is a very interesting discussion. I'm typing this on a Thinkpad x60s, running Leopard. It runs side by side with my XP machine at work. At home, I have two computers -- an aluminum iMac 20", 2.4 GHz and a Thinkpad T60.

1. I agree with the posts that say that a hackintosh is an excellent way for users to try out OS X, with the intent to buy a real mac if they like it. I wouldn't have bought the iMac without first using Leopard and convincing me and my wife that it could replace our windows machines. Now we're mac fanatics and would never consider going back to windows. Also, because I'm the tech savvy one in my family, I've also convinced others to get macs.

2. I also agree with the posts that say that the hackintosh experience pales in comparison to the real mac experience. Getting everything working can be extremely difficult and takes a long time. Software updates are huge problems. Installing any application can replace necessary extension files and render the hackintosh unusable.

3. I also agree with the posts that say that you should buy a real copy of Leopard even if you're going to install a downloaded/torrent hacked version. All of us -- hackintosh users and mac users -- have an interest in apple making money from their software so that they continue to develop it.

4. I completely disagree with posts that claim that running a hackintosh takes money away from apple. I firmly believe that Apple makes money buy people trying (and liking) OS X and then buying a real mac. See point number 1 above. My installing Leopard on my old thinkpad from work has directly resulted in sales of at least 4 real macs in the last 6 months.

5. I think that people who dislike hackintoshes because they violate the EULA are liars and hypocrites. These folks likely do not read the EULAs that come with all of the products they buy, and I guarantee that they violate some of them.

[nateDEEZY]

5. I think that people who dislike hackintoshes because they violate the EULA are liars and hypocrites. These folks likely do not read the EULAs that come with all of the products they buy, and I guarantee that they violate some of them.

To quote how some EULA's are ludicrous,
You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.
straight from iTunes.

I mean seriously, what were the lawyers thinking?!

Half the time the crap they put in there is to cover their own ass's. Like many have said, so long as you're buying a legitimate copy of the OS, all is well.

[vansouza]

Use of OSX breaks the law between the User and Apple; and the User will still want Apple to provide support through updates and such... not very fare for Apple.

[ZiggyPastorius]

This is how the Personal Computing turned from hobby to mainstream. Without these rogue companies, Apple included, the industry would stagnate...For a good read, google Apple Xerox Microsoft (http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+Xerox+Microsoft)

I only have beefs with people using non-legitimate licenses, as long as you buy OS X, do what you want with it. Apple is still profiting.

I still don't think it's right. The computer industry will grow and expand whether or not Mac OS X continues to grow, flourish, exist, or whatever. There is more competition than just Apple, even if other companies cannot run Mac OS X on their hardware. Apple makes a product, they sell the product, that doesn't give you or me the right to sell their product (whether we think it's better or not) in a different package. I agree with you on the second point, I just have a problem with companies doing that kind of a thing for profit. Want an operating system for your computer? Get an open source kernel and build off it. Want Mac OS X? Buy a Mac or make your own, but don't sell others your hacked computers as a business.

[mithrilfox]

I'm perfectly comfortable with 10.5.3 on my Hackintosh, at the moment there is no issues that I have come across. *Knocks on wood* But I'll continue using it daily/normally to see how it performs and test it's stability. It's an overclocked system, so that even adds more fun to the equation. >;P

Setting aside legal issues for a moment, I'll say that leaving your system as is, and never upgrading the OS, is your best bet for continued success. You know that, however. ;)

[NT1440]

As long as that scumbag company Pystar isnt involved im all for people making their hackintoshes. I of course, will stick with apple tho:D:apple:

[mithrilfox]

5. I think that people who dislike hackintoshes because they violate the EULA are liars and hypocrites. These folks likely do not read the EULAs that come with all of the products they buy, and I guarantee that they violate some of them.

I wouldn't say they are liars, but it's very likely that EVERYONE is violating numerous intellectual property right laws and licenses on a regular, daily basis.

I want to find a video that a friend told me about, but haven't found it yet. It was one guy's attempt to seriously, but humorously, show how the average person violates intellectual property laws numerous times everyday. I think the average was something like 3-7 violations per day, but I am totally guessing at what it was... can't remember.

The more you read up on intellectual property right laws (copyright, trademark, licenses), the more you begin to say, "Holy crap, you can't do ANYTHING without violating something!"

The only way society can live with the current laws is by intellectual property owners ignoring countless violations. The court systems would be utterly helpless in most countries if every owner attempted to pursue even a fraction of the violations of their material. The case backlog would range in the hundreds of years (wanna prosecute? sure, you gotta wait about 134 years for them to catch up).

Most owners choose to willingly ignore violations, even ones that are brought to their attention. Why? Cause numerous violations work in their favor. They're willing to turn a blind eye and pretend it isn't there, but they don't want to encourage a rewriting of the laws because they want every power on their side to do whatever they want, when they want. They want that opportunity to litigate there at all times, just in case they feel they need it.

It's another discussion for another thread, but many violations of intellectual property right law lead to incidental advertisement of the material, and thus to further exposure and purchase. After all, one of the most popular comments on any YouTube video is frequently, "What's the name of the song?"

[KurtangleTN]

I'm not sure, on one side I'd love to build that Lifehacker $800 Mac that's quadcore and a pretty big beast, on the other I don't see that seamless just works experience I've had with my prior Macs (except 10.5.3), I'd constantly feel like I'm hiding from Apple, and in the end things like fan noise, control over the computer, aren't near as good as the real deal.

On the other hand, it's perfect for the gamer Mac. Most of the time the CPU is secondary to video cards to them, and the iMac certainly isn't suitable, but the Mac Pro is overkill.

People will continue to build them as long as Apple fails to see the people want a mid ranged tower, it's like fighting piracy, Jobs himself said you can't fight it, you just have to compete with it.

[BillyBobBongo]

I think it's great personally!

My Windows XP 'fell over' a few months ago and I just saw red for the last time with it. I researched into my hardware (some of it is a bit old) and set about putting OSX onto it. I had really good fun learning about different kernels and how to change drivers on a system that I don't normally have to worry about. I even had to dive into learning about terminal....so it's all been a fun, if a bit geeky, experience.

It's been running flawlessly for me for quite some time.....and I'm sure it will for much much longer. My joy now is that I can utilise the vast amount of storage space on it, as well as my Airdisk for storing data.

Of course I like to play games too, so I ended up having to bite the bullet and put Windows back on to my system (curse those 'Games for Windows' titles). I have a spare HD that I set it on and with a bit of tweaking to the boot system it now dual boots.

It was all much much easier than I had anticipated....and the first time I booted up was a real giggle.

I'm sure that Apple watch the OSX86 project with great interest too. They get different user experience with different hardware and their OS. I own a software license for the OS that sits on the Hackintosh and I own a MacBook too. I've given my money to Apple and I love their stuff, but I also like the freedom that a self built unit can give me.

Oh...and I bodged an Apple sticker on the case....so it's kinda Apple branded.....good enough for me! ;)

[br0adband]

To those that always revert to the "It breaks the EULA" argument, have you ever driven 26 MPH or higher in a 25 MPH zone? I bet you have... I'll bet you a Hackintosh you have, and as such, it's about the same in terms of legality - it means Jack Squat. Oh, well, it means about as much as Steve Jobs' promise to not steal or copy anything he witnessed on that fateful day when he and the rest of the Apple team visited Xerox PARC so long ago.

Hey, if you can't obey all the laws, then I guess it's ok to just abide by the ones that are most convenient to you and cause the least amount of undue stress, sure.

I have a long history with OSx86 what with me being the guy that released the first generic installation DVD for it back in August of 2005. I've seen all the progress before that release, I've seen all the progress since then, and honestly, Apple isn't hurting for it. They're barely cracking 6% marketshare not that they're not trying, but they keep making the crucial mistake they've never learned from: stop advertising for the competition, which is what every single Apple commercial for Macs does and has done since the Mac vs PC ad campaign started. Idiots. I don't think the ~1% gain in market share over the past 3+ years is worth it but I'm not Mr. Steve "Deep Pockets" Jobs either.

As one person pointed out above, the fact that the OSx86 projects are doing nothing but increasing the press about Apple and OSX as well as actually increasing the mediocre sales for Macs is a positive for Apple regardless of whether anyone around here can actually see that aftereffect at work - especially Apple itself who will always turn a blind eye to that aspect. It's ok for Steve-O to steal from Xerox (don't quote that stupid "Great artists steal" BS, it's tired) but when someone actually steals an idea back and improves on it, someone gets all pissy about it. Whaaaa... whaaaa... whaaaa...

I've got a few emails from Apple Legal that I have printed out (and saved, of course) and framed telling me "We know what you're doing, so cut it out" with words to that effect. I treat 'em like badges of honor in some respects. The company that ended up creating an entire product line founded on theft, the Macintosh - make no mistake, they stole the very concept of the GUI from Xerox PARC, period - now gets angry when some kids in a garage (metaphorically speaking here) take what they can from Apple's flagship product(s) and then improve on them for their own purposes.

That's pretty ironic, I'd say.

Are Hackintoshes legal? Well, not one of us can say "yes" or "no" because a Hackintosh has never been brought before a court of law and tried for... well, I don't know what the charge would be, actually.

Is installing OSX on hardware not directly manufactured by Apple itself (they don't make it, anyway, but outsource it - another irony) illegal? Again, I can't even imagine what that would entail, but as I own a legal Apple Store purchased copy of Leopard 10.5 on DVD in the retail shrink wrapped packaging (never been opened), then I personally would say I can do whatever the hell I want with it, up to and including patching the installation files so that I can install it on a non-Apple manufactured "personal computer" for my own intents and purposes.

Do I? Nah... I can't stand OSX, really. It has nothing to offer me, never has, but I do own a legit retail copy of it just in case I get the urge to get involved in the project once more. The Wife does love Leopard, however. ;)

[wildmilne]

Well if not for a hackintosh i wouldn't have purchased a macbook pro and an iphone (wanted to try Leopard before i almost bought a dell laptop)...so i think Apple shouldn't be that pissed, i can now use the hackintosh for linux.

[rogersmj]

I have a 2.8 GHz dual-core hackintosh that I use as my main machine at home. I also have a MacBook and MacBook Pro (and an Apple TV). Before the hackintosh, my primary machine was an iMac (first the white Intel, then the aluminum). I actually built the hackintosh because...

1) I like a project
2) There's no computer in the Apple lineup that fits my needs.

I wanted a machine that could

a) Handle two large-ish monitors (so the mini is out)
b) Have high-quality displays (bye-bye aluminum iMac...it's why I sold mine)
c) Handle at least 4GB of RAM (which eliminates the older white iMacs with good screens)

Now technically a Mac Pro is an option, but I don't need anywhere near that much power -- just nice screens and a lot of RAM -- so spending nearly triple what I would spend on an iMac just to be able to have a not-crappy screen was not in the cards.

I love my real Apple products to death, and the hackintosh, while mostly solid, is not without problems. It occasionally doesn't detect USB mass storage devices right after bootup (hard drives, iPods) until I run a certain terminal command to clear kext caches. Other than that, it's fine...and for saving $2k, I can live with that little inconvenience. One day I absolutely want to get a Mac Pro, but it's not feasible right now.

So it was a fun project and a temporary stopgap until I can justify the cost of a Mac Pro OR until Apple releases iMac-level hardware without a crappy display.

[br0adband]

Well if not for a hackintosh i wouldn't have purchased a macbook pro and an iphone (wanted to try Leopard before i almost bought a dell laptop)...so i think Apple shouldn't be that pissed, i can now use the hackintosh for linux.

After I got involved in the OSx86 project back in 2005, I left it (those damned Apple Legal bastards, I swear) for about a year roughly then got re-involved just around the time I bought a few real Macs. In a 2 month span of time I bought a black Macbook (defective, returned it a few days later), then upgraded to a 15" Macbook Pro (defective, returned it a week later), and then traded up again to not one but two 20" iMacs - one for myself, one for my Wife.

Returned my iMac about 3 weeks later, defective, bad optical drive wouldn't burn CD media at all, kernel panics galore at any random time, sound output had noise/static in it, 3 dead pixels from the factory. Returned the Wife's iMac 2 weeks after that, defective, bad optical drive, overheated, random reboots, wouldn't play retail DVDs correctly but would play my burned backups, go figure, 2 dead pixels from the factory.

Now, not everyone has these issues, and some people could blame all that on them all being "new" items (the Macbook was 1st generation, so was the Macbook Pro, both had the thermal paste gooped on the CPU core, idiots), but then the two iMacs exhibiting similar issues with defective optical drives? Has Apple not learned anything over the years and realized "Hey, maybe we need to go back to Pioneer and stop using these craptastic Mitsumis..."

I guess not.

My point here is that for the Hackintoshes that I've built myself, each and every one of them was more stable, more reliable, and more useful to me in the periods of time I had them running OSx86 than the real Macintosh computers I bought in an Apple Store and got reamed on the return fees by - but I got the fees back in the long run.

Charging me for returning a defective piece of hardware. Shame on you, Steve, shame on you.

[mithrilfox]

After I got involved in the OSx86 project back in 2005, I left it (those damned Apple Legal bastards, I swear) for about a year roughly then got re-involved just around the time I bought a few real Macs. In a 2 month span of time I bought a black Macbook (defective, returned it a few days later), then upgraded to a 15" Macbook Pro (defective, returned it a week later), and then traded up again to not one but two 20" iMacs - one for myself, one for my Wife.

Returned my iMac about 3 weeks later, defective, bad optical drive wouldn't burn CD media at all, kernel panics galore at any random time, sound output had noise/static in it, 3 dead pixels from the factory. Returned the Wife's iMac 2 weeks after that, defective, bad optical drive, overheated, random reboots, wouldn't play retail DVDs correctly but would play my burned backups, go figure, 2 dead pixels from the factory.

Now, not everyone has these issues, and some people could blame all that on them all being "new" items (the Macbook was 1st generation, so was the Macbook Pro, both had the thermal paste gooped on the CPU core, idiots), but then the two iMacs exhibiting similar issues with defective optical drives? Has Apple not learned anything over the years and realized "Hey, maybe we need to go back to Pioneer and stop using these craptastic Mitsumis..."

I guess not.

My point here is that for the Hackintoshes that I've built myself, each and every one of them was more stable, more reliable, and more useful to me in the periods of time I had them running OSx86 than the real Macintosh computers I bought in an Apple Store and got reamed on the return fees by - but I got the fees back in the long run.

Charging me for returning a defective piece of hardware. Shame on you, Steve, shame on you.

I have no idea what to say. I think you must hold the world record for the most consecutive defective Macs purchased ever. I've purchased an iBook G4, then another one of the same, then a MacBook, then an iMac. Never a single problem with any of them, except it seems that the MacBook's iSight cable may have gotten loose.

Never a dead pixel, no optical drive problems, nothing. That's most people's experience. If what you're saying is true, you really got the short end of the stick, and I would be investigating a way to remove the computer curse placed on you (kidding, of course).

[ert3]

I am both for and against it.

I want 3rd party hardware developers to make and sell macs but I like the amount of control apple exerts now as a method of quality control.

I just don't want to see mac OS go the way of windows. being installed on computers tat are so substandard the update tool recommends you not use the version of the OS you have installed is ridiculous on OEM systems (I got these read outs from several windows vista machines)

[Satori]

...make no mistake, they stole the very concept of the GUI from Xerox PARC, period


Make no mistake... xerox protected their patents and got paid for them (hansomely!). Apple brought the mouse input and desktop analogy to personal computing... many others have incorporated this to their OS since. None of this is relevant to the debate here.

Having said all of this... the commentary on this thread is the best debate I have seen on MR for a while:)

[Satori]

After I got involved in the OSx86 project back in 2005, I left it (those damned Apple Legal bastards, I swear) for about a year roughly then got re-involved just around the time I bought a few real Macs. In a 2 month span of time I bought a black Macbook (defective, returned it a few days later), then upgraded to a 15" Macbook Pro (defective, returned it a week later), and then traded up again to not one but two 20" iMacs - one for myself, one for my Wife.

Returned my iMac about 3 weeks later, defective, bad optical drive wouldn't burn CD media at all, kernel panics galore at any random time, sound output had noise/static in it, 3 dead pixels from the factory. Returned the Wife's iMac 2 weeks after that, defective, bad optical drive, overheated, random reboots, wouldn't play retail DVDs correctly but would play my burned backups, go figure, 2 dead pixels from the factory.

Now, not everyone has these issues, and some people could blame all that on them all being "new" items (the Macbook was 1st generation, so was the Macbook Pro, both had the thermal paste gooped on the CPU core, idiots), but then the two iMacs exhibiting similar issues with defective optical drives? Has Apple not learned anything over the years and realized "Hey, maybe we need to go back to Pioneer and stop using these craptastic Mitsumis..."

I guess not.

My point here is that for the Hackintoshes that I've built myself, each and every one of them was more stable, more reliable, and more useful to me in the periods of time I had them running OSx86 than the real Macintosh computers I bought in an Apple Store and got reamed on the return fees by - but I got the fees back in the long run.

Charging me for returning a defective piece of hardware. Shame on you, Steve, shame on you.

Wow this is really bad luck! I guess there is always someone who is going to be this unlucky and I am really sorry that it was you **no sarcasm**

I would suspect that if apple were aware of this bad luck they will be getting prepared to fall over themselves to make sure that you get reliable harware in the future. They treated me like an absolute king when I got two dodgely blackbooks in a row including several courtesy calls and £100 of vouchers.

[duck69]

:mad: I have a major problem with thieves. Pirating of any kind is stealing.

:D Hobbyists/DIY'ers making Hackintoshes is in a completely different class altogether.
And it is really cool :cool: to see if you can do it, as long as you own (bought, paid for) the operating system. :apple:

Otherwise :eek: :mad: STOP ! THIEF ! STOP ! THIEF ! THIEF !

[mithrilfox]

:mad: I have a major problem with thieves. Pirating of any kind is stealing.

:D Hobbyists/DIY'ers making Hackintoshes is in a completely different class altogether.
And it is really cool :cool: to see if you can do it, as long as you own (bought, paid for) the operating system. :apple:

Otherwise :eek: :mad: STOP ! THIEF ! STOP ! THIEF ! THIEF !

There is a difference between pirating and the numerous other kinds of license violations. They are VERY different. In one case, you are stealing a copy of software that you don't own. In most other cases, you own the software (the right to use one or more copies), and have chosen to use them outside the listed boundaries.

Let's be careful not to water-down the concept of pirating with things that are not pirating.

[Cave Man]

There seems to be substantial consternation about Apple's lack of a Mac Mini update or a "Mac Midi" (i.e., headless iMac with an extra drive bay). So, would you ever go the route of a hackintosh?

[dukebound85]

i have a hackintosh

q6600 @2.91ghz
8800gt 512
4 gig 800mhz ram
gigabyte ds3l board
500psu
10.5.2



works great and supplements my mb and only cost me 950ish to build

[kabunaru]

I would get a Mac Pro in that case with 2 ATI Radeon HD 3870s CrossFired when booted into Windows. :cool:

http://www.barefeats.com/harper18.html

I wouldn't want a Hackintosh though.

[nplima]

I'd build a hackintosh for the fun of it. right now I think all the components on my pc are compatible, I just want to ensure I know how to do it so I can triple boot without damaging anything.

[Eidorian]

I have a spare hard drive laying around so it's always a possibility.

[ditzy]

Can I add another category for those who would not buy or build a Hackintosh because they don't want the problems, but yet still have no problems with other people who do want to own hackintosh, and think all power to them. It always makes me laugh at how outraged that people get about other people owning hckintoshes as though they were cheating on apple or something.

[rfruth]

If Apple comes up with a sub $ 1000.00 desktop (not an all-in-one) they'll have a new customer - or if they would rather save me a few hundred $ that works to :rolleyes:

[PNW]

If I had more time (to deal with the inevitable problems) I'd would have just built a Hackintosh, but I don't (3 young kids) so I just broke down and got an iMac.

You definitely need a poll option along the lines of I like the idea but don't want to deal.

[CWallace]

I'm waiting for the Nehalem Mac Pros. I dislike building PCs and a Hackintosh, with all the extra effort to make it work, appeals to me even less. :p

[iMpathetic]

I've already built a PC and just need to borrow a DVD burner.... and figure out how to dual-boot.

[allymac]

I've alread got one - I'm an IT manager and I just love tinkering with things - I have about 8 different OS's running at any one time :D

I haven't got an actual Mac at the moment - I don't really want an iMac, the mac mini spec isn't good enough for me and the Mac Pro is out of my budget. I'm thinking mac book is the way to go for me now.

[nplima]

If I had more time (to deal with the inevitable problems) [....]

You definitely need a poll option along the lines of I like the idea but don't want to deal.

something like: I like the idea but prefer the comfort of denial and spreading FUD.

[remmy]

I might of if I had more technical know-how. Its just that you need specific parts for a stable system a bit like windows then.

Would hate to do all the research, buy the parts and put it together and then arrghh find it does not work as well as I wanted it to and end up with just a windows PC :eek:

[Vanilla Thunder]

I love my Mack Pro (Hackintosh). It is the best Mac I have ever owned.

Core2Quad 2.67GHz
Asus P5k-e wifi
GeForce 8800GT
4GB ram

[CWallace]

A company called EFiX (http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/efix-wants-to-bring-osx86-to-the-masses/) evidently wants to make installing Leopard on Hackintoshes as simple as booting from a USB stick come the 23rd, though you'll need to buy it via a foreign reseller since they do not intend to offer it for sale in the US.

[PlaceofDis]

i'm a bit up in the air about hackintoshes. right now i have no desire to build one, but thats not to say that in the future i wouldn't. but probably couldn't be bothered to.

[Cave Man]

I'm kind of surprised that more than half of respondents are at least considering it. I suspected it would have been around 25%. But then again, there could be substantial sample bias in such polls. If it gets 400 or more responses, then I think it'll be a fairly accurate representation.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

When I'm building my own 'nix box with compatible parts I'll probably add an OS X partition, but I wouldn't rely on it for work or anything important.

[lofight]

I prefer the very attractive, well designed Apple computer :D The experience of opening an Apple retail box, and smell the Apple computer smell is great! :p
I also wouldn't be capable of building a hackintoch I think, without alot if study..

[PcBgone]

I would never build a hackintosh. I have built many pc's in the past. Im very capable of doing it. However, after all the problems with different pc components over the years and microsux inability to find the hardware has really left a sour taste in my mouth.

I wish Apple would shut down hackintoshs...Why? Because its a virus doomed to destroy a Decent OS. The reason why OS X is so stable, is because of the limited hardware Apple uses. If you open up the hardware to all the third party companies, then OSX then becomes Winblows, and is unstable as crap! Im not interested in that scenario.

If you dont Like what Apple has to offer, go to their competition. Microsux...Im sure you will be happy there!

[bankshot]

I used to build many PCs, from about 5 to 15 years ago, but eventually I got tired of it. My DIY energy has focused on home improvement the last few years, so I'd rather just buy a computer that turns on and works well out of the box now. Of course in another 5-10 years, I'll probably be sick of working on the house, and start hiring handyman services for stuff I know I could do but can't be bothered for anymore... :rolleyes:

Aside from diminished enthusiasm about building a computer (and one that would have to meet very exact specs to be a successful hackintosh), I also have another strong reason to wait for an updated mini: I want several of the mini's features that are more difficult to do well in a build-your-own PC.
Small footprint
Quiet
Power savings
I plan to buy a Mac mini for use as a home server and replacing two old, slow, power guzzling machines which are currently very loud with all their fans. The mini will be so perfect for this, if Apple will just freaking update it already! :mad::rolleyes:

[lofight]

I saw this Usb dongle that makes installig Mac OS X Leopard on a PC, The easiest thing.. Link (http://www.tuaw.com/2008/06/14/efix-usb-dongle-for-installing-os-x-on-a-regular-pc/)

EDIT:It seems someone has been faster.. :(
A company called EFiX (http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/efix-wants-to-bring-osx86-to-the-masses/) evidently wants to make installing Leopard on Hackintoshes as simple as booting from a USB stick come the 23rd, though you'll need to buy it via a foreign reseller since they do not intend to offer it for sale in the US.

[PlaceofDis]

I'm kind of surprised that more than half of respondents are at least considering it. I suspected it would have been around 25%. But then again, there could be substantial sample bias in such polls. If it gets 400 or more responses, then I think it'll be a fairly accurate representation.

well this is a mac forum, where many are discontented with Apple's midrange offering.

the thing is, many people don't seem to be opposed to others or themselves building their own hackintosh, but have issues with a 3rd party selling it.

[mr.light]

Who needs the hassle? With my iMac I KNOW everything is compatible and functioning properly. If I need a more powerful machine I'll get a Mac Pro.

[Slip]

Who needs the hassle? With my iMac I KNOW everything is compatible and functioning properly. If I need a more powerful machine I'll get a Mac Pro.

Which is great if you have the cash but I think that's why the OSX86 scene's grown up, there's nothing to bridge that gap.

[Cave Man]

Who needs the hassle? With my iMac I KNOW everything is compatible and functioning properly. If I need a more powerful machine I'll get a Mac Pro.

No doubt the Mac Pro is an elegant and powerful machine, but I really don't need a server-grade cpu. I'm perfectly happy with my $1,000 quad core "hack pro", including two 750 gig internal drives and a retail copy of Leopard. I do have a firewire issue - only one device can be used and it must be connected at startup. But I also get 3 eSATA ports, so it's a pretty fair trade for external storage options. I only use the FW port for my DV camcorder.

I realize the limitations of my machine, but the iMac is a no-go since it has a glossy display (trouble with screen calibration for photography) and lack of a second internal drive bay. My Mini, which I had been using, is now up for sale because it simply could not handle Aperture very well.

[NT1440]

srry for sounding so stupid, but what exactly is a "headless" mac?:confused:

[lofight]

srry for sounding so stupid, but what exactly is a "headless" mac?:confused:

One without screen I guess.. Maybe also without keyboard/mouse..

[NT1440]

One without screen I guess.. Maybe also without keyboard/mouse..

oh, thats wierd, there seems to be a huge demand for them on here. Id go all apple if i bought a mac, but apparantly some of their specs arent the greatest when it comes to their screens?

[Cave Man]

"Headless iMac" is an iMac without its display. Preferably it would have two video out ports (2x DVI or DVI and HDMI).

[Cave Man]

apparantly some of their specs arent the greatest when it comes to their screens?

The iMacs only come with glossy displays now. These are extremely difficult to manage color with and if you do critical photographic work you can have real problems getting accurate color rendition and brightness.

[lofight]

"Headless iMac" is an iMac without its display. Preferably it would have two video out ports (2x DVI or DVI and HDMI).

How can an iMac not have a display? :confused:

[jodelli]

Answered considering building one, but it's a little past that. Have a new case and power supply, plus drives and ram that will work. The only board I have free to use is an MSI 478 with a 3.0 ghz P4, so an earlier OSX might work. But I'm checking out 775 boards anyway.

[NT1440]

"Headless iMac" is an iMac without its display. Preferably it would have two video out ports (2x DVI or DVI and HDMI).

ooh, im guessing the people demanding ones already own rather good displays then?

i personally would stay with an all apple setup

and to be on track, i wouldn't ever build a hackintosh personally but if people want to build their own im all for it (provided they at least buy a legitamite copy of OSX)

[MM123]

Who needs the hassle? With my iMac I KNOW everything is compatible and functioning properly. If I need a more powerful machine I'll get a Mac Pro.

We all are different. What's fine for you, doesn't necessarily suit me. I do not want a computer with a display or a display with a computer. I don't want a big and electricity hungry box on my desktop for my everyday business. So how many options have I? Maybe I should just think different :D

[Cave Man]

How can an iMac not have a display? :confused:

What many people want (including myself) is for Apple to start selling a computer just like the iMac, except no display, with a dedicated video card, and an extra 3.5" hard drive bay. Many people need a matte display, which are easier to color manage than glossy displays. You could then buy your own display(s) that suites your needs.

[rfruth]

Hey cave I might wet myself if Apple came out with an expandable sub $ 1000.00 Mac for the rest of us but I must be dreaming :rolleyes:

[sukanas]

i made a quad core hackintosh and the xbench score was an amazing 200+

but the kernal panics and no shutdown/sleep/power management couldnt cut it for me..

now im with a weak xbench score of 130 mac

but at least everything works..
never have to worry if an update will crash my OS

[andiwm2003]

if someone like EFiX comes with a supereasy and stable way to install leopard on my lenovo notebook with all drivers working i might do it.

however since i most likely buy a macbook or a macbook pro soon this would be just for fun (and then morally ok for me. it would not reduce apples sales and i would not seriously use it! just to show off and see how well it works.). right now i have 3 macs with G4's in them. so it's time to go intel for me;)

[rfruth]

If it was super easy everybody would do it - reminds me of the good cheap or fast sign in a service dept window (pick any two)

120009

[lofight]

What many people want (including myself) is for Apple to start selling a computer just like the iMac, except no display, with a dedicated video card, and an extra 3.5" hard drive bay. Many people need a matte display, which are easier to color manage than glossy displays. You could then buy your own display(s) that suites your needs.

Oh, I understand..

[Cave Man]

If it was super easy everybody would do it - reminds me of the good cheap or fast sign in a service dept window (pick any two)

Well, right now, mine does all that I need, whereas my Mini did not. It is easily the best computer that I've ever owned and I have a 24" 2.16 gHz C2D iMac, too. My GeekBench score is over 6,000, making it faster than the quad core Mac Pro. It is good, cheap and fast. (Of course, it may not be a year from now.)

[alphaod]

Already have one; it's about 3 years old:

Pentium 4 3.4GHz Prescott
Asus P4C800-E DELUXE (Intel 875P Chipset)
4GB DDR 400MHz RAM
400GB Hitachi 7200RPM HDD
ATI Radeon 850XT 256MB AGP
Creative Audigy 2 ZS
DVD Burner / DVD Reader (Yes both)
OS X 10.4 Tiger
Antec NeoHE 480W

The computer was kick butt in its day and I loved it; I didn't build it for OS X; I just had Windows and I decided to stick OS X on it one day; I dual booted and it was fun.

[gonyr]

I've been kicking the idea around for a few months, but never really got motivated enough to do it. Most likely, I'll end up picking up a cheap used pc to try it out. If that ends up stable enough for me, I might try building one.

[nplima]

never have to worry if an update will crash my OS

"never"? ... come on! every time there is a big update to OS X there is a considerable number of macrumors members saying they will only use the update after other users confirm it won't be a mess! there are plenty of people with burned fingers out there.

[Andrew Henry]

I had one when they first started the project, it convinced me to buy one, if I need the power of a Mac Pro, I wouldn't hesitate to build another one before I bought a Mac Pro, I'd probably even put it in a Mac Pro case.

[aLoC]

Don't underestimate the Mac mini. I have a Mac Pro and a Mac Mini, and for email, web, basic stuff, the Mini is no different really. And there is nothing cuter than hearing the Mac "bong" come out of that little box, lol.

[m1stake]

I'm happy with my machine personally, and don't have any complaints about the hardware line-up.

[phalewhale]

As soon as my course finishes, I'm building one just for the sport... MP is too much for me and I want the option of upgradeability.

[PNW]

something like: I like the idea but prefer the comfort of denial and spreading FUD.

Right :rolleyes:, sorry I forgot that Apple fully tests all software updates against every conceivable hackintosh configuration prior to release. The more 3rd party hardware or software you have coupled with any OS the greater the likelihood of problems with updates.

[rfruth]

True the more 3rd party hardware & software used the greater the risk of incompatibility but the savings also increase so if money is no object go 100 % Mac, 95 % compatibility plus brain power works for me :)

[NiroNavro]

Sorry, I just couldn't do it.

[ease718]

Didnt realize this thread was still going.

updates
i have updated to 10.5.3, via netkas instructions.
also i installed an extra hd for time machine, works great.
i installed achi drivers on my xp drive and i can now r/w all my mac drives in xp.

next i want to replace the 7300gt graphics card with one of the new gen coming out this month. i'll wait till someone has a confirmed driver solution.

also there is no reason not to oc a stock cooled q6600 to 3.0 ghz

8x400 for 3.2 at 1600fsb should also work without much system stress, watch the ram multiplier though

[MM123]

What many people want (including myself) is for Apple to start selling a computer just like the iMac, except no display, with a dedicated video card, and an extra 3.5" hard drive bay. Many people need a matte display, which are easier to color manage than glossy displays. You could then buy your own display(s) that suites your needs.

I would wait until IV. Q (Nehalem). If Apple do not make something which would suit my needs I go Hackintosh for sure.

[allymac]

The reason I have a hackintosh is because apple do not make a machine that I actually want to buy. Mac mini - cute but not good enough. iMac - I don't want an all in one and I want choice over my screen. Mac Pro - just can't afford one. Laptop - not good for the heavy use it will get.

Why can't apple realise that people want a mid range desktop? If they did then I would never buy a windows based PC again. Simple.

[bplein]

I built one for the heck of it, but I found it frustrating to deal with all the hacks necessary to get my gear recognized. Combine that with no easy system software updates, and it wasn't worth it. Besides, I have real Macs to use.

[duncyboy]

If I'm honest- when I decided to switch and was saving for my iMac I wanted to try Leopard and I tried to set up some old PC parts as a Hackintosh- it didn't work properly. I'm glad in a way because when I did get my iMac I got the whole Apple Experience (TM) in one go.

For me now having an Apple's a two-parted experience- the hardware and the software.

[TheLordsServant]

Well, I will freely admit, that, despite owning two different Macs, I wanted to try a Hackintosh, only because I wanted to find out how well it would run. Surprisingly, it was actually pretty impressive, but was really buggy, and lasted less than a day before I removed it, because I couldn't stand it anymore.

[Cave Man]

Well, the poll seems to have stabilized. Since about 50 votes, the percentages have been about where they are now at 172 votes, plus or minus a couple of points.

I'm rather surprised that most respondents are, at least, considering a hackintosh in the next three months. I suspect this is because of Apple's hole in its lineup - particularly a lack of a Mini update or the desire for a headless iMac with an additional 3.5" drive bay. For me, the latter is what I'd prefer.

I also think that the OSx86 project has matured quite a bit in the last 3 or so months. I would not have considered building one before. But there seems to be a remarkable success rate with boards from two vendors: Asus and Gigabyte. I have had no problems with my machine, other than I haven't tried the upgrade from 10.5.2 to 10.5.3. It is, by far, the best computer I've owned (not to mention relatively inexpensive for a $1,000 machine).

[kabunaru]

I'm rather surprised that most respondents are, at least, considering a hackintosh in the next three months. I suspect this is because of Apple's hole in its lineup - particularly a lack of a Mini update or the desire for a headless iMac with an additional 3.5" drive bay. For me, the latter is what I'd prefer.

If Apple doesn't release what they want, expect a lot of Hackintoshes this year.

[Ironduke]

my hackintosh has a quad core 2.4 4GB ram and a 8800GT, cost alot less then a mac pro and runs smoother then a cashmirian codpiece:cool:

Avit Jobsey!

[nplima]

Somehow I find it more likely that Apple would release a MacBook Air without screen and with HDMI output than a "traditional" computer.

Anyway, what are the OS X specific apps we'd like to use and cannot with our current Windows and Linux boxes? iLife?

[Slip]

Somehow I find it more likely that Apple would release a MacBook Air without screen and with HDMI output than a "traditional" computer.

MacBook, possibly, MacBook Air? That's purely targeted to be small and portable, not things that are highly essential for a desktop.

[rorycornell]

i have a hackintosh but i love apple :apple::apple::apple::apple:

[nplima]

MacBook, possibly, MacBook Air? That's purely targeted to be small and portable, not things that are highly essential for a desktop.

yeah, but as a living room computer it might not be too bad. could be the rebirth of O P Q A <space> :)

[Ace 7]

I may be considering getting a Mac clone.

I was wondering if anyone had arguments in favor of why I should not get one? Are there any disadvantages?

[Blue Velvet]

They are reportedly:

• Noisy as hell
• Awkward to update
• Ugly as sin

and would have little resale value, in my opinion.

[JNB]

If it's one of the current "clones"


Potentially impossible to update
From a company that may not be here very long, even shorter if a cease-and-desist and injunction are brought forward
Completely unsupported by Apple (in fact, in violation of the EULA. Not a crime, but they could tell you to pound sand)


If it's one of the old "approved" clones, then it's so out of date, hardware-wise, to be not worth the effort for a daily-use machine, more like a curiosity than anything else.

[yellow]

If it's a PowerComputing clone (it's not likely it still works, since they were total POS), then I have your OS right heeyah. :)

[thegoldenmackid]

The reasons to get one are pretty obvious:

-Cheaper

I don't agree with those that say it will be easier to expand, because:

1. The Mac Pro is one of the easiest expandable machines there is and there are notebook versions out of a certain company based in Florida getting a lot of fame

2. Expandable things that arent supported on a Mac probably arent supported on your Mac Clone. Unless there are osx86 drivers for whatever you are trying to install.

3. Things like iSight have had trouble working on clones and other perhipials that are designed for a Mac

4. Often times companies release drivers for Windows products to make them compatiable for the Mac (old printer). No matter how much the company refuses to get along with Cupertino, they aren't going to release Mac Clone drivers.

[iceblade]

I would say not to get one.

Ok, I just checked the only prebuilt mac clone I know of (as opposed to building your own). It starts at $400, then $155 to add Leopard into the mix instead of free or different operating system. Suddenly we are close to a mac mini in price. Ok, but I don't think OS X works with pentium processors, even dual core (might be wrong though.) If thats the case, we have to up the processor, which is $60. I guess we're now at $215 on top of $400, so, $615. Mac Minis run $600 new, or $500 Apple refurbished.

It DOES have a separate graphics card (as opposed to integrated, like the mini), and a bigger hard drive. It doesn't have firewire ports until you specifically add them in. Not a big deal for me, but for some it might. It also has another gig of RAM that the mini doesn't come preconfigured with.

However, the biggest thing for me is the fact that is difficult updates. Some that isn't a huge deal, some it is.

Everyone likes their own thing. I simply would prefer Apple supported hardware and software. Apple hardware also generally lasts longer in my experience (had a few logic boards go out, and a few LCD problems on ibooks). This isn't always the case, just what I have seen.

Over all, I think they're close enough in price and specs to not be worth the issues that different hardware would bring. A dedicated graphics card in the mini would be nice, but everything else isn't a huge deal for me. Or if it is, its something I can work out another solution for (external hard drive, adding my own RAM or getting it installed if I have to).

[trevoristight]

The main advantages are you can get a computer running leopard for $775 with a 2.66GHz, 4GB memory, and a 256mb video card.

No mac can match that, and never will, mac hardware is expensive for a reason it's really good quality and will last.
Also to other posters psystar just came out with update 10.5.3 you just download it from their site.

The main disadvantages are you could be stuck with a 10.5.3 computer if Apple ever does anything. Reliability is a gigantic question. One good thing is you'll never be bricked your computer will just be stuck at the point in leopard development when Apple reacts.
Also you don't get ilife '08, even thought he specs sound great they won't run as well as having mac versions of the same specs.
Also psystar customer support isn't existent, I don't know if Final Cut Express 4.0 will work straight from the disc or any software for that matter.

I think it comes down to reliability, knowing your computer will work for along time and everything in your computer will be supported for a long time just ask PowerPC owners.
When you're comparing $775 to the 2.66 GHz imac with 4GB memory the cost is 1355 with the education discount and 2GB memory from OWC.

So it's $580, but psystar doesn't come with mouse, keyboard, or monitor and isn't supported, no isight or plain smoothness of a mac.

It's up to you
I'm going to get an imac though, probably 2.66 GHz

[flopticalcube]

The main advantages are you can get a computer running leopard for $775 with a 2.66GHz, 4GB memory, and a 256mb video card.

No mac can match that, and never will, mac hardware is expensive for a reason it's really good quality and will last.
Also to other posters psystar just came out with update 10.5.3 you just download it from their site.

The main disadvantages are you could be stuck with a 10.5.3 computer if Apple ever does anything. Reliability is a gigantic question. One good thing is you'll never be bricked your computer will just be stuck at the point in leopard development when Apple reacts.
Also you don't get ilife '08, even thought he specs sound great they won't run as well as having mac versions of the same specs.
Also psystar customer support isn't existent, I don't know if Final Cut Express 4.0 will work straight from the disc or any software for that matter.

I think it comes down to reliability, knowing your computer will work for along time and everything in your computer will be supported for a long time just ask PowerPC owners.
When you're comparing $775 to the 2.66 GHz imac with 4GB memory the cost is 1355 with the education discount and 2GB memory from OWC.

So it's $580, but psystar doesn't come with mouse, keyboard, or monitor and isn't supported, no isight or plain smoothness of a mac.

It's up to you
I'm going to get an imac though, probably 2.66 GHz

Add bluetooth, firewire, upgrade the proc to 2.66Ghz, upgrade RAM from 2 to 4GB and make the video card comparable (8600GT 512 vs iMac HD2600 256) and you get to $1079. Less than $300 difference with no monitor, no iLife and no Apple support.

Name SKU Price Quantity / Update Subtotal
Open Computer
Case Model: Black/Silver v2
Intel Processor: Core2Duo/2.66GHz E6750 (+ $150.00)
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM SATA
Graphics Processor: GeForce 8600GT 512MB (+ $110.00)
Firewire: 3 x IEEE 1394 (+ $50.00)
Operating System: OS X 10.5 Leopard (+ $155.00)
Memory: 4GB DDR2 800 (+ $70.00)
Wireless PCI Express N Card: Included (+ $99.00)
Additional Optical Drive: None
Additional Hard Drive: None
USB Bluetooth Dongle: Included (+ $45.00) OPN15501 $1,078.99
$1,078.99
Subtotal: $1,078.99

[keltorsori]

Insanely Mac (http://forum.insanelymac.com/) is a good resource for information on all things hackintosh. I have to say, though, that the headache of software update problems, etc, may be more cost in time and frustration than the difference in price to just buy a real Mac.

[Sun Baked]

Has anyone tried the Snow Leopard pre-release on a Hackintosh?

[Cave Man]

Has anyone tried the Snow Leopard pre-release on a Hackintosh?

Yup. Netkas (http://netkas.org/?p=67) (EFiX) has done it.

[ckurowic]

If it's a PowerComputing clone (it's not likely it still works, since they were total POS), then I have your OS right heeyah. :)

LMAO a piece of history! :D

Add bluetooth, firewire, upgrade the proc to 2.66Ghz, upgrade RAM from 2 to 4GB and make the video card comparable (8600GT 512 vs iMac HD2600 256) and you get to $1079. Less than $300 difference with no monitor, no iLife and no Apple support.

Remember a Mac is NOT just a run of the mill PC in a pretty case. Trust me. I build PC's and use Mac's as well. There is a MAJOR difference in quality between a Mac and building your own PC.

[flopticalcube]

Remember a Mac is NOT just a run of the mill PC in a pretty case. Trust me. I build PC's and use Mac's as well. There is a MAJOR difference in quality between a Mac and building your own PC.
Not really. A Mac is just a PC with different software. Maybe you were building poor quality PCs. I find most Mac hardware to be on the better side but I certainly could build a comparable or better quality one myself. Psystar doesn't but that's their problem.

[tdhurst]

Not really. A Mac is just a PC with different software. Maybe you were building poor quality PCs. I find most Mac hardware to be on the better side but I certainly could build a comparable or better quality one myself. Psystar doesn't but that's their problem.

Okay, then build us a Mac Pro from parts we could buy online or from a store.

[flopticalcube]

Sure. Start here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200302%201071321504&bop=And&Order=RATING

choose a motherboard that best suits your needs, there's 110 dual Xeon mobos at newegg alone, (rather than the one Apple insists you need), add processors, RAM and peripherals to suit your needs. Bingo. I recommend the Tyan Tiger mobo as it seems to be very popular. By building your own you can choose parts that are rated the highest for reliability rather than parts that will guarantee a 35% profit margin. You can choose a cheap case and a quality hard drive, if you choose.

At any rate, hackintoshes are not about getting something to be as close to an Apple as possible, they are about price/features/quality. Is a Mac Pro better than a Dell dual Xeon workstation? Why? Does Apple hand select the parts for "higher quality" ahead of time? I doubt it. Most Apples are built in the same factories that PCs are made in. Maybe the Mac Pro is an exception but I doubt it. I have had fewer problems with my Macs than off-the-shelf PCs I've had but I have had fewer problems with PCs that I built myself. The problem is that the time you need to invest to find out what works best and then shop around, order and assemble is just not worth it to me anymore. Apple makes a nice compromise for me in time/quality and I wouldn't want to piss around with patches and have updates break on me. All this does not mean that Apple hardware is in any way VASTLY superior to ALL PC systems. Its more or less the same and people should just get used to it.

[tsice19]

Do you like Apple support?

Apple isn't going to support one of these "clones".

[Cave Man]

Do you like Apple support?

The only time I needed Apple support I was on hold for nearly an hour and they didn't solve my problem (broken AEBS disk sharing with 10.5).

[tdhurst]

At any rate, hackintoshes are not about getting something to be as close to an Apple as possible, they are about price/features/quality. Is a Mac Pro better than a Dell dual Xeon workstation? Why? Does Apple hand select the parts for "higher quality" ahead of time? I doubt it. Most Apples are built in the same factories that PCs are made in. Maybe the Mac Pro is an exception but I doubt it. I have had fewer problems with my Macs than off-the-shelf PCs I've had but I have had fewer problems with PCs that I built myself. The problem is that the time you need to invest to find out what works best and then shop around, order and assemble is just not worth it to me anymore. Apple makes a nice compromise for me in time/quality and I wouldn't want to piss around with patches and have updates break on me. All this does not mean that Apple hardware is in any way VASTLY superior to ALL PC systems. Its more or less the same and people should just get used to it.

Well said.

I do believe that Macs are more than the sum of their parts. Everything works together because it was specifically crafted/programmed/made to.

[MacHappytjg]

not sure if anyone said its an ugly box thats on the floor or desk that takes up precious space/ and off topic is snow leopard going to be 32 and 64 bit or just 64bit

[dandaley]

I say buy the clone. With any luck, they'll improve the OS update process. And, if enough people buy the clones, maybe Apple will get the idea that they need to offer a real mid level Mac.

For those recommending the Mac Mini... the Mini is a joke at this point. It is a laptop in a desktop case. The Mac Pro is way too expensive. Wake up Apple. You need to provide a mid level desktop!

[MacHappytjg]

I say buy the clone. With any luck, they'll improve the OS update process. And, if enough people buy the clones, maybe Apple will get the idea that they need to offer a real mid level Mac.

For those recommending the Mac Mini... the Mini is a joke at this point. It is a laptop in a desktop case. The Mac Pro is way too expensive. Wake up Apple. You need to provide a mid level desktop!

lots of us buy macs not just for the os but also the looks and originality of a mac or atleast i do and not every one knows about bios and crap to do a hackintosh

[gehrbox]

I may be considering getting a Mac clone.

I was wondering if anyone had arguments in favor of why I should not get one? Are there any disadvantages?

I'd say the #1 issue would be compatibility with future OS upgrades.

[MacHappytjg]

I'd say the #1 issue would be compatibility with future OS upgrades.

oh yea big time and like it seems its a waste of time putting leopard on a windows box since some people have been trying for a week and got it, NO LIFE!

[Neil321]

snow leopard going to be 32 and 64 bit or just 64bit

According to the sites ive just been on both 32 & 64 bit will be supported,although its looking like its intel only so goodby PPC

[tdhurst]

I say buy the clone. With any luck, they'll improve the OS update process. And, if enough people buy the clones, maybe Apple will get the idea that they need to offer a real mid level Mac.

For those recommending the Mac Mini... the Mini is a joke at this point. It is a laptop in a desktop case. The Mac Pro is way too expensive. Wake up Apple. You need to provide a mid level desktop!

Yep, Apple is about to go out of business any day now. I'm sure that mid-level desktop will save them.

Of course the mini is a laptop in a desktop case...but seriously, it's REALLY small. That alone scores some points. What can't it do?

[stainlessliquid]

You should never buy a premade PC, just make one yourself from newegg, especially if its a hackintosh. The Psystar is not the perfect hackintosh anyways, there are better motherboards out there which are more compatible.

On monday there will be a new method of OSX86 released called EFI-X. Its a USB device that allows you to install an unpatched retail version of OSX. Nobody knows how much it will cost or how well it works though. If its as good as it sounds then it will end up taking the "hack" out of "hackintosh"

2. Expandable things that arent supported on a Mac probably arent supported on your Mac Clone. Unless there are osx86 drivers for whatever you are trying to install.
Actually hackintoshes have very good hardware support, way better than real macs. You can use pci cards as long as they have mac drivers (the real mac drivers work fine). The video card support is the biggest bonus, almost all PC video cards work. On a real mac only very few PC video cards have the possibility of working, and to get them to work you have to flash them to EFI which is a dangerous procedure. On a hackintosh you can use nvinject, titan, or natit kexts to use PC video cards without flashing and at full speed (some cards dont work but most if not all the popular ones work perfectly).

Remember a Mac is NOT just a run of the mill PC in a pretty case. Trust me. I build PC's and use Mac's as well. There is a MAJOR difference in quality between a Mac and building your own PC.
What is better about them? Its all generic PC parts. Its even an Intel motherboard, the main difference is it has EFI instead of bios. You can get much MUCH higher quality parts on newegg designed for the overclocker.

[MM123]

If Apple doesn't release what they want, expect a lot of Hackintoshes this year.

this may be very interesting:
:apple: http://www.efi-x.com/index.php?language=english

check it out on 23. june

[cbrain]

I can't really see a need for me to build a "Hackintosh".

[gehrbox]

The video card support is the biggest bonus, almost all PC video cards work.

So you are saying that Mac OS X drivers support all video cards?!?

[Darth.Titan]

On monday there will be a new method of OSX86 released called EFI-X. Its a USB device that allows you to install an unpatched retail version of OSX. Nobody knows how much it will cost or how well it works though. If its as good as it sounds then it will end up taking the "hack" out of "hackintosh"

I've heard much about the upcoming EFI-X, and it intrigues me. However until it is actually released it is vaporware as far as I'm concerned. I have trouble believing it could really be that easy, and their website offers little or no concrete information. In fact the time I went to their site, half the pages didn't work.
In short, I'll believe it when I see it.

[thegoldenmackid]

I say buy the clone. With any luck, they'll improve the OS update process. And, if enough people buy the clones, maybe Apple will get the idea that they need to offer a real mid level Mac.

This is the same logic as those who say "Don't buy guess on Tuesday and Exxon Mobil will listen" Apple isn't going to do this until everyone boycotts this. Cupertino has a monopoly on their hardware and software, and I don't think they are really taking it to an extreme or failing on quality.

For those recommending the Mac Mini... the Mini is a joke at this point.
Umm... at what point. It's better then buying a used G4 iMac for $500.

The Mac Pro is way too expensive. Wake up Apple. You need to provide a mid level desktop!
Umm...I believe the Mac Pro is comparable to the Dell at similar specs?

And umm...iMac?, Old G5, Upgraded Mini,