iGwen

Ever since the announcement that apple was switching over from Powerpc cpu’s to Intel cpu’s there has been an online group of enthousiasts that tried to get MacOS working on generic PC hardware. Now about 3 years since the announced switch to Intel CPU’s it is possible to install MacOS on a wide variety of hardware.

The question is: Is it really worth the trouble? Can we build a cheaper Mac than the one that is available in the apple store (basic Mac Mini)? Well let’s find out.

The following PC-Components were used (Prices include 21% taxes):

• Intel D945GCLF (note: a dual core variant with svideo is available, however I do not know if the svideo connection works with MacOS.) €59,90
• 640 GB harddrive (Best Value GB/€ at time of purchase) € 65,90
• A Sata DVD-burner € 25
• 2GB of memory (The maximum memory supported by the mainboard) €34,90
• A cheap micro itx case + power supply € 49,35
• A dlink DWL-G122 (for wireless lan) € 30
• A retail copy of MacOS € 130

This gives us a total sum of € 395,05. The cost of a new mac mini is about € 599. if we look only at the price tag of the components VS the mac mini we see that the clone is about € 200 cheaper. However the Mac Mini has a dramatically faster cpu and graphics chipset, it also has a bluetooth chip onboard. Every new Mac also comes with the most recent version of ilife. These differences alone are already worth more than € 200. The only advantage our clone Mac has over the Mini is that it has a 640GB harddrive instead of a 120GB harddrive. You also have to take in account the amount of time it will take to get the machine up and running. It’s a lot of work for someone with prior knowledge, it’s damn near impossible for the average user to make it work. There’s also the risk of breaking your MacOS installation with every update you install.
Building a hackintosh is something for an enthusiast that happens to have the necessary hardware or for a power-user which prefers his freedom. It is not something you want to have when you want a computer that just works. If you want a ‘cheap’ mac I suggest you save for a basic Mac Mini or the white Macbook. Perhaps you can even find a nice 2nd hand Intel Mac. Do not bother with PowerPC machines, the next version of MacOS will most likely drop support.