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22 May 2008

oooh, neato - a Hackintosh! →[More:]

apologies to everyone if this has been posted to the blue or whatever; I just found it while browsing through recent macworld articles.

after linking this, Rob from Macworld did an article on how to roll your own midrange midtower Apple clone.

Now, none of this is legit from Apple's standpoint, and to Rob's point, something is liable to break when it gets updated, so if you build your own Hackintosh, you'd better know WTF you're doing. But it fills a couple niches that Apple so far has left to languish:

- competitively priced midrange desktops (windows clones DESTROY Apple on this market spec; Apple has nothing but laptops available in the price/spec ranges between the $500 Mac mini and the $3000 Mac Pro, yet that's currently about 95% of the Wintel/MicroSoft market).

- a build-your-own hardware spec. that the user can rebuild/reconfigure as a DIY project as they see fit. This is a major complaint of most PC/Microsoft users about the Apple platform: it's not very versatile/flexible (i.e. you spend ~2 grand and get a machine that's difficult to impossible to easily fix or upgrade broken/obsolete hardware on).

Now granted, Apple has never subscribed to the 'roll-your-own' DIY geekery market, and likely never will. They're all about the integration and plug-n-play simplicity side of things. But still - if you could easily buy or build a midrange tower that runs OSX Leopard for under a grand, would you do it?

post by: lonefrontranger at: 12:07 | 15 comments

I'm totally the kind of person that would do something like this ('something like this' meaning I'd build it myself), but let's say 'maybe.' I mean, how well will OSX run on this hardware? How would it compare to a cheapo DIY box running Linux? How would it compare to a secondhand Mac? I'm not sure the ROI is there compared to other options. And if I'm just doing it for the fun hacky challenge, then there are bigger and better challenges out there.

Just for curiosity's sake, what's the market for a mid-range desktop Mac? At this point, what's the non-institutional market for a mid-range desktop in general? Even the most low-end computers can still browse, word-process and .mp3, and no mid-range computer can play modern games.

posted by box 22 May | 12:50

box, if you're curious about all those questions in your first paragraph, Psystar has a crapload of FAQs and benchmarking data that sound like they're right up your alley.

There is no "market" for a midrange desktop Mac simply because that animal technically doesn't exist.

HOWEVER, just a gut response from reading comments on a wealth of techie blogs, there potentially exists a whole world of individuals (and small businesses) out there who are pissed off and frustrated with Windows Vista, who would likely be intrigued by an OSX Leopard machine, were it not for the cost of buying from Apple. Also, for the record, it appears from the FAQs that these Open Computers can easily run Parallels, for the business minded to use Windows-only software.

Psystar doesn't recommend allowing the Hackintosh to update from the Apple site, however at a glance at their "Updates" page, they're right in line with the latest releases on OSX anyhow. They simply test them first to make sure they won't b0rk their Hackintosh setups.

posted by lonefrontranger 22 May | 13:08

We have a hackintosh, and it cost $200 in parts. That's not counting the cost of Leopard itself, because the person who made it for us already had it. The case was also used. In exchange for this computer (and $200), I put together a hackintosh from parts for the guy that made ours--it was sort of a "you should learn how to do this, too" kind of thing. It wasn't as hard as you'd think it'd be.

It's a fantastic computer, really fast, really stable. The only problem is that if you do a system update, you'll ruin it, so I have those turned off. It's running 10.5.1 right now, I think. I haven't noticed any hardware problems beyond occasional (very rare) tearing in the upper left corner.

It's our main media player, but soon it's going to replace my girlfriend's crappy old Windows computer. Once I figure out how to set up VPN on it, that is; she needs to be able to remote in to work on it.

All in all, I highly recommend putting together your own hackintosh. It's really cheap, and it works. You have to download a weird torrent or two, but if you follow the instructions online, it's not hard to do. Might take a day or so.

posted by interrobang 22 May | 13:17

"How would it compare to a cheapo DIY box running Linux?"

Ah, yes, and this I think I can answer. Psystar's midrange "Open Computer" (box) is a nice spec that sells for $400 base. You can spec it with Vista, Ubuntu OR OSX installed. Ubuntu doesn't cost anything (natch) and Vista and Leopard (licensed, installed, you get the full version software DVDs) are ~150 extra.

Their "bare bones" Open Computer Lite sells for $300 base.

You might be able to DIY a Unix or Hackintosh for less, but how much less? ...and could you guarantee it'd run right off the bat? It sounds as though Leopard may be a bit fiddly to install on these, although that could just be the "dual boot" fussware that the Macworld writer was haggling with.

I'm swear I'm not shilling for these guys, I just think it's a nifty idea.

posted by lonefrontranger 22 May | 13:18

I also think it's kind of a nifty idea--the problem, though, from a business perspective, is that it's aimed at a sort of midrange, low-level geek (a nongeek would just buy an Apple, or a prebuilt PC; and a high-level geek would just DIY), which makes me wonder if the market is there.

Cycling analogue: Power Grips.

posted by box 22 May | 13:41

and on preview: THANK YOU interrobang, I will indeed snoop around to see if this is a project I should attempt.

A decent, fast and above all RELIABLE midrange desktop machine (it only needs to run OpenOrifice and PhotoChop, and even then, not blazingly) has been tops on the What's Missing At The LFR Castle list of late. I cobbled together a (pathetic) Win2K PIII/450 beast out of spare parts and desperation for the mister and me to use as an internet beater, and I have a 2 year old Macbook Pro. His (loathesome) PII laptop (freebie from his sister) went tits up last fall due to spam/spyware, and I've not even bothered to look at it because it's not worth salvaging.

the Ten Thousand Reasons Why You Should Never Install Comcast's ~~Spy~~Software Package has been numero uno on the List of Arguments I've Been Neglecting To Have With My Husband as well. Until I've won this battle, I patently refuse to pay for cable/internet, because I don't want his pigheaded insistence on running that vast gaping pit of spam and spyware infesting our shit.

I'll do some research and figure out if it's easier for me to futz around with building a hackintosh or just whip out the CC and let Psystar sell me one. I'm inherently lazy, so right now I'm leaning towards the latter, but we'll see.

posted by lonefrontranger 22 May | 13:42

lfr: Would a Mac Mini do everything that you want? I've been daydreaming about buying one lately.

posted by box 22 May | 13:46

('Daydreaming' definitely being the right word, btw.)

posted by box 22 May | 13:50

box, every single bike cop in the nation uses Power Grips, so yea, there's a niche. I'm thinking there's a reasonably wide small business niche / home user base of interest for midrange OSX desktops if they were only marketed correctly.

Apple won't do it. They've never expressed any interest in that market, ever. They merely want to sell to all the pretty hipster elite design types, well them, plus all their pretty hipster offspring who're starving for the sake of their art in liberal arts colleges nationwide.

And on preview: Meh, a Mini isn't quite what we want. iMac... perhaps, but it's twice what I'd like to spend. The base model of Psystar's boxes mops the floor with a Mac Mini on spec and for half the cost. It just doesn't have that "oooh shiny!" Apple form factor.

posted by lonefrontranger 22 May | 13:54

Oh, and I also hear that Pystar's hackintoshes have an incredibly-loud-fan-noise issue, FYI. Our hackintosh does not.

posted by interrobang 22 May | 13:55

The eMac was sort of an attempt to reach this market, wasn't it? What ever happened to that thing?

Also, what ever happened to the Apple II clones? Wasn't there some kind of legal judgment?

posted by box 22 May | 14:04

They merely want to sell to all the pretty hipster elite design types

I see macs (more daily it seems) daily at coffee shops and it's rarely a 'pretty hipster elite design type', whatever that is. I know 5 people personally that have macs and none of them fit that description either (teacher, student, retired, etc).

I won't argue who they're trying to sell too, but the idea that only hipsters have macs died years ago (well obviously the idea is alive, but it's not reality). Partly because of that, I don't believe the market for this is a substantial one.

posted by justgary 22 May | 14:21

You're forgetting the iMac! Sure it is an all in one, but it is a great solution for a lot of people. And apple is selling them by the boatload. Yes, you can't open it up and change out the hard drive, but that is what the USB port is for.

posted by birdherder 22 May | 18:41

I'm thinking of getting my SO a hackintosh, because he really needs a new computer, and he needs pooowaaah and we don't have the money for the supersleek mac he deserves.

posted by dabitch 22 May | 19:09

At this point, what's the non-institutional market for a mid-range desktop in general? Even the most low-end computers can still browse, word-process and .mp3, and no mid-range computer can play modern games.

I've been thinking about this some more, and so I've got a bunch of theories and no idea which ones, if any, are true. Maybe mid-range desktop buyers are actually budget-conscious would-be high-end hyphen--uh, I mean desktop--buyers. Or maybe the big PC manufacturers kinda hoodwink people, making sure to have something at every conceivable price point, exaggerating differences and hardware requirements and whatnot, upselling component upgrades, cheaping out on RAM, confusing people, making the customers think they need more than they do. Maybe something else. What do I know?

Also, I don't think it's any secret that Apple is trying to sell computers to a very rarefied and elite group. Sociologists call them 'people with money.'

posted by box 22 May | 19:12

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