A few questions from a poor dude who has to get a mac..*UPDATE*

[swbsam]

I've been unemployed for a bit and have an offer for a job as a trainer for Final Cut Pro. I learned FCP in school but would need a rig to practice on/make lesson plans on as well as hopefully freelance edit on, but it's an out of the blue expense so I don't really want to spend a lot. I can't really spend a lot and will be having to ask my parents for help, so I'd like to spend as little as possible.

From what I've read, the mac mini's integrated video card makes it impractical for video editing, so the imac's my only real choice. The expense aside, spending money on a monitor when I have a fairly decent 19" lcd seems like a big waste. In fact, I'd prefer to have a headless unit for convenience's sake, kvming it with my PC.

So the other option (unless they make a $1,000 mac pro) would be a hackintosh... Anyone know if any prebuilt systems from Dell, HP, etc. work well with the osx86 initiative? Is it a viable alternative or is OSX86 still kinda a hobby? Are certain functions disabled or would I be able to use any osx app at full speed?

Thanks for any help!

*UPDATE*
After much thought, I decided to go the refurb iMac route. I'm the proud owner of a refurbed 24" imac that's working like a dream. Windows xp run amazingly well on it too, so I decided to give my parents my amd x2 box, as a down payment of sorts since they helped me pay for the mac.

Wonderful computer, though the built in isight freaks me out..seriously, do we need webcams integrated into our monitors?

 

[Kmax82]

From my understanding, which is limited, is that if you buy the right hardware it's a great experience, and pretty simple to setup. Kaido can chime in a bit better on this subject. I'm hopefully going to build a Hackintosh this summer, but I'm holding off until I have a bit more free time.

I think that it is stable, and as long as you have supported hardware, it's a very viable option. I would recommend it since you're not looking at doing mission critical work.

 

[KeithP]

If you research carefully a Hacintosh is probably a viable option. You could also look around for a used G5 PowerMac tower.

-KeithP

 

[Kaido]

A Hackintosh is a good option if you're willing to live with the limitations:

1. One video card, two monitors max (no dual video cards)
2. You will run into snags that will require persistence to figure out
3. Future updates may disable the system, so you may be stuck with 10.5.2

With that said, there is only one person I know who uses more than 2 monitors (but he does stocks, so...). Many video people run dual monitors for editing. I'm not sure if the S-video output works or not, I've never tried it (read about a few people who it didn't work for though), so you might need another method for previewing video on an SD display like a tube TV.

Hackintosh is not a plug-and-play project. It's getting pretty close with the iATKOS and Kalyway OS X releases, but you still need to track down drivers, hunt down bugs, and so on. Don't expect to just pop in a disc and for everything to be peachy. If you're the type of person who gets frustrated and quits easily, then don't do a Hackintosh. Along with that, future updates may or may not work. You have to install the 10.5.2 update a special way to get it to work. Future updates may complete break the system (although I'm sure hackers will find workarounds). Can you live with not having an update immediately, until the hackers fix it? Can you live with not upgrading from 10.5.2 perhaps...forever?

Personally I can. I spec'd out a $7200 Mac Pro from Apple and built it for only $1800, which is $1000 less than even their stock entry-level Mac Pro. That's $5400 in savings from doing it myself and dealing with the small headaches that a hacked system offers. It absolutely screams and I don't have to go to Apple if it breaks - every piece is replaceable and upgradeable via Newegg.

Do I still have real Macs? Sure. Did I buy Leopard for this project? Absolutely. I believe you should still support Apple at least for their software. I still have my G4 Cube because I love the design. My wife uses a Macbook because she needs a portable for her photography work. But we both use Hackintoshes as our primary workstation machines.

Wanna run Shake? FCP? CS3? Painter? Office 2008? No problem

 

[erikistired]

hackintosh is a hobby machine, not a "my job depends on this" machine.

you can get a refurb imac from the apple store for a thousand bucks.

 

[Hellotalkie]

Be prepared to tons and tons of research and trouble shooting if something doesn't work perfectly since thats what I did..and everything still doesn't work perfectly! Though once you get it working, its quite awesome. I finally got leopard working on my amd setup which is very stable. Though once again drivers a limited as they are practically created by the internet community. But over time I have discovered osx86project is by far the most informative site available for hackintosh. Hundreds of threads that have been answered that will most likely be similar to yours. If I were you, build the system, save 5k and once you get into a stable position, maybe save some $$$ up, ease your life with a real mac if you go forward with...unless you get it working perfectly...I'm not trying to keep you away from it but just giving you a heads up to what your getting into...its really not that hard if you buy the recommended parts

 

[swbsam]

*UPDATE*
After much thought, I decided to go the refurb iMac route. I'm the proud owner of a refurbed 24" imac that's working like a dream. Windows xp run amazingly well on it too, so I decided to give my parents my amd x2 box, as a down payment of sorts since they helped me pay for the mac.

Wonderful computer, though the built in isight freaks me out..seriously, do we need webcams integrated into our monitors?

 

[erikistired]

congrats!

 

[Megatomic]

Welcome to the family, I got my blackbook about a week and a half ago. I am completely infatuated with it.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Welcome to the family, I got my blackbook about a week and a half ago. I am completely infatuated with it.

Thanks! After a lifetime spent on a pc, this is an interesting new world. The first thing I noticed is that things just work. For example, I hookep up my high def video cam (hdv format) to my old win pc and it didn't recognize it. Turns out I needed a new firewire card due to a bug with TI chipset cards. A new card did the trick but then none of my editing programs would playback the captured footage, which was a codec issue. Long story short, i spent over 2 weeks trying to figure it out and, I did, but it was a pain. My iMac? I hooked it up and it worked fine, no troubleshooting!

I made fun of the iSight but i found my first web-chat (with my gf while she was at work) awesome - no echo, smooth video, and a point and click experience.. Pretty slick stuff.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: swbsam

*UPDATE*
After much thought, I decided to go the refurb iMac route. I'm the proud owner of a refurbed 24" imac that's working like a dream. Windows xp run amazingly well on it too, so I decided to give my parents my amd x2 box, as a down payment of sorts since they helped me pay for the mac.

Wonderful computer, though the built in isight freaks me out..seriously, do we need webcams integrated into our monitors?

There is a green LED next to the iSight; it turns on when it is in use. So at least you'll know when someone is spying on you

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Welcome to the family, I got my blackbook about a week and a half ago. I am completely infatuated with it.

Thanks! After a lifetime spent on a pc, this is an interesting new world. The first thing I noticed is that things just work. For example, I hookep up my high def video cam (hdv format) to my old win pc and it didn't recognize it. Turns out I needed a new firewire card due to a bug with TI chipset cards. A new card did the trick but then none of my editing programs would playback the captured footage, which was a codec issue. Long story short, i spent over 2 weeks trying to figure it out and, I did, but it was a pain. My iMac? I hooked it up and it worked fine, no troubleshooting!

I made fun of the iSight but i found my first web-chat (with my gf while she was at work) awesome - no echo, smooth video, and a point and click experience.. Pretty slick stuff.

That is one thing that will keep me using OS X (other than that I find I can do day-to-day stuff easier) is that ease of use. You plug in a new mouse for the first time, you are using it immediately, no little popups telling you that drivers are installing, or being configured or anything. Plug in a printer but don't have the drivers? Hop on software update, and it will get them for you. Plug in almost any digital camera out there, iPhoto opens up, ready to go.