Anybody who was going to add ram and ssd should look into a NUC

[Zellio]

Smaller then the Mac Mini (Yeah Yeah, Due to external power brick), you'll need your own hdd (ssd) and ram, but they go on sale a good amount on slick deals and fat wallet.

Well, compared to the amount of sales Apple gives (None)

I mean lets be honest, it's far cheaper to get your own ssd and ram, and nowadays, with ssds dirt cheap, you can get a much better one then the one Apple uses.

Just looking real quick, Fry's B&m has this NUC for $299:

http://slickdeals.net/f/7256564-intel-nuc-boxd54250wykh1-barebone-299-w-promo-code-fry-s-b-m?v=1

It compares pretty well to the lowest price Mac Mini. You need your own SSD, but you kinda need to buy one anyway for the mac Mini. And you need ram, which has been pretty cheap for awhile.

 

[markyr17]

And how do we get OS X on it? This seems to be missing. People don't buy macs to use windows on them.

 

[Zellio]

The NUCs use parts from most mac laptops/minis. They should be pretty easy to hackintosh...

 

[xylitol]

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to these little systems. In addition to the obvious lack of ports and expandability, they simply aren't as compatible as our standard CustoMac recommendations when running OS X. Therefore we don't recommend these systems for beginners.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/419-customac-nano-prebuilt-micro-pc.html

Tbh since I don't need an HTPC (with OS X), I see no point in building an extra small Hackintosh that would be limited in the same way as Mini is. Scotty, we need more power!

edit: Gigabyte BRIX Pros (with Iris Pro graphics) are interesting though, some heat issues notwithstanding, e.g
http://www.tonymacx86.com/members/tonymacx86/albums/brix-pro-gb-bxi5-4570r-mini-pc-running-os-x/

 

[YanniDepp]

And how do we get OS X on it? This seems to be missing. People don't buy macs to use windows on them.

Some people do. They're sick and twisted, but they do.

Ever seen a Mac that only boots Windows Vista and doesn't even have OS X on it?

 

[markyr17]

Some people do. They're sick and twisted, but they do.



Ever seen a Mac that only boots Windows Vista and doesn't even have OS X on it?

I have... And that confuses me

I do also have my own hackintosh, so I understand where OP is coming from

 

[Crosscreek]

The NUC has basically the same setup as the Haswell Mini with replaceable RAM and replaceable SSD and HD.

Whats up with this Apple. Don't try to tell me that Apple Ram and SSDs are better and special.

 

[cfedu]

And how do we get OS X on it? This seems to be missing.

I do also have my own hackintosh, so I understand where OP is coming from

????

 

[Blackstick]

Some people do. They're sick and twisted, but they do.

Ever seen a Mac that only boots Windows Vista and doesn't even have OS X on it?

At work we have a lot of engineers (well over 100) coding in Visual Studio that run W7x64 through bootcamp. We configure windows to have 200gb out of the 256gb SSD and the devs barely touch OSX (maybe on the weekends). Apple builds a much more stable "PC" that happens to run Windows than Dell does on their Latitude line (the 72/7440s have been nothing but issues, they overheat, the fans run too high/often and they bluescreen). The beauty of Windows on Apple hardware is that Microsoft tunes Windows exactly right for the Mac hardware. Redmond knows exactly what hardware and drivers Cupertino requires and the whole experience is a good bit smoother, particularly if someone wants to run Windows 8.1.

 

[markyr17]

????

I don't know what you're confused about?? The OP was talking about a Replacement to a MAC machine with no mention of how to get the MAC software on there. Hackintosh eas are not a normal thing. I was simply asking if there was something I was no aware of.

No. Hackintosh only. Thanks.

 

[cfedu]

I don't know what you're confused about?? The OP was talking about a Replacement to a MAC machine with no mention of how to get the MAC software on there. Hackintosh eas are not a normal thing. I was simply asking if there was something I was no aware of.

No. Hackintosh only. Thanks.

When I use to tell my friend about a windows replacement I would not talk to them about how to put windows on a new MAC. If they asked me I would let them know their options. Do apple sales agents tell all their customers that they can use bootcamp?

I think most people on this site would probably know what a hackintosh is and the few who do not probably know hoe to use a google search engine.

 

[Luap]

The NUCs use parts from most mac laptops/minis. They should be pretty easy to hackintosh...

So you are recommending it based on assumptions and without having tried it?

 

[cfedu]

So you are recommending it based on assumptions and without having tried it?

Based on assumptions, I think most people know SHOULD and shall are different words. I think Anyone who can not use google to find out if certain hardware can be hackintoshed, should not be even using a computer let alone doing a hackintosh build.

 

[Cape Dave]

Based on assumptions, I think most people know SHOULD and shall are different words. I think Anyone who can not use google to find out if certain hardware can be hackintoshed, should not be even using a computer let alone doing a hackintosh build.

Agreed.

 

[BJonson]

I thought about the NUC but the external power brick and loud fan changed my mind.

 

[germinator]

There are reports of the NUCs being very unstable.

The Brix Pro looks better. The i5 Iris Pro 5200 ($480) looks like the best trade-off IMHO. TDP is 65 W vs. Apple's 45 W.

Hackintosh on those should be relatively easy. I just finished a low-end Brix (i3) and that was harder, but works perfectly as media center. Only cost $280 (plus storage and RAM).