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.
December 13, 2008 at 2:19 am
· Filed under Computers
Well the past few weeks my macbook has been terrorizing me with fan noise. The fan was working at 6000 rpm instead of the usual 1500-2000 rpm. This also meant that the battery of my machine was quickly depleted which isn’t a nice thing.
It turns out that the printer that was installed, a canon ip3000, somehow made the fans spin like a mad man. After removing the printer from the driver list the fan speed lowered and the remaining battery life time shot up.
So I guess there might be some issues with the canon printer drivers. If you have fans on your mac that spin out of contol you might want to check your installed printers!
Whilst installing a PC-Game I took a peek in 3D Studio Max at one of my models. I had nothing better to do because I was installing a game. It is ridiculous how long it takes to install a recent pc-game. Gigabyte after gigabyte after gigabyte after… Wel you get the point. Anyhow, one thing led to another so I ended up with a small render which you can view on the left.
Some of you might remember the blog entry about the atom mainboard which I made a few weeks ago. Well recently the dual core atom boards were unleashed on the web. Some colleagues of mine managed to get their hands on one of the dual core intel boards and decided to test if it could manage to play High Definition (1080P) video content. During the first try the movie had a few hick ups here and there. After examining the task manager we noticed that only one core was in use. It turned out that vlc was using only one core to decode the movie. When BS Player was used the movie was played back smoothly.
So there you have it, the cpu is in theory capable of handling High Definition video. However adding a more recent chipset with a better equipped onboard graphics would be a great improvement. Throw in a HDMI connection and you have a killer Media Center mainboard.
Business is booming for Intel thanks to the little cpu they’ve thrown on the market. It’s cheap to make, has a very nice margin (I suspect) and the computer manufacturers are lining up to use the cpu in their products. Intel is even working on a variant of the cpu for usage in cars.
Yes the Intel atom has a bright future ahead for itself.
September 11, 2008 at 11:05 am
· Filed under Computers
D945GCLF Board
Well early august I ordered an D945GCLF board from Intel. This mainboard isn’t a super performer but it is the first intel mainboard to use a super low voltage CPU called the atom. The only downside of this board is that it uses an older chipset that draws a lot more power… It kind of ruins the fact that the cpu is designed to use as little as possible. The intel gma950 graphics isn’t that spectacular either. It rules out High definition picture.
Nevertheless this is a nice board to have around to mess with. At a price tag of € 60 this is a bargain. The 2GB of memory only cost me an extra € 20. I used spare parts to put together the system. It’s currently running windows XP MCE, but I might try many different OS’ s on it.
The CPU also supports 64bit so that’s a very nice extra.
I’m still waiting for word from the car dealership. I need a form to request my license plate. Unfortunally they can only give it to me after the car has been checked by government officials to see if it is road worthy (standard practice here with 2nd hand vechicles) . I’m not suposed to get the car before the 3rd December but it itches and I had hopes I would have it sooner. Seems I’ll have to wait until monday.
Speaking of waiting, over a month ago my 20″ medion monitor was picked up for repair and it still haven’t returned. I’m probably going to contact the manufacturer soon to ask where my screen is. I’m getting bloody tired of working on my small 17″ monitor.
I’m also looking forward to the holidays. Something tells me they’re going to be a lot more fun than previous years. I shall have to dig up my christmas hat!
I’ve also began using my modded x-box a lot more these last few months. So far it can play every content from divx movies to simple mp3 songs. I just plug in the utp cable and upload the files to the internal hard drive which I upgraded to a 80GB version. It’s like having a cheap HTPC without tuner connected to your tv. If I were bothered to put a network cable between the box and my pc I could even stream content. But I can’t be bothered. I prefer just having one device on instead of two.
October 18, 2007 at 7:26 am
· Filed under Computers
Well the rma request continues (in dutch ofcourse):
Geachte
het betreft een monitor van het type MD30004
Met vriendelijke groeten
Gwen Demulder
Waarop ik volgend antwoord kreeg:
Geachte heer Demulder,
Uw klantnummer is xxx. Gelieve dit nummer altijd op eventuele correspondentie te vermelden.
Om een reparatienummer aan te kunnen maken, verzoeken wij u om een kopie van het aankoopbewijs door te sturen. Aan de hand van deze gegevens kunnen wij een passende oplossing aandragen.
Wij hopen u hiermee voldoende te hebben geïnformeerd. Mocht u aangaande dit onderwerp nog verdere vragen hebben, dan verzoeken wij u in uw antwoord de tot nu toe gevoerde correspondentie bij te voegen.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Medion Service Center
Onze service-hotline is bereikbaar van maandag t/m vrijdag van 07.00 uur tot 23.00 uur, zaterdag en zondag van 10.00 uur tot 18.00 uur en op feestdagen van 10.00 tot 17.00 uur. Vanuit Nederland en België kunt u ons respectievelijk op 0900-6334660 (Multimedia) / 0900-6336330 (Consumer Electronics) en 02-2006198 bereiken.
Wanneer u geen garantie op uw product meer heeft, kunt u in Nederland en België op respectievelijk 0900-5433833 en 077-889897 contact opnemen.
Disclaimer:
Deze informatie is uitsluitend bedoeld voor de persoon die als ontvanger in dit bericht staat aangemerkt. Gelieve ter kennisname aan te nemen dat doorsturen, kopiëren of distribueren van de inhoud van dit bericht niet is toegestaan.
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Waarop ik op mijn beurt antwoorde:
Geachte
in de bijlage vind u mijn ticket.
Met vriendelijke groeten
Gwen Demulder
Ik word het een beetje bue eerlijk gezegd, maar de finishlijn kan niet ver meer zijn!
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.
