Why Hackintosh?

On one of the technical threads, a number of Mac systems were described, to help a developer figure something out. The question of 'Hackintosh' was raised.  I want to reply, but didn't want to hijack that thread.

Off topic but a little disappointed by the number of hackintoshes I see mentioned in here. Apple doesn't charge for OS X any more so all the money they make is from selling that hardware. If you're going to steal the OS at least buy a Mac Mini or something.

Good comment. I don't intend to start a flame war. Personally, I've got 3 genuine macs here in the basement with me.  I tell ALL my friends to buy Mac. My wife has a high end Mini on her desk.  Everyone who's followed my advice has LOVED it, and my 'stoopid user tech support' time for a Mac user is Zero...mostly to recommend NEW things they should try on their Mac.

My first Mac was an SE in 1987. Compared to cheap PC's, I've been paying the higher costs of Macs for years, because its worth it.  My PC friends laugh and call it the 'Apple Tax', I laugh back and ask them how much time they spent fixing stuff. 

When Apple was feared to be dying (remember the Scully days?) I stood in line to buy  OS X (with the merged NeXTstep), and paid full retail--even though I knew it was going to be a long slog to get it stable. (turned out to be faster than I thought )  ..I still own most things Apple.

Recently, (last 3 years or so), I found that I *really* needed more horsepower than Apple was providing...Apple has pivoted since 2000 to retail infotainment, and really caught (or created) a trend. The Pro languished in design (the market is too small)...the graphics cards have always been less capable than the PC market, which changes very rapidly.

I do *work* on my Mac...if it doesn't keep up with my needs, it gets renamed 'PC' after John Housman, and I go to the dark side. So I built my first Hackintosh a year ago. It wasn't for the money, it was for the power. And yes, I bought a retail Snow Leopard for it, and yes, I upgraded to Mavericks 'for free'.

With OS X Mavericks, its clear to everyone that the Market is changing. Apple has CHOSEN to give away upgrades to their OS, because they're trying to get people into their eco-system. I encourage everyone to try it. I encourage everyone to buy it.

My first Mac was an SE in 1968.

I think you mean 1987

I tell you some with some good tech no how needs to build a xen image to run on unraid 

I'll post my story on why I only use macs

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My first Mac was an SE in 1968.

I think you mean 1987

I was always ahead of my time! LOL [fixed]

I think the new Mac Pros solves the horsepower problem.

I think the new Mac Pros solves the horsepower problem.

Yes, they do. They're beasts.

They also cost a lot

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why Hackintosh?  Because I can build a Map Pro for half the price.  I have purchased four updates from Apple for OS X, so I didnt exactly get it for free.

That being said, I'm also not running a business off of it.  Its for my personal learning and enjoyment. I might feel differently about it if I were dependent upon it for my livelihood.

They also cost a lot

They do cost a lot. 

Its a complicated cost equation. In the end, the integration Apple does is worth it. When I built my Hackintosh, it cost me a lot *MORE* money than I would have spent on the best iMac or Mini around (and still around.)

My experience with Mac is that the hardware also has 2X the useful life of the average PC.

PC's are engineered very close to the cutting edge of today's 'market'...and quickly become obsolete at running tomorrow's software.  Software that I want to run TODAY will still run fine on my Mac from 2008.  With only minor (but well designed by Apple) upgrades to the Pro (such as video cards, and memory, and harddrive), you can make big steps up without a lot of incremental investment.

I agree with the cost. I love Macs and my g4 lasted nine years before the drive failed. Then a put a new drive and it keep going until it didn't make the garage sale cut

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why Hackintosh?  Because I can build a Map Pro for half the price.  I have purchased four updates from Apple for OS X, so I didnt exactly get it for free.

 

That being said, I'm also not running a business off of it.  Its for my personal learning and enjoyment. I might feel differently about it if I were dependent upon it for my livelihood.

So here's what I find with my first Hackintosh:

1. UGH, it cost me more than the mini or iMac.

2. UGH, its not quite as fast as the current Pro and doesn't have all the new Thunderbolt interfaces

3. UGH, the OS X install process on a Hackintosh is non-trivial. (which means I screwed it up multiple times and had to start again.)

4. UGH, the OS X software updates reset the hack, so that I have to manually reinstall the 'hack' pieces.

5. UGH, this creates compatibility and interface problems of all types. The latest OS X update screwed up Mouse Scroll Speed once again.

But I did save some money. I actually learned a lot about UEFI! (who knew?, who cared?) I got a Mac that was faster than the current Pro model. But I also spend a lot of time doing my own tech support...and that's a cost, as well.

I don't encourage Anyone to make a Hackintosh unless they really do like to tinker, and have the interest and willingness to fix stuff on their own. See the attached chart. I Can't Call Up Apple and Ask for Help.

They also cost a lot

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So do Ferraris. Maybe I should steal the engine from one and put it in my car since I can't afford one.

If you can't afford the Mac you need, the answer is not to steal the OS. The answer is to save your money until you can afford it or use another OS.

And to people saying well I bought Snow Leopard so it's OK. Give me a break, that OS came out 4 and a half years ago and you paid $20 or $30 dollars for it. That's not justification to continue getting every OS update from that point on. Is buying Windows 7 three and a half years ago justification to steal Windows 8 and Windows 9 when it comes out?

Hmm.. What do you use your unraid for ?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They also cost a lot

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

So do Ferraris. Maybe I should steal the engine from one and put it in my car since I can't afford one.

 

If you can't afford the Mac you need, the answer is not to steal the OS. The answer is to save your money until you can afford it or use another OS.

 

And to people saying well I bought Snow Leopard so it's OK. Give me a break, that OS came out 4 and a half years ago and you paid $20 or $30 dollars for it. That's not justification to continue getting every OS update from that point on. Is buying Windows 7 three and a half years ago justification to steal Windows 8 and Windows 9 when it comes out?

It depends on the country, every country have it's laws. In Brazil, it's forbidden to enforce the buy of one product to another. Mobile phones here are mandatory unlocked, e.g., even those with subsidies. The buyer is obligated to the contract, not the product itself.

IMHO, Apple doesn't give a sh#$ about hackintoshes, same as MS don't give a sh#$ about non genuine home installs of Windows. What they want is to spread their ecosystem, so people who use them in home starts to use them in business, legally.

There is a hiatus in the Apple ecosystem; or you use top notch systems as the Mac Pro, or you use something underpowered as the Mac Mini. There isn't a transition class of products in their portfolio, and there is the niche of hackintoshes.

I don't have hackintosh myself, but I see the appeal of use them if someone, as I, already have the habit of using OSX.

Hmm.. What do you use your unraid for ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Media for fun. (my wife has burned about 1/2 her DVD's to unRAID and that's about 8TB of my unRAID. Add some pictures and tunes)

But I have all my work projects from customers mirrored on my unRAID. Some of my projects go back many years, so there's a lot of work product=big file directories= and they still get referenced. I'm too lazy (or too far along the current path) to put in a proper Content Mgmt System. So its everything from graphics to PDF's to databases. Lots of reports and documentation.

Lots of saved online research documents, so a great deal of text based local searching. (yay, Spotlight! now if only it would work over the NAS! )  And just hitting the space bar to get a big finder preview of an old graphic is phenomenally productive.

Why Hackintosh?  Because I can build a Map Pro for half the price.  I have purchased four updates from Apple for OS X, so I didnt exactly get it for free.

 

That being said, I'm also not running a business off of it.  Its for my personal learning and enjoyment. I might feel differently about it if I were dependent upon it for my livelihood.

So here's what I find with my first Hackintosh:

1. UGH, it cost me more than the mini or iMac.

2. UGH, its not quite as fast as the current Pro and doesn't have all the new Thunderbolt interfaces

3. UGH, the OS X install process on a Hackintosh is non-trivial. (which means I screwed it up multiple times and had to start again.)

4. UGH, the OS X software updates reset the hack, so that I have to manually reinstall the 'hack' pieces.

5. UGH, this creates compatibility and interface problems of all types. The latest OS X update screwed up Mouse Scroll Speed once again.

 

But I did save some money. I actually learned a lot about UEFI! (who knew?, who cared?) I got a Mac that was faster than the current Pro model. But I also spend a lot of time doing my own tech support...and that's a cost, as well.

 

I don't encourage Anyone to make a Hackintosh unless they really do like to tinker, and have the interest and willingness to fix stuff on their own. See the attached chart. I Can't Call Up Apple and Ask for Help.

I went down this road also. Built one on a Dell D630. Since it was old and free.

My friend gave me a Power PC mac laptop and I was able to use that to learn the OS, build the key, build a hackintosh of later OS and test it out. 

Eventually I purchased a high end Macbook Pro. The highest model that had the 17" screen.  I ended up with an ipad and iphone too just to see what all of the hoopla was about. 

Frankly. I still use my Windows 7 and android devices way more then the apple ones.

Hmm.. What do you use your unraid for ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Media for fun. (my wife has burned about 1/2 her DVD's to unRAID and that's about 8TB of my unRAID. Add some pictures and tunes)

 

But I have all my work projects from customers mirrored on my unRAID. Some of my projects go back many years, so there's a lot of work product=big file directories= and they still get referenced. I'm too lazy (or too far along the current path) to put in a proper Content Mgmt System. So its everything from graphics to PDF's to databases. Lots of reports and documentation.

 

Lots of saved online research documents, so a great deal of text based local searching. (yay, Spotlight! now if only it would work over the NAS! )  And just hitting the space bar to get a big finder preview of an old graphic is phenomenally productive.

There is and a search app that is like spotlight on steroids and it searches network shares.

I ll get the name and post it later

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is and a search app that is like spotlight on steroids and it searches network shares.

 

I ll get the name and post it later

Cool! I'll watch for it.