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Is there a EASY and RELIABLE way to run OS X on PC?

Disavowed

Disavowed

macrumors regular
Original poster
First off, let me say that I love Macs and have owned everything from a Performa to a Pismo. Want to jump back in and can't afford what I want right now due to grad school starting. Is there a way to run OS X on a PC?

It has to be easy and reliable. I don't much care if it's reversible. REPEAT, I am not a geek and the easier the better.

Finally, should I just bite the bullet and buy a Macbook and avoid what I can imagine are a plethora of proiblems with the aformentioned install?

I really want a MBP or Air....it's just not in the budget right now.

Thanks!😎
 
Search. This has been covered in the hackintosh thread here and elsewhere (InsanelyMac).
 
Good advice. Looks like a MB is in my future. Maybe it's a blessing and when I graduate the Rev or c/d will be great buy.
 
Disavowed said:
Btw, I tried Google first and everything seemed over my head. Hence, the reason I posted here.
Click to expand...

If it seems over your head, then a hackintosh is not for you. They will require tinkering and tweaking and you have to be familiar with things like terminal and kext files.
 
Disavowed said:
First off, let me say that I love Macs and have owned everything from a Performa to a Pismo. Want to jump back in and can't afford what I want right now due to grad school starting. Is there a way to run OS X on a PC?

It has to be easy and reliable. I don't much care if it's reversible. REPEAT, I am not a geek and the easier the better.

Finally, should I just bite the bullet and buy a Macbook and avoid what I can imagine are a plethora of proiblems with the aformentioned install?

I really want a MBP or Air....it's just not in the budget right now.

Thanks!😎
Click to expand...

Hopefully not because thats why I am willing to spend more money for a Mac.
 
Get approved for the 12 months no interest financing that apple has available via their online store. Then you've got a year to pay it off.
 
yes you can use it with edu. as far as I know.
You must apply online and must make the purchase online.

I'd suggest trying during normal business hours of the day though. I'm not sure if you will get instant approval 24/7
 
Disavowed said:
Is there a way to run OS X on a PC?
Click to expand...

Yes, if you buy the computer parts (mobo and cpu) with OS X in mind.

It has to be easy and reliable.
Click to expand...

Well, those are subjective terms. If you're willing to spend $500 and a the better part of a day, you can build a hackintosh that will be very reliable - and powerful. The key is using the Asus P5N7A-VM board with a Core 2 Duo or Quad processor (see my sig). Very easy, but requires access to a real Mac and a copy of the retail 10.5.6 Installer DVD to make your boot drive.

I don't much care if it's reversible. REPEAT, I am not a geek and the easier the better.
Click to expand...

If you can put Legos together, you can build a PC.

Finally, should I just bite the bullet and buy a Macbook and avoid what I can imagine are a plethora of proiblems with the aformentioned install?
Click to expand...

Only you can answer that question.
 
I am currently using a Hackintosh as my everyday machine. I have been using it for about 8 months non stop. It has been turned off maybe 5 times since I loaded leopard on it. I have it fully updated, everything works except sleep mode, not one kernel panic, and its running off a Dell. I use it for industrial design, heavy photoshop and illustrator use.

If you can spend one day doing research on a hackintosh, you could probably buy a pretty powerful machine for a fraction of the cost of a Mac. I would definitely and I am with an i7 core, build another.

Specs: Inspiron 530, Q6600 @ 3.0GHz, 8GB DDR2, 1TB HDD, 8600GTS 320MB, 28" Hanspree LCD, factory DVD Writer, other factory stuff. 😀
 
emt1 said:
Hackintosh. But it isn't easy OR reliable.
Click to expand...

My installation was relatively easy and is incredibly reliable. I installed using a retail legally purchased DVD (Leopard 10.5.0), and updated through Software Update to 10.5.6. I cut HD videos using Final Cut, and I was able to play World of Warcraft with great FPS (before I quit that addictive game).

I currently run mainly Mac OS X, but I also have Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Ubuntu 8.10 as other boot options... I guess you could say my machine quadri-boots 🙂.

When I get some free time I'm going to install a second copy of Mac OS X on another partition of one of my drives, as a back-up just in case.

I have virtually no problems. Every now and then my USB devices are not recognized and I have to unplug and plug them back in, and my sleep function doesn't work (the machine won't wake back up). Other than that, you could use my system all day long and never realize it's a Hackintosh.

Check out my video of my system in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17YUf5Hef_I

All the videos on that channel were cut on Final Cut Pro using my Hackintosh.


--------

As for the legality issue, there is some question.

However, it is not "illegal" per se. The only clause pertaining to the issue of installing Mac OS X on a regular PC is along the lines of "This software can only be installed on Apple-labeled hardware."

Well there are all sorts of complications with that statement, if I've got it accurately (which I believe I do). First, what needs to be "Apple-labeled?" The "hardware?" Well, technically we are ONLY installing the software on the HDD itself, nothing more, so does the HDD need to be "Apple-labeled?" What does that mean? If I buy a Mac Pro, I can't purchase a third-party HDD? Is the HDD supplied by Apple in their machines technically an Apple-labeled device?

At any rate, I put an Apple sticker on my tower; it's Apple-labeled.
 
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