The OS X Factor

Posted by Julio Angel Ortiz in Apple on Sep 21st, 2008 | View Comments

OSx86

I use a notebook for most of my writing and computer-related tasks these days. My current model of choice is a Compaq Presario c762NR. Here are the specs:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core 1.73GHz processor
2GB DDR2 RAM
160GB Hard drive
15.4″ WXGA Widescreen LCD screen with 1280×800 resolution
Intel X3100 Graphics chip
Altec Lansing audio / speakers
DVD-RW / CD-RW drive
3 High-speed USB ports

Not mind-blowing by any means. But a decent enough notebook for my needs. The kicker?

I’m running Mac OS X 10.5.4 on it.

In case you haven’t heard, there is a whole scene dedicated to getting Apple’s elegant operating system running on open hardware (”open,” in this case, being non-Apple). This “OSx86″ scene is full of passionate people tinkering, tweaking, and enjoying OS X on a variety of hardware. Over at the Insanely Mac forums, one of the largest in the community, you could find just about any tip or direction on getting OS X running on your hardware. For those who have been successful, you’ll find they love their “Hackintoshes.” I did not even know it was possible to run OS X on non-Apple hardware until a few months ago, when I caught a headline on the cover of a popular Mac magazine. I decided to do more research online, and thus began what became a hobby.

I have been interested in giving Mac OS X a try for a few years, but Apple’s hardware has historically been more expensive than regular Windows machines. Apple purists will readily come to Apple’s defense for a variety of reasons, but the bottom line is, in this economy, spending over $1,000 to risk trying out a new system is not prudent. I had recently purchased my black Presario for $419, and thanks to a special had purchased Vista Ultimate with it for very cheap. To give you some perspective, a black MacBook with comparable specs costs $1,499 (yet the white model costs a few hundred dollars less. Charging a premium on color is ridiculous, but I digress…). When I had started investigating putting OS X on my notebook, I obtained a distribution (iATKOS 2.0i), said a prayer, and dove right in to the install process.

Twenty minutes later, I was running OS X 10.5.2 on my notebook. And it ran very well!

Out of the proverbial box, my video and sound worked great. I watched DVDs with no problem. Performance was snappy. After some more tweaking, I had the battery meter working and restarting / shutdown did not give me any trouble. My biggest issue was that the internal wireless was not working. The internal wireless runs on an Atheros 5007 chip, and thus far no one can get them working. But I had a spare Belkin USB wireless dongle, which worked flawlessly once I obtained the appropriate drivers.
Those early, heady days were not without their challenges. I like to tinker, so in my experimenting I broke my install several times, but I got to the point where I was able to get things just perfect for me, and keep my install intact. And by following a few detailed guides online, I was able to update my installation to OS X 10.5.4.

Initially, I had dual-booted my notebook between OS X and Vista. However, the more I worked in OS X, the less I felt to compel to go back to Vista. I was becoming a convert, of all things. And after a couple of months of solid use, I can now say: I love OS X. So I wound up wiping away the Vista install and made my notebook strictly OS X. And I haven’t looked back. I sold my Vista Ultimate package (I couldn’t even look at it anymore) and obtained a Leopard license. My wife and kids almost exclusively use our home Vista desktop. I rarely bother with it these days.

Is Apple losing out on this deal? No, because now that I’m an OS X convert, I’m making plans to purchase some Apple products. My next desktop will be something like the Mac Mini or iMac. I plan to get a MacBook someday. And I think that’s what Apple doesn’t realize: the OSx86 community is helping them gain fans. I would never have tried Apple had I not done it through the OSx86 community. There are others who feel the same way. Apple can have all the slick advertising in the world, but spending good, hard cash on their product based solely on their “cool” factor is not enough. But now having seen the value of the OS through hard, first-hand experience, I’m sold, and Apple benefits.

In the future, I will be writing about my experiences with the “Hackintosh,” as a Windows user entering the Mac OS world. It’s kind of a strange place to be. Windows believers scoff because they can’t see the point of using OS X on a Windows notebook. Apple fans will scoff because, without Apple hardware, you’re “not getting the full experience.” I’m navigating the middle ground, and having a great time of it.

Long-live OSx86.