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Now the transtion is underway, will you buy Apple hardware or get something else?

progx

progx

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 3, 2003
899
1,111
Pennsylvania
i'm not trying to piss people off here, i'm just interest in seeing how many people would consider buying 3rd party hardware w/OS X vs. Apple.

now, i don't know if many of you know, but last year VoodooPC installed Mac OS X on their AMD 64 laptop:

h**p://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=5220

i can't find the photo, but i remember back in the summer or fall on MacRumors, it posted that information.

so, if it is true and you can run OS X on a different x86 box, would you stick with Apple or go elsewhere and buy a fresh copy of OS X?
 
I'll be sticking with Apple. It's illegal to steal Mac OS X, and these people are breaking the EULA by installing it on non-Apple hardware anyway. Even if I didn't care about the legal/ethical problems, I like Apple's hardware. Especially now that it's (again) some of the fastest stuff you can buy.
 
mduser63 said:
I'll be sticking with Apple. It's illegal to steal Mac OS X, and these people are breaking the EULA by installing it on non-Apple hardware anyway. Even if I didn't care about the legal/ethical problems, I like Apple's hardware. Especially now that it's (again) some of the fastest stuff you can buy.
Click to expand...

no one said about stealing OS X, especially the beta build, to put on a third party machine. read my post above again, Voodoo didn't steal that copy, they had the real disc from Apple. you can probably buy any x86 based PC or build one and buy a fresh copy of OS X 10.4; remember, on the Mac OS X website "It's here. It's real. It's amazing. Mac OS X on Intel."

i do like Apple hardware, a lot really, but i'd rather have an AMD than Intel.

remember, the EPS found in the new Intels will be available on the market as a chip and in their customers computers. plus, AMD has been using it too.

so forget about the EULA, would you guys ever consider buying different hardware or making your own?
 
Hmmmm, let me think.

I could run it on this...
sony_va1.jpg


or this...

design3420060109.jpg


decisions, decisions.
 
progx said:
no one said about stealing OS X, especially the beta build, to put on a third party machine. read my post above again, Voodoo didn't steal that copy, they had the real disc from Apple. you can probably buy any x86 based PC or build one and buy a fresh copy of OS X 10.4; remember, on the Mac OS X website "It's here. It's real. It's amazing. Mac OS X on Intel."

i do like Apple hardware, a lot really, but i'd rather have an AMD than Intel.

remember, the EPS found in the new Intels will be available on the market as a chip and in their customers computers. plus, AMD has been using it too.

so forget about the EULA, would you guys ever consider buying different hardware or making your own?
Click to expand...

Regardless as to whether or not you own the software i expect that altering said software to allow it work on a non-apple machine is probably technically illegal, plus you'll be unsupported. Buying a kick-ass intel based machine and then impeeding it with an os than whilst native does not natively support all the hardware sort of defeats the purpose.
 
Do you mean, do I want to hack the OSX software to run it on a WinPC, and have to do all my own support of drivers, compatibility, video card glitches, bugfixes, lack of MB firmware support etc? (not to mention being laughed out of the building when calling the component manufacturers for support)

HECK no. If I want that pain, I'll just install Windows.


I think that most (not all, because some folks are scarred veterans and are unfazed by it) of the people asking the question are completely unaware of the complexity of keeping a Windows machine running, with multiple, conflicting drivers and BIOS upgrades. I have a machine which kept losing its USB mind randomly when I used a KVM to switch between my Mac and PC. I would have to do a hard shutdown to regain control. Spent a ton of money on a new, high end KVM switch, changed USB hubs, mice, everything. Nada. The problem? A motherboard BIOS upgrade, which rendered the USB unstable in that situation, until they released another upgrade 8 weeks later that fixed it back again. I won't even go into the ways that the BIOS installer didn't work as instructed, and hung the machine..

And that's a relatively plain, un-hotrodded stock P4 2.4 machine.
 
hmm.

what if i were to tell you that the new Intels are not running BIOS. in fact, it is running the same chips? (ie. Intel Core Duo, AMD 64)

i should clarify, it has nothing to do with out Pentiums and especially BIOS processors.

supposeditly, please correct me if i'm wrong, that there are no BIOS in the set. i know i saw that on the forum here. both Intel and AMD are running it in their new next gen processors. i mean, pretty soon you can get an Intel Core Duo Voodoo PC or Alienware PC right?
 
progx said:
no one said about stealing OS X, especially the beta build, to put on a third party machine. read my post above again, Voodoo didn't steal that copy, they had the real disc from Apple. you can probably buy any x86 based PC or build one and buy a fresh copy of OS X 10.4; remember, on the Mac OS X website "It's here. It's real. It's amazing. Mac OS X on Intel."
Click to expand...

No, that article is from September 2005. OS X on Intel was only available as part of the developer transition kits at that time. Obviously it's possible that VoodooPC bought one (for $1000), then hacked the OS on the disk to install it on their laptop. Even so that was against the EULA and quite possibly illegal. However, I really highly doubt they bought a DTK. Much more likely that they just pirated a copy of hacked OS X x86 like everyone else.

Even now OS X for Intel is not available standalone. The only way to get it currently is to buy an iMac Core Duo (or soon a MacBook Pro). There's no reason for Apple to make it available at retail because the only computers that can run it already came with it. I highly doubt we'll see OS X for Intel boxed in stores until 10.5 comes out. So at this point, unless users buy Apple hardware, they have to break the law to install OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Finally, I said that even if I didn't care about the legal/ethical issues. I'll stick with Apple hardware. I see no important advantage to having AMD, and I have relatively new computers at home with Intel, AMD, Via, IBM and Motorola/Freescale CPUs. My favorite is my PowerBook G4, though it's certainly not the fastest of the lot (that would be the G5).
 
If Apple released Mac OS X for generic PCs, I might consider putting it on the Dell laptop I got from work (currently dual booting into WinXP Pro and Fedora Linux).

But as long as Apple continue designing and creating awesome machines like my Intel iMac, my main machine will be an Apple.

Since I'm a software engineer, I spend 10+ hours a day in front of a computer, and it's only after I switched that I realised that you need something more than a plain plastic box. It's a much more satisfying experience using Apple hardware - it's visual, tactile, visceral (although I realise some people don't like the look of the iMac). I get the job done on the Dell (especially now that I'm using Linux 90% of the time) but I'm happier on the Mac.
 
to rebute on Voodoo PC, while they didn't directly advertise it, they didn't hack that copy of OS X. i'm sure Apple sent out OS X to third party hardware developers to test to see if it does work.

but, if it really does in the coming years, what's Apple going to do? obviously not support the paid copy of OS X someone bought for their Dell, but Intel won't develop or lock out the hardware just for Apple.

the new Intels that are in our Macs will be available to everyone else in the Windows world. it's the same damn thing.

plus, i'm pretty sure Intel swiped quite a bit from AMD on Dual Cores. i mean, AMD made the first x86 64 bit processor, to be honest they're the same hardware.

if Voodoo was capable of getting a AMD 64 laptop to run the Developer Kit Mac OS X, then i'm sure Apple is riding high on the fact that most of these people are running BIOS in older Windows boxes.

Apple's design is good, but without FW 800 and everything i'm used to on a Powerbook, i probably won't buy a MacBook Pro. in fact, the Voodoo PC i'm building, which cost much more than my current Powerbook did, is better than what Apple is offering.

plus, Intel Core Duo vs. G5s? as far as i know, the new Intels are 32-bit and the last i checked the G5 is 64-bit. obviously, the Intels will run 32-bit apps better than the G5; since it's in a whole different league.

i hope Intel's 64-bit processors will come down in price or else the Mac Pro will be a $3599 machine! :(
 
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