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hackintosh?
- Thread starter nick354
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Let's see...
2.2 GHz Dual Core Pentium E2200
vs
1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Winner: Mac Mini, the C2D even at a slower clock will outperform.
2GB DDR2 800
vs
1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Winner: The Clone, but the upgrade isn't TOO expensive
320GB 7,200RPM SATA
vs
80GB Serial ATA drive (5,400)
Winner: The Clone
A Large, Oversized, Hackintosh from a company that might be curb stomped
vs.
A Small, Elegant, Apple Machine with Guaranteed Support
Winner: Do you have to ask?
2.2 GHz Dual Core Pentium E2200
vs
1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Winner: Mac Mini, the C2D even at a slower clock will outperform.
2GB DDR2 800
vs
1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Winner: The Clone, but the upgrade isn't TOO expensive
320GB 7,200RPM SATA
vs
80GB Serial ATA drive (5,400)
Winner: The Clone
A Large, Oversized, Hackintosh from a company that might be curb stomped
vs.
A Small, Elegant, Apple Machine with Guaranteed Support
Winner: Do you have to ask?
This is not worth it. Build your own if you are interested in going the hackintosh route. There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages, so educate yourself on the options. I did and I am very pleased with the results. 
Actually, it's the Pentium Dual-Core (not the other way around), which means it's just as good if not faster. Also the E2xxx is highly overclockable just on stock cooling, so again, it's better.
Value for month-wise, it's a good introductory choice, but from an enthusiast's perspective, it's better to just build you own machine.
Dude...it doesn't matter if he said "Pentium Dual Core" or "Dual Core Pentium". It makes NO difference. And look, I just built a PC with a the E2200 and its crippled by its TINY cache size in comparison to the Core 2 Duo's which WILL outperform it. If you are going to comment on these things at least make sure you have some experience. The E2200 is overclockable however it depends on your motherboard to a large extent. Some boards will support the E2200 up past 3.0Ghz, while others crap out with tiny increments.
Let me guess now your going to tell me how you've been building PC's for "20 years" or something ridiculous like that and try to discredit me.
Actually... E2200 has 1MB Cache and the C2D used in Mac Mini has 2MB, so it's not "CRIPPLED" nor "TINY" compared to the C2D in Mac Mini.
And Pentium Dual-Core's are just branded as pentium (Intel's little marketing scheme to bring Pentium branding back), they're not really using the pentium architectures, but more closer to the Core technology.
So, in fact, Pentium Dual-Core E2200 @ 2.2GHz WILL outperform C2D T5600 1.83GHz ANY DAY.
My Home media server PC at home uses Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 2.50GHz, and this thing is pretty darn fast for its price.
ONLY downside is the power consumption, which is not that important when it comes to desktops.
but anyways, NO PSYSTAR... I'd rather go with Mac Mini or build it myself.
Pentium Dual Core E2200 is really a "Conroe" core processor. It is the same base core as in the Core 2 Duo T5550/T5600 (the chip that is in the Mac mini.) There are three differences between the chips:
E2200 uses an 800 MHz front-side bus; T5xx0 uses a 667 MHz front side bus. Faster bus means more bandwidth to system memory.
E2200 is 2.2 GHz; T5550/T5600 is 1.83 GHz. All other things being equal, faster is better. >20% faster is a noticeable difference.
E2200 has 1 MB L2 cache shared between the two cores; T5xx0 has 2 MB L2 cache shared between the two cores. Yes, a larger cache is always better, all other things being equal. But on this architecture; cache isn't the end-all-be-all. And the >20% faster main speed; plus faster system bus, more than make up for it. (That's not even taking into account the other ways in which this Psystar system is higher-specced than a Mac mini.)
And actually, there *WOULD* be a difference between "Pentium Dual-Core" and "Dual Core Pentium". "Pentium Dual-Core" is a specific brand name for the lower-end Conroe chip. "Dual Core Pentium" was usually used to refer to the "Pentium D" chip, which was a dual-core variant of the Pentium 4. (Code names Smithfield or Presler.) These chips were power hungry monsters, whose clock speed cannot be directly compared to the later Conroe chips. (For example, I have a "Pentium Extreme Edition 965" running at 4.0 GHz, and my Pentium Dual-Core 2.0 GHz is faster for just about everything.)
23 years, actually; 'professionally' for 12. Employed at Intel for three.