Hackintosh

  • Thread starter Thread starter death by analog
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death by analog

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Hi,

I've been considering this for a while now...

Anyone using one? Feedback? Suggestions on the parts I should buy?

The reason why I want an Hackintosh is because my favorite DAW is Logic.
 
death by analog said:
Hi,

I've been considering this for a while now...

Anyone using one? Feedback? Suggestions on the parts I should buy?

The reason why I want an Hackintosh is because my favorite DAW is Logic.
Click to expand...

I built one (I could select MAC OS, Linux or Windows from a boot menu, although I've now settled on Windows only, perhaps to my detriment!).

It was easy, but you have to be careful in your selection of Motherboard, CPU and graphics card.

I found everything I needed to know from tonymacx86.com
 
Did it run as smooth as a real Mac? All applications working just like they should?
 
It ran very nicely - a Hackintosh will run just the same as a Mac. However, I did have a small display issue due to using built in HD3000 graphics (as used in the MacBook Air), which I didn't quite iron out (was something to do with the driver and my display, and/or the amount of shared graphics memory). I could still use it fine, but occasionally got a few random artifacts (black lines) on screen when scrolling up and down webpages) - it is easily solved by using a discrete graphics card (many users on the forum I linked will attest to this).

The only major problem you will run into is if you get an OS update which drops support for your hardware. Unlike Windows, Mac OS only supports hardware used for current or recent Macs. So, it's best to use hardware used in the most recent Macs, then you get a good few years of use before you might lose support.

As ever, check it out for yourself at the forum and do some research - YMMV!!!
 
The main issue with Hackintosh's is hardware compatibility. Basically, the further back you go in OS X revisions, the less hardware is supported, especially graphics.

However now with Lion and Mountain Lion it is getting easier and easier to install OS X on a standard machine due to the increased support for intel and third party hardware. It's now to the point that you can do the entire install in one pass off of an 8GB flash drive via a custom bootloader. I think at this point even HD 4000 graphics is supported along with the new Ivy Bridge processors with a vanilla kernel.

But yeah, it runs just like a normal Mac and is just as stable.

All of the above is totally speculation, of course. Wink wink.

Cheers :)
 
Mo Facta said:
The main issue with Hackintosh's is hardware compatibility. Basically, the further back you go in OS X revisions, the less hardware is supported, especially graphics.

However now with Lion and Mountain Lion it is getting easier and easier to install OS X on a standard machine due to the increased support for intel and third party hardware. It's now to the point that you can do the entire install in one pass off of an 8GB flash drive via a custom bootloader. I think at this point even HD 4000 graphics is supported along with the new Ivy Bridge processors with a vanilla kernel.

But yeah, it runs just like a normal Mac and is just as stable.

All of the above is totally speculation, of course. Wink wink.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

When I built mine, you could install directly off a USB drive, but you needed access to a Mac to set the USB drive up. I had to install Snow Leopard (which is the latest version on DVD) then upgrade via downloads from the app store. Dunno if it's any different now.
 
Yeah, you still need access to a Mac to make the USB drive bootable but with Unibeast, it's literally a one step process once you've done it.

Cheers :)
 
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