What non-aple laptop (if any) works well with 10.5?

[StinkyPinky]

Where I work we have a LOT of macs around. So much that I feel I really need to learn how to use the OS to an advanced level (currently I'm pretty good but wouldn't say advanced)

I refuse to pay the prices Apple charge for their laptops. Sure they look great but at those prices I want better hardware than what they offer. So that leaves a Hackintosh. Do you guys know of any laptop that is proven to work well with OSX 10.5? Mid-range or low-end.

 

[Kaido]

Hackintosh works like crap on laptops. It's a lot of headache and hassles and it never works 100%. I don't recommend Hackintosh on laptops. Hackintosh on laptops = Crapintosh Even the ones that do work have trouble updating, lots of small bugs (speakers might not work, onboard ethernet might not work, might have to get a new Wifi chip that is compatible, video card might be funky, only one core of a dual-core laptop might work, etc.).

The MSI Wind netbook works pretty well, but you have to get a USB sound card since the headphone jack doesn't work, and the resolution sometimes messes up on boot and you have to restart.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Where I work we have a LOT of macs around. So much that I feel I really need to learn how to use the OS to an advanced level (currently I'm pretty good but wouldn't say advanced)

I refuse to pay the prices Apple charge for their laptops. Sure they look great but at those prices I want better hardware than what they offer. So that leaves a Hackintosh. Do you guys know of any laptop that is proven to work well with OSX 10.5? Mid-range or low-end.

What laptop price range are you looking in? In my opinion, although a little bit more than Dell/HP/Gateway, you do tend to get a pretty good deal when you take into account more than just the specs.

If however you are in for a very cheap machine... then Apple isn't going to help you, they just don't want the low-end business. They want people to buy Macs because they are Macs, not because the price was so cheap.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Hackintosh works like crap on laptops. It's a lot of headache and hassles and it never works 100%. I don't recommend Hackintosh on laptops. Hackintosh on laptops = Crapintosh Even the ones that do work have trouble updating, lots of small bugs (speakers might not work, onboard ethernet might not work, might have to get a new Wifi chip that is compatible, video card might be funky, only one core of a dual-core laptop might work, etc.).

The MSI Wind netbook works pretty well, but you have to get a USB sound card since the headphone jack doesn't work, and the resolution sometimes messes up on boot and you have to restart.

Thanks for your honest answer.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Where I work we have a LOT of macs around. So much that I feel I really need to learn how to use the OS to an advanced level (currently I'm pretty good but wouldn't say advanced)

I refuse to pay the prices Apple charge for their laptops. Sure they look great but at those prices I want better hardware than what they offer. So that leaves a Hackintosh. Do you guys know of any laptop that is proven to work well with OSX 10.5? Mid-range or low-end.

What laptop price range are you looking in? In my opinion, although a little bit more than Dell/HP/Gateway, you do tend to get a pretty good deal when you take into account more than just the specs.

If however you are in for a very cheap machine... then Apple isn't going to help you, they just don't want the low-end business. They want people to buy Macs because they are Macs, not because the price was so cheap.

Well, after talking it over with the wife I think I'll probably just get a macbook anyway. I can always sell it later if needs be. They seem to have better resale value than other laptops.

The question is...which macbook do i get? The older Macbook White which is cheaper but takes a hit with the inferior graphics chip, or the newer but more expensive Macbook? I'm not going to use it for any video editing (I have a quad core PC for that!). It will just be to surf the internet, write up some docs, and tinker around with. Is the $200 or so hike in price for the new macbook worth it?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Kaido
Hackintosh works like crap on laptops. It's a lot of headache and hassles and it never works 100%. I don't recommend Hackintosh on laptops. Hackintosh on laptops = Crapintosh Even the ones that do work have trouble updating, lots of small bugs (speakers might not work, onboard ethernet might not work, might have to get a new Wifi chip that is compatible, video card might be funky, only one core of a dual-core laptop might work, etc.).

The MSI Wind netbook works pretty well, but you have to get a USB sound card since the headphone jack doesn't work, and the resolution sometimes messes up on boot and you have to restart.

Thanks for your honest answer.

I love the Hackintosh project and all, but we suffer from a severe lack of good driver writers. Writing drivers isn't easy, and is even harder when you have to reverse engineer a custom driver. I'm amazed the Hackintosh project is as good as it is. Laptops have such a varying list of components - custom laptop-sized components - it's very difficult to get them working right. You can get 90% there, but you'll never be 100% like a desktop Hackintosh.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Where I work we have a LOT of macs around. So much that I feel I really need to learn how to use the OS to an advanced level (currently I'm pretty good but wouldn't say advanced)

I refuse to pay the prices Apple charge for their laptops. Sure they look great but at those prices I want better hardware than what they offer. So that leaves a Hackintosh. Do you guys know of any laptop that is proven to work well with OSX 10.5? Mid-range or low-end.

What laptop price range are you looking in? In my opinion, although a little bit more than Dell/HP/Gateway, you do tend to get a pretty good deal when you take into account more than just the specs.

If however you are in for a very cheap machine... then Apple isn't going to help you, they just don't want the low-end business. They want people to buy Macs because they are Macs, not because the price was so cheap.

Well, after talking it over with the wife I think I'll probably just get a macbook anyway. I can always sell it later if needs be. They seem to have better resale value than other laptops.

The question is...which macbook do i get? The older Macbook White which is cheaper but takes a hit with the inferior graphics chip, or the newer but more expensive Macbook? I'm not going to use it for any video editing (I have a quad core PC for that!). It will just be to surf the internet, write up some docs, and tinker around with. Is the $200 or so hike in price for the new macbook worth it?

I've got a white Macbook for sale if you're interested. Tried sending you a PM but you have it disabled. If you're interested LMK and I'll send details.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Where I work we have a LOT of macs around. So much that I feel I really need to learn how to use the OS to an advanced level (currently I'm pretty good but wouldn't say advanced)

I refuse to pay the prices Apple charge for their laptops. Sure they look great but at those prices I want better hardware than what they offer. So that leaves a Hackintosh. Do you guys know of any laptop that is proven to work well with OSX 10.5? Mid-range or low-end.

What laptop price range are you looking in? In my opinion, although a little bit more than Dell/HP/Gateway, you do tend to get a pretty good deal when you take into account more than just the specs.

If however you are in for a very cheap machine... then Apple isn't going to help you, they just don't want the low-end business. They want people to buy Macs because they are Macs, not because the price was so cheap.

Well, after talking it over with the wife I think I'll probably just get a macbook anyway. I can always sell it later if needs be. They seem to have better resale value than other laptops.

The question is...which macbook do i get? The older Macbook White which is cheaper but takes a hit with the inferior graphics chip, or the newer but more expensive Macbook? I'm not going to use it for any video editing (I have a quad core PC for that!). It will just be to surf the internet, write up some docs, and tinker around with. Is the $200 or so hike in price for the new macbook worth it?

I've got a white Macbook for sale if you're interested. Tried sending you a PM but you have it disabled. If you're interested LMK and I'll send details.

No thanks Appreciate the offer though.

 

[kalster]

I have a Compaq C714, it works pretty well with hackintosh (i am using 10.5.4), the only thing that doesnt work is sleep and speedstep (there are kernels that seem to support speedstep but i havent tried them).

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
No thanks Appreciate the offer though.

np

If it's mostly to play with, just get the white Macbook. Cheaper and has Firewire.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: kalster
I have a Compaq C714, it works pretty well with hackintosh (i am using 10.5.4), the only thing that doesnt work is sleep and speedstep (there are kernels that seem to support speedstep but i havent tried them).

I had a 17" Compaq...almost perfect but my graphics kept wiggin out

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
No thanks Appreciate the offer though.

np

If it's mostly to play with, just get the white Macbook. Cheaper and has Firewire.

Seconded, the white MacBook should be just fine, gets about the same battery life since the battery is larger, even though the new one has LED backlighting. The keyboard is more or less the same. The main differences are LED backlighting (doesn't have it), Firewire (has it), graphics (bad compared to the 9400m), and the trackpad.

 

[screwd01]

http://www.espressoreport.com/...hackbook-pro-tutorial/

Bought the laptop the day I found that article. $399 for a mostly capable Hackbook. Dual booting with XP.

 

[umrigar]

$850 direct from Apple, full 1 year warranty, as new:

Refurbished MacBook 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White

13.3-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
120GB hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera

also, Gainsaver has cheap Macbooks (pre-owned) starting at $640... i've never used them, though.

you can add warranty for more $ if you choose.

Link removed... their BBB rating is F.
http://www.la.bbb.org/Business...px?CompanyID=100035353

 

[TheStu]

Refurbed is a great way to go. My mom has a refurbed BlackBook and has had no issues with it at all.

 

[KeypoX]

my laptop runs near 100%... just from the kalyway disk and a few fixes. I just had to change the wifi card to a dell wifi cost $10 shipped ebay.

Sound, Wifi, ethernet, res switching, all video, one finger scrolling and sleep, shutdown, restart. Havent tried front plugs like headphones and mic. Also I run 10.5.2 because i am happy with a working install lol and dont want to have to go through reinstalling things.

So yeah its a little bit of work but it works nearly 100%. Oh i dont really like the 1 finger scrolling but a usb mouse works perfect.
Running acer 5570 P dual core (not C2D) 1.7ghz 2GB memory with vista dual boot. Its fun to mess with lol

EDIT from what i have seen some dells are near 100%. Check insanelymac

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: KeypoX
my laptop runs near 100%... just from the kalyway disk and a few fixes. I just had to change the wifi card to a dell wifi cost $10 shipped ebay.

Sound, Wifi, ethernet, res switching, all video, one finger scrolling and sleep, shutdown, restart. Havent tried front plugs like headphones and mic. Also I run 10.5.2 because i am happy with a working install lol and dont want to have to go through reinstalling things.

So yeah its a little bit of work but it works nearly 100%. Oh i dont really like the 1 finger scrolling but a usb mouse works perfect.
Running acer 5570 P dual core (not C2D) 1.7ghz 2GB memory with vista dual boot. Its fun to mess with lol

EDIT from what i have seen some dells are near 100%. Check insanelymac

1 fnger scrolling as in scroll zones?

 

[KeypoX]

No, its basically 2 finger scrolling like mac but its based on pressure with 1 finger. Its actually kinda cool but i do prefer the scroll zones or 2 finger. Sometimes i press to hard and it scrolls instead of moves. But I can't use track pad without some sort of scrolling.

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=88811 this is how i got it to work...

I really need to take some time and update my install but im lazy and its just a school laptop that mostly uses vista. Just OSX sometimes. I would use osx more but for school i need vista .

 

[Parasitic]

I think the headphone port not working issue on the Wind has now been resolved. Saw a thread about it earlier on insanelymac.
WindOSX86 made switching the Wind to OSX very easy. Thanks Kaido for the hint.

 

[Looney]

Anybody get Asus EEE 901 to work with OSX? I've got one sitting around with Arch linux on it atm, but it's getting to the point where keeping it up-to-date is a PITA. I was thinking on just slapping XP onto it or maybe even Windows 7 once i can find a copy of the beta, but OSX would be so much better if i could get that onto it.

 

[Agentbolt]

The White macbook is still the way to go. When Snow Leopard comes out that may change because it's apparently very GPU intensive, but the Macbook's only gone from a negligible gaming machine to a mediocre one. I game on my desktop so I could care less about that.

Plastic Macbooks get better wifi signal. And they stayed around in their basic configuration for 3 years because they appear to be rock-solid reliable. Just make sure you DON'T get the base model, which for some ungodly reason still comes with a Combo drive. Even the 2nd-to-last model 2.2 GHZ C2D machines are damn fast, and compare quite favorably with the CPUs in the aluminum model Macbooks.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
The White macbook is still the way to go. When Snow Leopard comes out that may change because it's apparently very GPU intensive, but the Macbook's only gone from a negligible gaming machine to a mediocre one. I game on my desktop so I could care less about that.

Plastic Macbooks get better wifi signal. And they stayed around in their basic configuration for 3 years because they appear to be rock-solid reliable. Just make sure you DON'T get the base model, which for some ungodly reason still comes with a Combo drive. Even the 2nd-to-last model 2.2 GHZ C2D machines are damn fast, and compare quite favorably with the CPUs in the aluminum model Macbooks.

No, the only white MacBook you can get anymore has a SuperDrive.

 

[Agentbolt]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
The White macbook is still the way to go. When Snow Leopard comes out that may change because it's apparently very GPU intensive, but the Macbook's only gone from a negligible gaming machine to a mediocre one. I game on my desktop so I could care less about that.

Plastic Macbooks get better wifi signal. And they stayed around in their basic configuration for 3 years because they appear to be rock-solid reliable. Just make sure you DON'T get the base model, which for some ungodly reason still comes with a Combo drive. Even the 2nd-to-last model 2.2 GHZ C2D machines are damn fast, and compare quite favorably with the CPUs in the aluminum model Macbooks.

No, the only white MacBook you can get anymore has a SuperDrive.

I was suggesting getting a refurb. The combo drive equipped model is still available there.

Unless you're getting a current gen that doesn't have a refurb available, I don't see the point of getting a new product from Apple. Same warranty, same cosmetic condition, there is simply NO difference between the two other than one being about 25% cheaper usually.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Unless you're getting a current gen that doesn't have a refurb available, I don't see the point of getting a new product from Apple. Same warranty, same cosmetic condition, there is simply NO difference between the two other than one being about 25% cheaper usually.

I've always had extremely good experiences with Apple Refurb (surprisingly).