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Need help building a PC that will run OSX

crazylegsmurphy said:
But the Macbooks have Intel Chips, Video Cards, and other hardware that isn't made by Apple.

Hmmm... See this is the issue that I was afraid of. I don't really want to be roped into buying a MAC.

This does throw a wrench in my plan and if it turns out that this is downright illegal than I'll simply forgo getting OSX and settle for Windows based Safari and have to go the long way around of asking my Apple using developer friends to double check on things if I'm unsure.

Does anyone know if it's downright illegal, or is it simply like on the iPhone where if you jailbreak it they won't sue you, but they also won't support you (AKA Warranty is gone).
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If you keep asking, EVENTUALLY someone will tell you what you want to hear, rather than the truth.

Read the EULA. Apple provides OSX either free or for a pittance, with the licensing proviso that it be installed only on computers manufactured by Apple. Are they going to go after you? Nope. You get to enter into the agreement, break it, and suffer no external consequences.

By the way... If you buy a $1k Macbook and use it for three years, you'll likely be able to sell it for $450 or so. So the "expensive" hardware they "rope" you into is some of the cheapest around from a TCO standpoint!
 
wheelhot said:
Cause Apple is making money from its hardware not software. Ever wondered why there is no multiple versions of Leopard? Or why Leopard is priced around Vista HomePremium while considering the features it gives it should be priced at Ultimate?

Another thing, its not legal, as soon as you install OSX on a PC you breach the EULA but hey, no one seem to care and I personally dont care about home made hackintosh as long as its not commercialize. Besides, Apple knew about the OSX86 community and don't seem to care about it cause its more like a hobby thing, but sadly "thanks" to Psycrap that might change in the future.
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Hmmm, well this does concern me a bit. It's kinda lame that Apple seems open to allowing Windows users to install XP and Vista on MACs and almost seems to encourage it, but then turns around and is kinda a jerkface about it's own software.

I don't mind breaching the EULA if it's not going to get me into trouble with "The man". If they don't want to give me support or warranty then that's fine, I can live with that.

I just don't want to do illegal things as it would suck to get all my hard earned money taken away from me by Steve Jobs smoking a cigar made out of my life earnings in a court room! :)
 
crazylegsmurphy said:
Hmmm, well this does concern me a bit. It's kinda lame that Apple seems open to allowing Windows users to install XP and Vista on MACs and almost seems to encourage it, but then turns around and is kinda a jerkface about it's own software.

I don't mind breaching the EULA if it's not going to get me into trouble with "The man". If they don't want to give me support or warranty then that's fine, I can live with that.

I just don't want to do illegal things as it would suck to get all my hard earned money taken away from me by Steve Jobs smoking a cigar made out of my life earnings in a court room! :)
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Gotcha... you don't care about the whole "Right/Wrong" thing, just how it impacts you materially. That's good to know.

They don't need to punish people for making a Hackintosh... it's kind of like bigamy, the crime is it's own punishment!!!
 
If you keep asking, EVENTUALLY someone will tell you what you want to hear, rather than the truth.

Read the EULA. Apple provides OSX either free or for a pittance, with the licensing proviso that it be installed only on computers manufactured by Apple. Are they going to go after you? Nope. You get to enter into the agreement, break it, and suffer no external consequences.

By the way... If you buy a $1k Macbook and use it for three years, you'll likely be able to sell it for $450 or so. So the "expensive" hardware they "rope" you into is some of the cheapest around from a TCO standpoint!
Click to expand...

I'm not looking for someone to tell me it's ok anyway...I'm looking for information so I can know which course of action to take. If it's possible to contact Apple and get a legit version for installation on a PC, even if it's $400, then that is fine.

I'm not in the market of reselling computers...I either hand them off to my little cousins or recycle them.
 
crazylegsmurphy said:
I'm not looking for someone to tell me it's ok anyway...I'm looking for information so I can know which course of action to take. If it's possible to contact Apple and get a legit version for installation on a PC, even if it's $400, then that is fine.

I'm not in the market of reselling computers...I either hand them off to my little cousins or recycle them.
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no it is not possible.
 
Please stop arguing about whether it's legal or not. arn has stated in the past that it is not our place to be enforcing EULAs. If you don't want to help then that's fine, but don't try to derail the thread over it.
 
Gotcha... you don't care about the whole "Right/Wrong" thing, just how it impacts you materially. That's good to know.

They don't need to punish people for making a Hackintosh... it's kind of like bigamy, the crime is it's own punishment!!!
Click to expand...

:)

I think you're missing what I am saying. I don't know about the Apple user agreement to the letter, so that's why I am asking about it. I don't want to do anything illegal, but I don't know the terms (which you guys are enlightening me to).

If it's downright illegal, then I'll have to find another solution, but if it's like....If you buy a hockey helmet and put stickers all over it, it's not illegal, but they state they won't support the product or honor the warranty if you do.

If it's simply a matter of that, then I'm ok with that. I'll accept no support and warranty if that's the case, but if it's actually the same as pirating software, then I'll have to go another route.
 
to all you hackintosh 'haters' (or those against it), please just leave because i do not think that the OP wants to argue with what is right or wrong, no-one is going to stop him.. noone stopped me, nor the other coupla hundred (or so) people who have made hackintoshes and told of their experiences in the hackintosh thread..
 
Here's the EULA:

This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. You agree not to install, use
le Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one
computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.
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http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx105.pdf
 
As a fellow web developer, may I advise that you get a MBP (last-gen matte, as you don't like glossy - this is what I have), and dual-boot into Windows? I can run Firefox, Opera, Safari, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, Photoshop CS3, and MAMP all while not maxing out my RAM (2 GB) and CPU (lowest end - 2.4GHz). I don't support IE in the websites I build as my websites' audiences are those who want better browsers anyways, but if you plan to support it, I recommend VMWare Fusion or Sun's free VirtualBox (I haven't tried the latter). If you plan to go this virtual route, I recommend that you also max out the RAM to 4GB (this also helps run all the windows software that you have). Virtual machines, I've found, are only limited when it comes to gaming (that is what boot camp is for).

If the reason you are wanting to make a hackintosh is one of cost, remember that time is money, as the time it takes to get one of those to work well enough to use, "costs" quite a lot more than an outright Apple computer. Also, it is one thing to build a desktop hackintosh, but a laptop hackintosh is taking it too far. Keep it simple for your first build, and then come back and reconsider the idea after you have had some (hopefully less costly than a laptop) experience.

Everyone that is in this thread arguing about Apple's EULA, (pardon my French) go curl up and die P-L-Z. EULA has no standing in a court of law as of now, and will not ever affect the hobbyist end-user.
 
geoffreak said:
As a fellow web developer, may I advise that you get a MBP (last-gen matte, as you don't like glossy - this is what I have), and dual-boot into Windows? I can run Firefox, Opera, Safari, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, Photoshop CS3, and MAMP all while not maxing out my RAM (2 GB) and CPU (lowest end - 2.4GHz). I don't support IE in the websites I build as my websites' audiences are those who want better browsers anyways, but if you plan to support it, I recommend VMWare Fusion or Sun's free VirtualBox (I haven't tried the latter). If you plan to go this virtual route, I recommend that you also max out the RAM to 4GB (this also helps run all the windows software that you have). Virtual machines, I've found, are only limited when it comes to gaming (that is what boot camp is for).

If the reason you are wanting to make a hackintosh is one of cost, remember that time is money, as the time it takes to get one of those to work well enough to use, "costs" quite a lot more than an outright Apple computer. Also, it is one thing to build a desktop hackintosh, but a laptop hackintosh is taking it too far. Keep it simple for your first build, and then come back and reconsider the idea after you have had some (hopefully less costly than a laptop) experience.

Everyone that is in this thread arguing about Apple's EULA, (pardon my French) go curl up and die P-L-Z. EULA has no standing in a court of law as of now, and will not ever affect the hobbyist end-user.
Click to expand...

Heh yeah almost stopped reading through this thread w all the back and forth EULA junk.

Regardless of all that, your best bet is to get a Mac if you want to actually develop for that platform. You can install Windows and boot it natively if you want , without going through OS X all the time.
 
Why does this happen so much, people jump on the EULA bandwagon so much and preach down to their poor misguided brethren like they're a poor lost soul looking for redemption...

Let the man build a Hackintosh and get about his daily duties, this subject has been discussed to death and Arn has stated that Hackintosh building to be discussed. As long as there isn't links to sites that perpetrate illegal file sharing etc... Which I've yet to see here...

This thread is pretty much like taking all the Daily Mail readers, and focussing them on Apple, oh my how they bicker...

OP, as I originally stated, go to the Insanely Mac forums, they have a far larger knowledge base on this subject, they literally are the collective force behind the OSX86 project, and you won't get any of the inane spam about the EULA...
 
crazylegsmurphy said:
I'm REALLY hoping to not have to buy a MAC for this reason as my personal experience with MAC products are that they aren't really for me. I know that many of you may scoff at that, but the only reason I want to run OSX is because I obviously need to know how what I am designing will run on both PC and Apple platforms.

That is why I want to go with a PC that will run OSX and not the other way around. I develop in Windows almost 100% so that will be what I will be running almost all of the time. I also have the latest development software for Windows and don't want to have to have to re-buy them all for a MAC.

The ONLY way I might be persuaded into getting a MAC is if I can get one that A. Doesn't have the glossy screen as the new macbooks do, and I can run Windows as my main operating system without having to load OSX.
Click to expand...

Haha, you know, you can run Windows 100% of the time on a Mac if you deem necessary. You're just required to have OS X installed on another partition, which is a small quirk to deal with. :rolleyes:

The point is, is that a Mac is made to run OS X and Windows natively, as opposed to running into loopholes + hacking running OS X on a PC. I do in fact have a Hackintosh built, as an After Effects rendering machine, and it does run well. But you really have to hunt down for compatibility for each components that you buy. I did so before buying my parts. For laptops, it's a little more difficult to find compatibility for. You'd need to find out what parts vendors are using. And GENERALLY, if you buy a laptop that has the most similar parts, you'll find that you're spending JUST AS MUCH, or even more than Apple's Macbooks. And they don't look as good. :p

Here's a Macbook Pro without a glossy screen for $899: Mac of All Trades

C'mon, it's a Macbook Pro with matte screen for $899. It's still a hell of a lot better than ANY PC laptop you can buy. If you want to run Windows as your main OS, you can do it if you want. If you're going to get a PC laptop, then have fun hunting and wasting time finding which laptop has compatible parts, and hope that OS X will run flawlessly on it. Remember, time is money. Whatever you choose to do, have fun. :p
 
Forget about the EULA for just a minute - but isn't it much simpler to get a Mac and install Windows as well, than to buy/build a PC and install OS X?

I mean, at least on the Mac (1) both OS's are supported and known to run without issues, and (2) updates to the OS's won't break the system.

OP, not that I'm challenging your decision, but why are you set on a PC over a Mac?
 
crazylegsmurphy said:
I'm REALLY hoping to not have to buy a MAC for this reason as my personal experience with MAC products are that they aren't really for me. I know that many of you may scoff at that, but the only reason I want to run OSX is because I obviously need to know how what I am designing will run on both PC and Apple platforms.

That is why I want to go with a PC that will run OSX and not the other way around. I develop in Windows almost 100% so that will be what I will be running almost all of the time. I also have the latest development software for Windows and don't want to have to have to re-buy them all for a MAC.

The ONLY way I might be persuaded into getting a MAC is if I can get one that A. Doesn't have the glossy screen as the new macbooks do, and I can run Windows as my main operating system without having to load OSX.
Click to expand...


If your using Windows 100% off the time and your experience with Apple is less then favorable, why would you want to build a hackintosh?
 
I'm probably one of the biggest Hack supporters here but I will say this. If you're not technically savvy then I'd advise against a Hack. I've been building computers for 15+ years now. Personally, installing OSX on my systems and maintaining them has been a breeze. But, and this is a big but, if you're not savvy enough, even though getting a decent Hack working is pretty easy, one bump in the road could put a stop to whole system.

There's always the looming threat that Apple will somehow crack down and make it more difficult to install OSX on non-Apple hardware. Suppose that happens in the middle of an important project and you update your system unaware that in doing so you've bricked your OSX install? For some people, that feel like they know enough and are up to the task, the risk is worth it. For others it might not be.

Now, I don't know your level of expertise. Maybe you're up to it. But is the risk worth it to you if you're not? Sure, there are ways to mitigate the risk. Keep consistent backups and such. But there's still risk. I'm just offering this as something to think about. However, if you're still up to then I say go for it. Do the research and get a compatible system and have fun.

With respect to laptops, my own opinion is that Hacking a laptop is less valuable than hacking a desktop. The reason is that you can eek a lot more performance out of a desktop through overclocking than you can out of a laptop. That makes Hackintosh desktops a pretty dang good value with respect to performance in OSX compared to comparable Mac systems. You just don't get as much bang for your buck from a Hackintosh laptop. You can still come out ahead but you're just not as far ahead if you know what I mean. If I were in the market for a new laptop right now, as much as I love building Hacks, I'd probably buy a Mac.
 
sneezymarble said:
I'm probably one of the biggest Hack supporters here but I will say this. If you're not technically savvy then I'd advise against a Hack. I've been building computers for 15+ years now. Personally, installing OSX on my systems and maintaining them has been a breeze. But, and this is a big but, if you're not savvy enough, even though getting a decent Hack working is pretty easy, one bump in the road could put a stop to whole system.

There's always the looming threat that Apple will somehow crack down and make it more difficult to install OSX on non-Apple hardware. Suppose that happens in the middle of an important project and you update your system unaware that in doing so you've bricked your OSX install? For some people, that feel like they know enough and are up to the task, the risk is worth it. For others it might not be.

Now, I don't know your level of expertise. Maybe you're up to it. But is the risk worth it to you if you're not? Sure, there are ways to mitigate the risk. Keep consistent backups and such. But there's still risk. I'm just offering this as something to think about. However, if you're still up to then I say go for it. Do the research and get a compatible system and have fun.

With respect to laptops, my own opinion is that Hacking a laptop is less valuable than hacking a desktop. The reason is that you can eek a lot more performance out of a desktop through overclocking than you can out of a laptop. That makes Hackintosh desktops a pretty dang good value with respect to performance in OSX compared to comparable Mac systems. You just don't get as much bang for your buck from a Hackintosh laptop. You can still come out ahead but you're just not as far ahead if you know what I mean. If I were in the market for a new laptop right now, as much as I love building Hacks, I'd probably buy a Mac.
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Fa sho cuuuzz. :D

Hackintoshes are meant to be just that, hack being the keyword. They're nothing more than just being toys for fun, especially for the hacking + enthusiast community. It's there for the people who want to invest time in doing something that's made not to be able to do. But people do it. ;)
 
fiercetiger224 said:
Fa sho cuuuzz. :D

Hackintoshes are meant to be just that, hack being the keyword. They're nothing more than just being toys for fun, especially for the hacking + enthusiast community. It's there for the people who want to invest time in doing something that's made not to be able to do. But people do it. ;)
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, my Hackintosh is much more than a "hack" or a toy. I use it for video editing, photo editing and 3D animation. It performs significanlty better than the current quad core Mac Pro and was 1/3 the cost.
 
sneezymarble said:
Just to be clear, my Hackintosh is much more than a "hack" or a toy. I use it for video editing, photo editing and 3D animation. It performs significanlty better than the current quad core Mac Pro and was 1/3 the cost.
Click to expand...

Haha I use mine as an After Effects rendering machine. Remember your quad is overclocked, soo...If they were at the same clockspeed, then they probably would run similarly. I know that the non-buffered memory might actually make the hackintosh run faster, so don't even go there. :p
 
Hacintosh

I built one from a Dell mini9. It has a bright 9 inch screen and uses a ssd and is dead silent. It also only weighs about 2.5 lbs and runs almost 4 hours on the battery. I added a after market drive and ram. For a total of 550 bucks I have light and fast netbook with 2gb ram and a 64 gb ssd.
Installing Leopard takes about an hour and uses a retail copy of leopard. I run the software updates just like on my Imac and they work flawlessly. What works? Just about everything. The only real problem is that the controller on the stec hard drive will not wake from sleep. The available aftermarket drive does not have that problem.
Why did I go with the dell? I was looking for a good quality and low priced notebook/netbook that would run osx without requiring any hardware swaps. And while there is a ton of info over at insanely mac i picked a netbook that has a active forum and enthusiastic user base that is actrively working on osx issues. There was no driver for the built in media reader so the fine folks over at http://mydellmini.com/forum/mac-os-x-f23.html wrote one for it. It now reads sd cards and they are working on the sdhc? cards. My point is not that you need to get the dell but it is a good idea to pick a notebook with a active following so that you can get help if you need it. I have in the past gotten osx to run on a pentuim m notebook but had to find a different wireless card and could not easily run software updates and had other problems. It worked but not very well and was not an experience I wished to duplicate. The install on the dell mini is so refined that as far as usabilty is concerned it feels just like a "real" apple notebook. As far as the Eula is concerned I leave that up to you but I do advise you to buy a retail copy of Leopard and not to use any pirated version of the Mac os.
Jim
 
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