suggestions for netbook to hackintosh?

[mdwsta4]

i'm looking to pick up a cheap netbook just to do it. i have a dell laptop for work and a MBP for photography, school, and personal use.
i can't stand using the dell laptop and while i love my MBP, it's not always convinient to travel with (especially when i have to bring my work computer). i've contemplated the Air, but i think it's overkill for what i'd use it for; especially for the pricetag.

i really dig the asus Eee for its size, battery life, and looks.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-V...book/dp/B002DYIXNM/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_img_ex

i wouldn't use it for much more than the web, mail, and MS Office.

how would i go about converting it to run OSX? is there something i should look out for on a netbook when considering to do this conversion? any disadvantages to a hackintosh like this?
any tips/suggestions would be appreciated. thanks!

 

[jzuena]

i really dig the asus Eee for its size, battery life, and looks.

i wouldn't use it for much more than the web, mail, and MS Office.

how would i go about converting it to run OSX? is there something i should look out for on a netbook when considering to do this conversion? any disadvantages to a hackintosh like this?
any tips/suggestions would be appreciated. thanks!

The best way to determine if a particular laptop or netbook you are considering will work as a hackintosh is to check out Insanely Mac. They have a database of what works and several howtos for different hardware setups as well. I had heard that you want to make sure you get netbooks with Atom processors running faster than 1 GHz, since slower ones won't work, but all the newer ones (including the one you link) should be OK.

 

[mdgolom]

i'm looking to pick up a cheap netbook just to do it. i have a dell laptop for work and a MBP for photography, school, and personal use.
i can't stand using the dell laptop and while i love my MBP, it's not always convinient to travel with (especially when i have to bring my work computer). i've contemplated the Air, but i think it's overkill for what i'd use it for; especially for the pricetag.

i really dig the asus Eee for its size, battery life, and looks.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-V...book/dp/B002DYIXNM/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_img_ex

i wouldn't use it for much more than the web, mail, and MS Office.

how would i go about converting it to run OSX? is there something i should look out for on a netbook when considering to do this conversion? any disadvantages to a hackintosh like this?
any tips/suggestions would be appreciated. thanks!

I turned my MSI Wind U100 into a Hackintosh. No real problems except the internal mic never worked. Ever netbook has it's own limitation on what it won't do.

 

[localoid]

BoingBoing's OSX netbook compatibility chart will give you a rough overview of what netbooks will make good candidates for OSX. But as the Boing-Boing page notes: "there are plenty of caveats: non-functioning components which lack drivers, need to be replaced, or which simply can't be gotten working at all."

 

[stainlessliquid]

The Dell Mini 9 seems to be the goto netbook for OSX, its fully supported.

 

[jzuena]

The Dell Mini 9 seems to be the goto netbook for OSX, its fully supported.

I wouldn't quite use the word "supported". Maybe "most compatible" 😀

I know the Dell Inspiron 1525 works fully except that if you try to put it to sleep while plugged in, it crashes. Putting it to sleep while on battery works fine... or at least that's what I've heard. 😎

Did I mention that I have a Dell Inspiron 1525?

 

[progressweasel]

Suggestions for netbook to Hackintosh

Here is the best list of compatible and not-so compatible netbooks

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/17/osx-netbook-compatib.html

 

[Richdmoore]

I know you said you don't like Dell's, but I am using a Dell 9. I would suggest whatever one you choose, you go to specific netbook forums and read how they handle the install, and what problems they still have.

I know www.mydellmini.com is the place for Dell netbooks, for Acer it is: http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/

Use google.

My experience. The Dell 9 works well, they almost have the dell 10v working 100 percent as well. Only warnings I can give is that sometimes it takes a few weeks with a major update, such as 10.5.7 or 10.5.8. The other warning is that the 1.6ghz atom processor does not have enough power for any HD video decoding, but SD quicktime videos work fine. Flash (Hulu) is a little choppy on OSX also, so that may be an issue.

 

[mdwsta4]

thanks for the info all. so if i'm reading that chart right, wifi won't work on the asus? at least on the 1008 model which is apparently almost exactly the same as 1005. that would be one thing i would need to have.

as far as Dells are concerned... i'm simply so dissatisfied with them through work that i would never buy one of their products. maybe they do make some good netbooks, but based on the crap i've delt with previously, they've lost a customer for life.

 

[Acorn]

i dont have a link anymore so I shouldnt even be posting this but I read a review somewhere that stated real world battery life on the seashell is like 5 hours, not what they advertise. so i would go with the asus 1000HE if battery life was the main concern.

 

[mac&cheesey]

Hacintosh

I have a Dell Mini9 Hackintoshed. I use it for travel. My wife and I just went through the Middle East for two weeks. 5 countries in 2 weeks and the Mini9 was with us all the way. We Skyped with it. We downloaded all of our pictures off of the camera onto it. Email, a little web; you get the idea. It was great. It fits in a small backpack and can go with you anywhere. It's also inexpensive enough that if something were to happen to it you wouldn't be too upset.

Having said that, I don't use it for anything more than the web, email, Skype, and some light word processing on the go. The screen is quite small and so is the keyboard. It takes a bit of getting used to and can become fatiguing. If I were to be starting the Hackintosh route again I would go with the Mini10v. A little bigger and more usable, but still very small. I think 10" might be the sweet spot (come on Apple Tablet!!).

It was a fun project for me. The forums at mydellmini.com are invaluable. I could not have Hackintoshed mine without those forums!

Don't expect it to replace any mac you have, as I seriously doubt it will, but for what it's good for, it's really good.

 

[localoid]

thanks for the info all. so if i'm reading that chart right, wifi won't work on the asus? at least on the 1008 model which is apparently almost exactly the same as 1005. that would be one thing i would need to have.

Boing-Boing's chart is good, but things change quickly. You could always use a (compatible) USB WiFi dongle, but googling "installing osx on 1005ha" should give you a good bit of information to read through.

Keep in mind that such information can get outdated very quickly, e.g. in July '09 there might not have been a driver for WiFi but in August '09 someone might have figured out a solution, etc. Search around the Net a bit and you should be able to find the specific info you need for the Asus 1005. Good luck.

 

[3N16MA]

HP mini 110 should work really well (2nd to the DELL mini 9) and it is one of the nicer looking netbooks.