Hackintosh vs MacBook Pro Retina 15

Do you prefer to have a desktop or a laptop? I suppose that would help narrow it down.

I find it weird that a 2 year old computer is really slow and barely usable though.

In my mind it's really a question of whether you (a) want to tinker and tweak and check on any updates sent out by Apple before applying them, or (b) just use the computer?

I'm with kupkakez though - there's no reason a 2011 model would be "really slow and hard to use" unless your usage has changed substantially. Even then, you may be able to do substantive upgrades for not lot of money. What's your config in terms of memory and hard disk?

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Jonathanchasr said:

slow hard drives

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Ding ding ding. Check your ram usage (you didn't say what you upgraded to), but particularly I bet an SSD upgrade (Crucial mx100 is a good choice) will make a BIG difference. 5400rpm HDD's will kill you with large apps, especially if you start swapping.

If you need to get something now and don't want to upgrade the others personally I'd go with the rMBP. Only because it's less potential headache you are going to have to deal with.

Jonathanchasr said:

I have 4GB of 1333Mhz RAM on both computers, 320GB 5,400RPM Hard Drive in my MacBook Pro and a 500GB 7,200 RPM Hard Drive in the iMac

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Slow hard drives and that's also not a lot of Ram for someone using CS6.

Some of the software you're using does benefit from a faster processor, or even graphics. An SSD improves overall speed a lot, but aside from some initial stuff doesn't seem to make huge differences in say LR, for me.

I use a hackintosh (4770k on Gigabyte mobo with SSD, etc) and love it. I also like diversity; I really would think having a laptop and desktop rather than two desktops is the way to go. And with a desktop hackintosh you've got tons of bays for backup drives and clones, an incredible diversity of ways to connect peripherals (except maybe Thunderbolt, although that might have changed recently), and of course the ability to customize and upgrade, which is especially important given your graphics-centric work.

I find it easy to upgrade system software and applications. I can't say I've had much more trouble with it than my 2011 MBP. The community comes up with solutions really quickly to most any problem, often faster than with issues on regular Macs. Of course that might not apply to someone who has very little software, buys everything (if anything) at the MAS store, has no peripherals, etc. YMMV, but it seems you're a pretty sophisticated user.

nothing wrong with your current computers that a decent amount of memory and and SSD won't fix. seriously, only 4GB for that software? Knife to a gun fight. What was the original RAM config for each? I thought all 2011 models started at 4GB? In any event, RAM + SSD = fast computer.

Jonathanchasr said:

Hey guys Im planning on getting a new computer since my current MacBook Pro 13 2011 and iMac 2011 is getting really slow and hard to use now. But Ive been having trouble deciding if I should build a Hackintosh or get a MacBook Pro 15 Broadwell once it comes out. My uses for the computer is running Adobe After Effects CS6, Adobe Premiere CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Lightroom, AutoDesks 3dsmax, maya, some gaming little gaming like Portal 2 and Minecraft, Xcode, Brackets and Terminal. I think both computers can handle all of this well. The specs for the Hackintosh are:

Windows 8.1 Pro/Mac OS X Mavericks
Intel Core i7 4930K LGA 2011
Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB 1600MHz
Corsair Professional Series 760Watt
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB GDDR5 EVGA
Samsung 840 Evo 500GB SSD
3TB 7,200 RPM Seagate Hard Drive
3 Dell p2214H 22 inch Monitors.

I really enjoy using the MacBook Pros the design of it is just amazing to me in my opinion and the retina display seems great to use but Im also stuck with the performance that this desktop would offer me. What do you guys think I should choose?

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Do you have a motherboard for your build? I also highly recommend you do not dual-boot your OS's on the SSD. It is very hard to configure, and it will be very risky. Maybe look into getting two 256GB SSDs. The 3TB HDD also makes me uncomfortable, especially if you are doing professional work on it. Either get two of them and back everything up on the other one, or get 4-5 1TB Drives for a RAID setup. If you are doing professional work on your computer, it is hard to recommend a hackintosh. I have a hackintosh myself, but sometimes I wish I had an iMac just because it wouldn't be such a pain in the ass. My computer isn't that bad, but I really did not appreciate how perfect Macs were until I built a hackintosh. Maybe look into an iMac instead of a rMBP.

Matt

I once did a Hackintosh out of a Dell Mini 9. Fun at first, but eventually became frustrating trying to get everything to work.

I now have a rMBP 13 and love it.

FWIW, I have a 13" top-of-the-line (maxed out) Retina MBPro, and the same (maxed out) 15" retina macbook pro, and just a couple weeks ago i built an i7-4790K (4GHz) w/ 16GB ram, 2x128+512GB SSD, GTX 760 video card, and it runs OSX like a champ..i really love it. hacks are fun, and super versatile, but take some work..if you're willing to commit and tinker, go with the hackintosh if you want a desktop.

PS, get a Gigabyte motherboard. you'll have the best success with that. mine's a GA-Z97X-Gaming 7, worked out of the box with VERY minimal bios tweaks.

Jonathanchasr said:

Hey guys Im planning on getting a new computer since my current MacBook Pro 13 2011 and iMac 2011 is getting really slow and hard to use now. But Ive been having trouble deciding if I should build a Hackintosh or get a MacBook Pro 15 Broadwell once it comes out. My uses for the computer is running Adobe After Effects CS6, Adobe Premiere CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Lightroom, AutoDesks 3dsmax, maya, some gaming little gaming like Portal 2 and Minecraft, Xcode, Brackets and Terminal. I think both computers can handle all of this well. The specs for the Hackintosh are:

Windows 8.1 Pro/Mac OS X Mavericks
Intel Core i7 4930K LGA 2011
Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB 1600MHz
Corsair Professional Series 760Watt
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB GDDR5 EVGA
Samsung 840 Evo 500GB SSD
3TB 7,200 RPM Seagate Hard Drive
3 Dell p2214H 22 inch Monitors.

I really enjoy using the MacBook Pros the design of it is just amazing to me in my opinion and the retina display seems great to use but Im also stuck with the performance that this desktop would offer me. What do you guys think I should choose?

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h4ck said:

PS, get a Gigabyte motherboard. you'll have the best success with that. mine's a GA-Z97X-Gaming 7, worked out of the box with VERY minimal bios tweaks.

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Not sure if I can mention it, but google tonymacx86... his site has everything you need to know from EXACT hardware, suggestions/troubleshooting, utilities (unibeast is great!) and has a great community.

With that being said... I have a hackintosh desktop that I can mess with at work, and I have an older, but upgraded (ram and ssd) white macbook that I use on the go. While I have had minimal problems with the hack, I still ended up getting a base model 21.5 inch for my home music studio just because it felt a little more 'bullet-proof' being legit. (of course in true "waiting" fashion... I got it at best buy a few months ago with the edu discount, only to have apple release the new versions for even cheaper and better stats just a few weeks ago!)

--rob

Since this is a computer for work. Better go for Mac rather than Hackintosh.

It's not a good fun to deal with any protential crash / incompatibility... when you are working.

Performace is just part of the story, you need stability as well.

If you really need performance, HDD bays, expendibility, etc. May be consider the old Mac Pro. A 2009 model only cost around $700, you can upgrade the CPU, RAM, SSD, graphic card, USB 3.... and still running OSX natively.

Anyway, I also suggest that all you need is just a SSD and more RAM, my Mac runs 24/7 for more than 5 years now. With proper SSD and RAM upgrade, it can run really fast in 10.9 under heavy load (even with the original CPU and Graphic card).