Imac vs. Hackintosh

[rangers12]

I am among the multitudes in this forum waiting for the new Imacs. I have been thinking about going the Hackintosh route- although I haven't built a PC since the late '90's when I still was on a PC. I like fiddling and tweaking with computers, but wondering how much work a Hackintosh would entail. It seems like there are still issues with getting it to sleep and accessing the App store- has anyone built one recently? If so, are you happy with it? Also, from a strict performance/cost analysis, it seems hackintosh is great way to go, provided you're not as picky about your monitor.


Right now I have late 2008 Unibody Macbook and a 2009 21.5 3.06 mac- this would take the place of the Imac.

Thanks for any thoughts/comments.

 

[Lotso]

I built one last year and it was a lot of fun. However, it requires a lot of tinkering and bug fixing to get everything just right. If you follow buying guides from http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/ it will greatly decrease the bugs that you encounter.

It can be a great cost saver and not to mention you get a sense of pride from building it yourself.

 

[forty2j]

You may as well compare an apple to a bag of orange seeds. You may or may not enjoy or be successful at planting and growing trees from which to pick fruit, but you're still not going to have an apple when you're done.

 

[racher]

I've been considering the same thing lately, especially after I saw this blog post with specific instructions on how to put a Hackintosh together for video editing (which is what I'll be doing with my next new computer). But even though a Hackintosh would be potentially more powerful, as well as allow GPU upgradability, I'm going to wait for the new iMacs until the end of this month. I've built many PCs over the years, and I find the process quite enjoyable, but to me, the main advantage of an Apple Mac is that "it just works." Over the years, I've lost the patience to troubleshoot computer problems as they arise. I want a machine that works and a company to back that promise up. You're definitely gambling with a Hackintosh. When deadlines approach, the last thing I want is to worry about a kext file issue on my franken-computer! Of course, if an Ivy Bridge iMac isn't released this month, I may change my mind...

-Brian

 

[Tumetsu]

I suppose that most of the problems with Hackintoshes come from setting the system up at the beginning and when updating. At least if you pick your components carefully. Once you iron out problems at start it should work. Kind of like Linux usually involves some tinkering to get it right after installation. Of course there is still some things which likely won't work like HDMI audio output or sleep. If those are big deal, Hackintosh probably isn't for you.

 

[d0nK]

You may as well compare an apple to a bag of orange seeds. You may or may not enjoy or be successful at planting and growing trees from which to pick fruit, but you're still not going to have an apple when you're done.

From my experience with both:
I suppose it can be hit and miss with getting a working hackintosh unless you follow one of the many up-to-date online component-picker guides.

Once you have your hackintosh up and running with OSX, the Apple experience is exactly the same, as if you were running on Apple hardware. I have a late 2011 mbp and a hackintosh. They absolutely run just as well as each other - no difference, except that I can run 5 internal hard drives on the sata bus with my hackintosh!
I do wonder how I would get all my hard drives playing nicely with an iMac. An iMac/Mac Pro hybrid would be ideal for me. I digress...

 

[CoreyLahey]

You may as well compare an apple to a bag of orange seeds. You may or may not enjoy or be successful at planting and growing trees from which to pick fruit, but you're still not going to have an apple when you're done.

Ahh, metaphors

 

[Yamcha]

It has gotten a lot easier to install Mac OSX on PC's these days, anybody can do it, especially since there are many great guides available online..

And yes they work spectacularly, you'll get Geekbench scores exceeding what you'll find on a real Mac, obviously due to the higher clock speed that processors come with when compared to iMacs & you can always overclock to get ever more performance..

You just need to make sure to buy the most compatible hardware, and that information can be found on tonymacx86 website.. That is essentially what will factor how easy it'll be installing Mac OSX.. If you choose the recommended hardware found on the website you will have little to no issues..

I've built about 10 Hackintosh's and everything worked great, I was playing games at the highest settings & highest resolution, rendering was super quick, had an SSD so boot times were literally about 17 seconds.. And yes sleep worked so did the Mac App Store..

The only downside there is you probably wont find a design as beautiful as what Apple can give you.. There is only one I found that has a very Apple like finish and that is the Silverstone FT03 Silver..

 

[IlikeMacsSoMuch]

Very interested

Hi, this sounds very interesting but is this legal? I know that it is not supported, but is it legal?

Please say yes

 

[cosmicjoke]

I am among the multitudes in this forum waiting for the new Imacs. I have been thinking about going the Hackintosh route- although I haven't built a PC since the late '90's when I still was on a PC. I like fiddling and tweaking with computers, but wondering how much work a Hackintosh would entail. It seems like there are still issues with getting it to sleep and accessing the App store- has anyone built one recently? If so, are you happy with it? Also, from a strict performance/cost analysis, it seems hackintosh is great way to go, provided you're not as picky about your monitor.


Right now I have late 2008 Unibody Macbook and a 2009 21.5 3.06 mac- this would take the place of the Imac.

Thanks for any thoughts/comments.

Check out the Samsung PLS Monitor, I've owned Apple TB Display, Dell U2711, & the Samsung S27A850D and it's by far my favorite 27" 2560x1440p display... Apple's is glossy and the tempered glass reflects too much, Dell's has overly aggressive matte coating that looks waxy and sparkly on text... The Samsung is semi matte and just perfect (for me). Anyways, being picky about monitors has nothing to do with it lol..

As for hackintoshing, basically you'll get out of it what you put into it... If you buy what TonyMac says and use his little prepackaged installer I'm sure it will work for the most part, but you'll never get as clean of an install as doing it all by hand and knowing what you've done.

 

[Dark Void]

Hi, this sounds very interesting but is this legal? I know that it is not supported, but is it legal?

Please say yes

I think it's technically illegal. Could be wrong, not a lawyer ... or even a person that has looked into its potential legality.

 

[mslide]

but wondering how much work a Hackintosh would entail.

It depends on what hardware you pick and how much time you're willing to put into reading hackintosh forums and fiddling with things. I've done it several times on several laptops and PCs. My home PC is currently setup to be a hackintosh and is running the latest version of Mountain Lion with no issues (haven't tested sleep).

If you're willing to buy the exact hardware that a place like www.tonymacx86.com tells you to do, it will make your life a lot easier. Things will almost all work out of the box. It's the other little details that can cause you to pull your hair out.

It's gotten a lot easier. Software updates isn't as big a deal as it once was. The latest Mountain Lion update was a non-event for me. I just had to setup audio again, which is a trivial process once you know how to use "MultiBeast".

I'd only recommend going this route if you really, really want to and are willing to spend many hours figuring it all out. Despite what some hackintoshers may say, it is not yet plug-n-play so to speak. Be prepared to reinstall OSX many times until you get it right

In case you're curious, I use a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H + I5-3570K + EVGA 560TI video card. I'm very happy with the results. Getting the video card to work right (e.g. dual monitors) was the most troubling part but nothing an hour of reading tonymacx86 didn't fix.

 

[Renzatic]

It's illegal in the same way that stripping the tags off a mattress is illegal. Yeah, it's technically against the law, frowned upon by Apple, and definitely against the EULA packed in with OSX...

...but you're not going to go to jail for doing it. Apple won't even attempt to bother you with a C&D so long as you don't start mass producing hackintoshes and sell them out of your garage. Unless you're a huge stickler about following the law to the very letter, there's no reason not go for it. Just buy a copy of OSX instead of downloading it off a torrent so we won't call you a dirty filthy pirate.

 

[snberk103]

....
Once you have your hackintosh up and running with OSX, the Apple experience is exactly the same, as if you were running on Apple hardware. ...

No, it's not.

This is one of those things that I wish people making this claim would clarify. It will run like a Mac (if you take the time to build it right). It will give you the OS X experience (if you take the time to build it right). It will look cool like a Mac (if you choose your case wisely).

A hackintosh, if you take your time to build it right, may never have a problem. But.... as soon as there is a problem you are on your own. If you enjoy troubleshooting, and are good at it, then this is not an issue. But - when you own an authentic, made by Apple, Mac then you also own a genuine Apple warranty for at least a year. Which means that if you have any kind of glitch - software or hardware - you can call Apple and they will resolve the issue. They don't care if it's hardware or OS X. It's all theirs and they cover it. If you have an Apple application installed and it glitches, you still call Apple.

When you have a hackintosh - you can't call Apple. You need to figure out what the problem is. You need to identify who the vendor is. You need to resolve the issue with them. You need to make sure the solution resolves the issue without creating others.

For some people this is not a problem, and even fun. And that's fine. I gave that up a long time ago. I use my system as a tool to make a living, and I want the one stop "leave it and they'll figure it out" warranty.

 

[cosmicjoke]

No, it's not.

This is one of those things that I wish people making this claim would clarify. It will run like a Mac (if you take the time to build it right). It will give you the OS X experience (if you take the time to build it right). It will look cool like a Mac (if you choose your case wisely).

A hackintosh, if you take your time to build it right, may never have a problem. But.... as soon as there is a problem you are on your own. If you enjoy troubleshooting, and are good at it, then this is not an issue. But - when you own an authentic, made by Apple, Mac then you also own a genuine Apple warranty for at least a year. Which means that if you have any kind of glitch - software or hardware - you can call Apple and they will resolve the issue. They don't care if it's hardware or OS X. It's all theirs and they cover it. If you have an Apple application installed and it glitches, you still call Apple.

When you have a hackintosh - you can't call Apple. You need to figure out what the problem is. You need to identify who the vendor is. You need to resolve the issue with them. You need to make sure the solution resolves the issue without creating others.

For some people this is not a problem, and even fun. And that's fine. I gave that up a long time ago. I use my system as a tool to make a living, and I want the one stop "leave it and they'll figure it out" warranty.

Lol, Apple has never resolved an issue for me, most of the time I end up teaching the "genius" a thing or two though... basically the only thing AppleCare has ever done for me and my macs is to have somebody else to commiserate with lol.

 

[snberk103]

Lol, Apple has never resolved an issue for me, most of the time I end up teaching the "genius" a thing or two though... basically the only thing AppleCare has ever done for me and my macs is to have somebody else to commiserate with lol.

That is unfortunate. And also the exception to most people's experiences. I've had nothing but good experiences with them. My Mac Pro's video card borked a couple of years ago, and took the logic board with it. Or perhaps it was the other way round. Didn't matter, single supplier warranty coverage. They just replaced both.

My wife's 1st generation Air hinge finally gave out, past the warranty period. They store offered to replace the top lid for her (which they did). Apparently there was an extended coverage on the hinge due to a faulty design. We didn't know about it, and they didn't have to volunteer the info.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Hi, this sounds very interesting but is this legal? I know that it is not supported, but is it legal?

Please say yes

It's as illegal as it gets. Apple never licensed OS X to run on anything but Apple hardware. Anyone that tells you otherwise simply has not read their license or is justifying their theft of OS X. It's that simple. If it were legal every Tom, Dick and Harry hardware maker would build their own Hackintoshes. A company attempted it a few years ago, actually went to market and Apple sued them big time and now they're as dead as the dinosaurs. If you care if it's legal then a Hackintosh isn't for you. If you can justify theft then go right ahead.

 

[dba415]

It's as illegal as it gets. Apple never licensed OS X to run on anything but Apple hardware. Anyone that tells you otherwise simply has not read their license or is justifying their theft of OS X. It's that simple. If it were legal every Tom, Dick and Harry hardware maker would build their own Hackintoshes. A company attempted it a few years ago, actually went to market and Apple sued them big time and now they're as dead as the dinosaurs. If you care if it's legal then a Hackintosh isn't for you. If you can justify theft then go right ahead.

You're not stealing OS X, you're using it in a way that Apple didn't intend for you to use it, and it is "illegal" by definition, but you are not stealing OS X, so don't try to make it sound worse than it is.

It's no different than jailbreaking a device, in terms of legality and ethics

 

[Mike in Kansas]

You're not stealing OS X, you're using it in a way that Apple didn't intend for you to use it, and it is "illegal" by definition, but you are not stealing OS X, so don't try to make it sound worse than it is.

It's no different than jailbreaking a device, in terms of legality and ethics

It is legal to jailbreak your iPhone. It voids your warranty, but it is not illegal.

It is against the user license to install OSX on any hardware other than Apple-branded hardware; hence it is illegal. And it's not using it in a way that Apple didn't intend for you to use it, it's using it in a way that is illegal to use it.

Don't sugar coat what you are saying; it's illegal and unethical and you know it - just accept what you are doing. Same as downloading music videos off of YouTube and stripping off the audio, or getting movies off of PirateBay.

 

[iMcLovin]

Who cares if it's illegal? As long as Apple cannot release their own up-to-date hardware, they should even encourage hackintosh...honestly.
The pricetag for the Mac Pro with its current hardware is criminal too.

 

[dba415]

It is legal to jailbreak your iPhone. It voids your warranty, but it is not illegal.

It is against the user license to install OSX on any hardware other than Apple-branded hardware; hence it is illegal. And it's not using it in a way that Apple didn't intend for you to use it, it's using it in a way that is illegal to use it.

Don't sugar coat what you are saying; it's illegal and unethical and you know it - just accept what you are doing. Same as downloading music videos off of YouTube and stripping off the audio, or getting movies off of PirateBay.

Apple didn't intend for people to jailbreak iOS

 

[53kyle]

It has gotten a lot easier to install Mac OSX on PC's these days, anybody can do it, especially since there are many great guides available online..

And yes they work spectacularly, you'll get Geekbench scores exceeding what you'll find on a real Mac, obviously due to the higher clock speed that processors come with when compared to iMacs & you can always overclock to get ever more performance..

You just need to make sure to buy the most compatible hardware, and that information can be found on tonymacx86 website.. That is essentially what will factor how easy it'll be installing Mac OSX.. If you choose the recommended hardware found on the website you will have little to no issues..

I've built about 10 Hackintosh's and everything worked great, I was playing games at the highest settings & highest resolution, rendering was super quick, had an SSD so boot times were literally about 17 seconds.. And yes sleep worked so did the Mac App Store..

The only downside there is you probably wont find a design as beautiful as what Apple can give you.. There is only one I found that has a very Apple like finish and that is the Silverstone FT03 Silver..

Make a g5 case mod

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/281703-g5-hackintosh-mostly-done/

 

[Neodym]

If Apple would really care about _private_ people building hackintoshes, then why do they still support them in terms of updates? They surely could identify non-Apple hardware underneath the OSX copy looking for updates.

Yes, they don't allow it officially (and sue people trying to make money with it - that's why the don't allow it in their terms), but they tolerate it (to say the least - one could argue that they even indirectly encourage it with their horrible performance in terms of product updates outside the iOS universe). Every copy of OSX - not matter on which hardware it runs - enhances the viability of the platform.

Microsoft did tolerate illegal copies of their products (Windows, Office) for many years to gather a high market percentage. I'm pretty sure Apple is doing something similar right now, even though it's less about illegal OSX copies, but using legal OSX copies on "unofficial" hardware.

 

[throAU]

You're not stealing OS X, you're using it in a way that Apple didn't intend for you to use it, and it is "illegal" by definition, but you are not stealing OS X, so don't try to make it sound worse than it is.

It's no different than jailbreaking a device, in terms of legality and ethics

You're violating the license.

Every version of OS X on sale is an "upgrade" to the full version supplied with your mac.

No mac hardware = no license.

 

[turtlez]

i would choose iMac for stability, zero maintenance and looks.