There are many of us out there that have caught glimpses of putting OS X on a regular computer, such as a Dell or an HP. Personally, I’ve already been curious enough to try it more than once – however, I’ve consistently failed in the most embarrassing manner – I could never manage to burn the disc right.

During my sabbatical, I rekindled my love affair with Apple, but I still felt as though Macbooks were pretty damn expensive – especially when it still possessed similar hardware to my year-old Dell Inspiron 6400. If I had a perfectly comparable computer right now, why consider a new one with similar specs?

That all changed one night, when I actually had a dream I was using iTunes in OS X, browsing through my albums with Coverflow (I’ve got weird dreams). There it was: Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith, It’s My Life by Bon Jovi – you know the rest. The dream was peculiarly vivid – and it really made me think: how can I get Apple’s OS X without going through a Mac?

Let me tell you something first: I’m not an advocate of installing OS X on non-Apple hardware. Personally, I think that it’s acceptable as long as it’s honestly just used to try the Mac experience – after all, the price jump really is a huge dissuading factor. With that in mind, I tried it just to see if I could really be as happy with a Macbook as I am with my Dell Inspiron 6400.

A friend of mine, who actually has a very similar computer to my own (we’re pretty close, so we actually bought computers together), took a jump and offered to trade laptops with me. He had previously turned it into a Hackintosh already, but I was able to ask him how the installation went: “a living hell,” he described it. “Installing graphics drivers made my mouse jump – something that I’d never seen with Windows, and so after three or four tries, I just decided to go with the native 1024 x 768px. Oh, I forgot to mention: he had a 14.1″ widescreen monitor. I really felt for him, because nothing really looked the same.

The Actual Experience

Let me re-iterate: I am not an advocate of installing OS X on non-Apple hardware. I wanted to really see how the OS X was, and if I thought it was worth it. Problem is, with the Hackintosh, the things that really matter just wouldn’t work:

• Sound: apparently, the included drivers didn’t freaking work. This knocks out my dream of playing Aerosmith and Bon Jovi on the glory of the Mac, but also negates the possibility of working with Garageband.  My two greatest aspirations, destroyed.
• Video: just didn’t look that great, due to the lack of graphics drivers.  Imagine 5:4 image on a 16:10 screen. It was brutal.
• Unresponsive: maybe it was the lack of compatibility, but OS X was actually slower and less snappy than Windows Vista when running on the same machine.  Disappointing.
  
• Boot: needed the DVD – and sometimes would go into endless boot loops.  Dear God.

So for all the hard work put into emulating Mac OS X on Windows – which my friend told me took him endless hours to figure out how to burn and then work out the technical issues – I find the results a bit disappointing. Some will think differently, and some will have much different results and thus be much more satisfied. Personally, I just want to leave you with this: don’t expect a real Mac experience.

What Now?

So your dreams, like my own, have been crushed. I apologize. Alas, hope is not lost – I have decided to refocus my efforts to produce the Mac experience by actually, officially, legally purchasing an Apple Mac Mini. Or a Macbook, depending on my resource fund. Either way, the idea here is to purchase a real Mac – sure, a Hackintosh can help emulate the experience, and it wasn’t totally non-worthwhile. But, it will only take you so far.

And in the end, with a real Mac, we get to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

If you’re still considering turning your ordinary Dell into a Hackintosh, and my article still didn’t deter you, then I’ve got one quote for you: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Will you live your plan, or let it die? And no, for legal reasons, I will still not advocate installing OS X on non-Apple hardware.

April 11, 2009 Update: I’ve decided to write a post following up this one about how I got OS X to work on my PC and hoping to be of more inspiration to fellow experimentors. Good luck.

http://cutedge.org/the-best-of-both-worlds-how-to-fool-proof-your-hackintosh-installation/

It’s been a pretty busy week for Dell – word is that they’re creating a new iPod killer.  And this fact might’ve slightly overshadowed a more immediate occurrence – the arrival of Dell’s new desktops: Dell’s family-friendly Inspiron 518 and its stylish Studio Hybrid.  I think that the Studio Hybrid is an excellent device to show off in your living room (as opposed to a clunky typical-looking computer).  And, the importance placed on form-factor is noted – a leaf taken out of Apple’s book, perhaps?

With computer makers stepping the form-factor up, I think that this can only be a positive for the integration of computers into living rooms – something that I thought would have happened a lot sooner.  It started with PS3′s and Xbox 360′s being “media centres”, but Dell steps it up by connecting an actual PC to the TV.  However, I’m certain that I missed something – where is the TV tuner card?  Without it, the Dell Studio Hybrid certainly misses one major convenience – the ability to schedule and record TV shows onto your computer.  Asides from that, I can see few appealing reasons to house a computer in the living room.

Starting at $499 USD and $529 CDN (reasonable dollar matching, I suppose), the Dell Studio Hybrid is an affordable and interesting product.  It’s extensible, but only through Dell – after all, you’re taking a huge risk if you’re going to personally try fitting something in such a tiny and unique machine.  And although I don’t guarantee its commercial success, I’m certain that it’s a step in an interesting direction.

Press Release: http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topic…&s=corp

It’s been said – repeatedly – that Windows Vista is a step down from Windows XP.  I’ve already taken my own stance on this – and as a user of Windows Vista, I think it’d be great if people stopped listening to what others did for a second and tried it on their own.  You know, independent thinking.  Apparently, Microsoft’s been thinking along the same lines, and launched the Mojave Experiment.

Users that have never tried Windows Vista were introduced to it under the disguise of Windows’ next operating system, codenamed Mojave.  Surprisingly enough, the users trying Vista for the first time actually liked it – and were then told it was Windows Vista.  They still liked it.

I think this was a great idea on Microsoft’s part, but I don’t want to come off as a Microsoft fanboy.  So I’ll stop endorsing Vista, and just leave you with a link and a few words: stop letting other people decide what you think, and decide for yourself.

Enjoy:

http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/#

There’s been huge buzz about Canonical and Ubuntu as of late, and I must say that I’m pretty impressed.  Mark Shuttleworth is emerging as a charismatic leader worthy to lead Ubuntu to battle, the blogosphere is going crazy, and Ubuntu is well on its way to hitting retail shelves.  I think that even though Ubuntu is a great product and operating system, it’s still not going to be enough as of yet – namely because of the lack of mainstream awareness.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia…_NASA.jpg

I realize that Canonical might not have the financial resources that Apple or Microsoft does, so I guess we can count the example of iPod ads out of the picture (I still feel that those iPod ads with dancing silhouettes are a huge factor in how they sold so well).  Still, if Ubuntu somehow manages to find their way to the front page of a huge mainstream newspaper or the main story on CNN, I’m sure that they would have reached many consumers that otherwise would never have heard of it.  Now, I’m not saying that Canonical has to work out a publicity stunt, but perhaps Shuttleworth could do a presentation or press conference that finds its way to G4 or something (start small, think big, right?).

Ubuntu is ready for mainstream, but we have to ask ourselves, is mainstream ready for Ubuntu?  Have a look at the success of Apple, the lack of general dissatisfaction and consumer reaction with Vista (not to say I personally don’t like Vista – I think it’s fine), and I think you’ll know the answer.