Hackintoch: the debate

[waywardsage]

I don't know much about running OSX on a PC. How realistic is this? Is it really complicated? What exactly presents PC owners from installing OSX in their machines? Is it hardware based?

If one were to create a hackintoch on, say a DELL XPS laptop. What problems might they run into? Would professional production programs like Final Cut Studio, Photoshop, After Effects work well on it? What are the common errors that you run into when doing this?

I would just like to know more about Hackintoch'es as a whole.

 

[flopticalcube]

Its Hackintosh and this is hardly the forum to discuss these things.

 

[redshift20]

Eh.. I've done it. It's overrated. Go for the real thing.

In general, apps run fine.. but drivers can be an issue.

 

[skwij]

I've done it, and still use my desktop Hackintosh, as it's got larger Harddrives than my Macbook.

Basically mine was/is a test drive for OS/X, and I loved it so much that I ponied up for a Macbook when I was looking for a laptop. Without the Hack, I wouldn't have a Macbook, as I wouldn't have gotten the chance to really try OS/X (Tiger).

Yes, there was some fiddling, and updating hardware must be done carefully. Updating the OS is a pain, and 10.4.9 is nice and stable, so I leave things alone. I prefer Tiger to Leopard, anyways, but do have Leopard (bought and paid for) on the Macbook, which shipped with Tiger.

In my case, the Hack turned me on to Apple products, and yes, I'm a fan. I will NEVER buy a PC again, and am in the market for a 24" iMac. So it's fair to say, that without the Hack, Apple wouldn't have a very happy customer in me.

 

[motulist]

Hackintosh: the debate

Debate? There's no debate about it anywhere that I've seen. Everything I've ever heard about it here at MR or on other forums is that it's totally possible, but it's only worthwhile as a project for it's own sake, but not if you want to actually just use a Mac. From what I've read it winds up not being any better or cheaper than you could get in a new or used Mac.

But if you want to do it just because it sounds like a fun project, then it's completely possible so go have fun.

 

[Foxglove9]

From what I've read it winds up not being any better or cheaper than you could get in a new or used Mac.

It's way cheaper to build a hackintosh desktop. It actually runs quite nice overall but some features are crippled and it's not for the novice user when it comes to drivers, upgrades and stuff like that.

 

[thewhitehart]

I tried this afternoon. I failed. Couldn't get it to run with an AMD processor.

Go for the real deal, you won't regret it.

 

[Macjames]

I used a friends and i can say without a doubt go for the real thing.

 

[benpatient]

it actually works pretty well if you have a C2D "donor" PC to put it on and you're willing to leave it running all the time.

For the cost of a macbook, you can make the shuttle-sized headless desktop that Apple refuses to make...DESKTOP class consumer processor (not mobile or workstation) with some expandability and a LOT of speed. I kept reading about how horrific the experience was, so i wasn't expecting much....the thing is, it was about as annoying to install as windows XP is if you have SATA hard drives, and I don't use wireless or bluetooth or an apple kb, so everything basically just worked once i got the couple of drivers i needed running.

it will hold me over until the new mac pro is feasible at home...