I've heard there will be a general price rise in electronics next year due to the current economic crisis. Next year I'll be going uni and will most likely require a laptop for basic stuff such as Internet, movies, and excel. So from this aspect I assume a MacBook would be overkill. So should I get a netbook now or would there be a better more easy osx hackable netbook with inbuilt 3G? If not is the msi wind the best option?
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MacBook or hackintosh netbook?
- Thread starter ViM
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I had an Acer Aspire ONE which is a lovely little netbook in itself, and I got OS X onto it okay, but to be honest I quickly got rid of it as although it's nice in principle, the tiny screen, small keyboard etc are enough to make it feel awkward in extended use. In addition, it can be a real pain keeping OS X updated, and even installing it requires a certain amount of trial and error and technical know-how (I had to swap the WiFi card for a broadcom one so the WiFi would work), and even then it's totally usable but not without it's issues, such as kernel panicing on shutdown/sleep didn't work.
Point being, as a geek project it's great but if you are planning on using it a lot I'd go and get a MacBook - physically it's the right size for extended use, OS X is designed for it etc. Up to you of course, but that was my experience.
Point being, as a geek project it's great but if you are planning on using it a lot I'd go and get a MacBook - physically it's the right size for extended use, OS X is designed for it etc. Up to you of course, but that was my experience.
You can pull more capable hardware than the msi wind out of a dumpster. If you need a new computer and you feel like your budget is shrinking by the minute, Acer has very capable dual core AMD64 computers and notebooks at the under-$500 pricepoint, which will allegedly run an AMD-optimised Leopard hack OS, from you know where to find it.
It's partially due to the effect of currency fluctuations, and it's also down to the fact that many feel that Apple et al are doing the right thing by not lowering prices in order to attract custom.
Slashing your already-thin margins in a price war to stay relevant would work in a short-term downturn, but the effect of the recession has barely started hitting consumers yet. Many are probably saying that next year we'll sell what we sell to people who want it and can afford it, and there is no point in cutting our own throats to stay alive. It may be a good time to eliminate the competition, but in the case of the PC industry the major players in low-margin markets are already operating pretty similarly to one another.
Having tried many instances of it, the only time I'd consider a hackintosh - even on better hardware than anything from Apple - is for fixed requirements with a limited software/hardware scope. If you're going to use it as... well, a Mac, I'd suggest you bite the bullet and buy one.
Slashing your already-thin margins in a price war to stay relevant would work in a short-term downturn, but the effect of the recession has barely started hitting consumers yet. Many are probably saying that next year we'll sell what we sell to people who want it and can afford it, and there is no point in cutting our own throats to stay alive. It may be a good time to eliminate the competition, but in the case of the PC industry the major players in low-margin markets are already operating pretty similarly to one another.
Having tried many instances of it, the only time I'd consider a hackintosh - even on better hardware than anything from Apple - is for fixed requirements with a limited software/hardware scope. If you're going to use it as... well, a Mac, I'd suggest you bite the bullet and buy one.
I'm not sure I agree with the comment about the MSI Wind. I debated about either selling my MBP and buying a MBA or an MSI Wind. I finally decided on the Wind primarily based on the cost. If I sold my MBP, I would still need to sent $500 out of pocket (excluding AppleCare) and the Wind was $349.
I have OS/X 10.5.5 up and running without any problems. The only real issue is there were no drivers for the Realtek Wifi card, but they were released this week and work fine. I not have a 2.5 pound notebook. The only real downside if the 3-cell battery, but I rarely using any laptop for extended periods unplugged.
From what i have read, the Samsung NC10 is the best netbook out there at the moment. It will run OSX on the MSI Wind hacked version of Leopard. If you google "OS X on Samsung NC10" you will find the information you need.
I'm considering this option as I will soon need a basic, 2nd, preferably mobile computer for word processing at work and Apple's current lineup is too expensive. (The low-end MB is almost 3x more the NC10 where I live) Even so, I might end up getting a MB or MBP, but I'l have to check the screen first. I used to have a MacBook but sold it because the screen's viewing angle was absolutely atrocious. I think I'll wait until the January announcements. If Apple can bring their prices down even 10 % on their MBs, I may go that route. A MacMini update, sans price increase, might send me that way, too.
I'm considering this option as I will soon need a basic, 2nd, preferably mobile computer for word processing at work and Apple's current lineup is too expensive. (The low-end MB is almost 3x more the NC10 where I live) Even so, I might end up getting a MB or MBP, but I'l have to check the screen first. I used to have a MacBook but sold it because the screen's viewing angle was absolutely atrocious. I think I'll wait until the January announcements. If Apple can bring their prices down even 10 % on their MBs, I may go that route. A MacMini update, sans price increase, might send me that way, too.
I have both a Macbook 2.16GHz GMA950 revision and a U100 Wind running 10.5.5. What I have a hard time getting my head round is how well the Wind copes with flash video - youtube and the like - and how poorly the Macbook manages. It cannot be the OS, since both are running the same. However, with the Macbook, temps run from the mid 60ºCs to the mid 70ºCs with screeching fans depending on how well the clips have been coded. On the Wind, the weaker hardware rarely runs higher than the mid 50ºCs with moderate fan noise, despite all components being necessarily cramped together.
Perhaps Apple needs to switch hardware manufacturers...
Perhaps Apple needs to switch hardware manufacturers...
that seems weird surely it should be the other way round since the macbook has the h264 video decoder whereas the wind doesn't? On the price rise front, Sesshi is right about the currency fluctuatuions, I live in Australia our currency is terrible its gone from almost parity with USD to 60c. You need not look further to look at the gross distortion in prices between the US apple store and the australian one. Btw instead of opening a new thread, does the macbook have 3G connectivity so i can just chuck in a sim card, do netbooks even have this feature?
As an experienced Hackintosh-er, go with the genuine Apple hardware UNLESS you like tinkering. If you really like tinkering that much, you may actually be better off using Linux, or even *gasp* Windows. Your chances for a reliable netbook will be better with Linux/Windows. YMMV. If you are willing to stick with a certain version of OSX once everything works, go for the netbook. If you like to have the latest and greatest updates from Apple, go for the genuine Apple hardware. 
I really thought about going the hackintosh route to save a buck on a portable. But look on the hackintosh thread in this forum, and look on other websites, and read the threads.
It appeared to me that there was a lot of threads saying "cant get wi-fi to work on toshiba blah blah blah" and "usb problems on dell et cetera".
Besides OSX, part of the pleasure of having a mac is the whole 'it just works' concept. Having to do several hacks, or having features work poorly or not at all, is a major reason to not have a hackintosh as a mac work computer. Not to mention having OS updates potentially screw up your system. For this reason, hackintosh portables are geek projects and proof of concepts. Ditto with tastannin's comment about tinkering. If you're that much of a geek, you might as well design your own linux kernel.
If you could find a laptop that had identical hardware to a macbook or macbook pro, and was supported extensively by the hackintosh community, that may be a different story. Good luck.
It appeared to me that there was a lot of threads saying "cant get wi-fi to work on toshiba blah blah blah" and "usb problems on dell et cetera".
Besides OSX, part of the pleasure of having a mac is the whole 'it just works' concept. Having to do several hacks, or having features work poorly or not at all, is a major reason to not have a hackintosh as a mac work computer. Not to mention having OS updates potentially screw up your system. For this reason, hackintosh portables are geek projects and proof of concepts. Ditto with tastannin's comment about tinkering. If you're that much of a geek, you might as well design your own linux kernel.
If you could find a laptop that had identical hardware to a macbook or macbook pro, and was supported extensively by the hackintosh community, that may be a different story. Good luck.