superb pc running OS X or should w8 for imac?

[totoshark]

hi folks. first of all, i have to say i v been in that waiting game for a while.
according to my research on some previous prediction threads from past few years, i m glad to see that apple always laughch their new products at a 'unexpected time'. i hope this fall they will do the same , hopefully in early september.

my mbp just broke down lately, and this time i was planning to go for a imac coz it wasnt so great to do video editing work when i was on mbp although many ppl may think differently. especially when i use visualhub , take ages to convert those tons of video clips.

i m not much a pro mac owner, although i v been with mac for almost 3 years.
so, i dont know much about hardwares or how does each part affect my work.
as you know, 2000 dollars pc can be super fast , i wonder if it can run os x perfectly as mac does? also, i have not used a imac to do what i do , will it be doing much better than mbp? and how much? if not, i d go for a mbp which just released not long ago.


p.s i dont play games, i surf alot, edit videos, web design,mb some time PS.
thx very much for your suggestion.

 

[Hellhammer]

PC will be faster in converting but Hackintoshing may be hard and every update can kill your Hackintosh. I would get iMac and if you really need fast converting, build a PC too. Quad-core PC can be build for ~500$, maybe even less because all you need is CPU power.

 

[totoshark]

PC will be faster in converting but Hackintoshing may be hard and every update can kill your Hackintosh. I would get iMac and if you really need fast converting, build a PC too. Quad-core PC can be build for ~500$, maybe even less because all you need is CPU power.

greatful with tears

by saying killing hackintosh , u mean burn the hardwares or just the operating system?

 

[Hellhammer]

greatful with tears

by saying killing hackintosh , u mean burn the hardwares or just the operating system?

Just the OS. If you choose Hackintosh, you have to buy certain components to get everything work somehow. A real Mac is so much easier: you have a great customer support, beautiful design and everything works.

 

[totoshark]

Just the OS. If you choose Hackintosh, you have to buy certain components to get everything work somehow. A real Mac is so much easier: you have a great customer support, beautiful design and everything works.

thx for the friendly quick reply. since i v waited long enough, there ll be no harm to w8 few more days for snow leopard. i will buy the 24'' imac 3.06gh even if there is no major upgrade on spec . video editing dont consume much GPU? so i guess there is no need to upgrade gt130 to hd 4850 either?

 

[Hellhammer]

video editing dont consume much GPU? so i guess there is no need to upgrade gt130 to hd 4850 either?

Depends how intensive editing you do. If you're only using iMovie or Final Cut for cutting etc, GT120 is enough but if you do more professional work with Motion etc, upgrade to ATI 4850 wouldn't hurt, it's just 200$

 

[totoshark]

Depends how intensive editing you do. If you're only using iMovie or Final Cut for cutting etc, GT120 is enough but if you do more professional work with Motion etc, upgrade to ATI 4850 wouldn't hurt, it's just 200$

thank u so much

 

[bry223]

Just the OS. If you choose Hackintosh, you have to buy certain components to get everything work somehow. A real Mac is so much easier: you have a great customer support, beautiful design and everything works.

To a certain extent yes, but the hackintosh community is so big there really isn't any problem finding drivers/kexts now a days for just about every hardware out there.

 

[Tallest Skil]

To a certain extent yes, but the hackintosh community is so big there really isn't any problem finding drivers/kexts now a days for just about every hardware out there.

I'd take you up on that challenge, but it'd be too easy. The list of supported hardware is far from complete.

 

[Hellhammer]

The list of supported hardware is far from complete.

I agree. Core i7s don't work well, GPUs are quite limited and motherboards too. If you're ready to spend days/weeks to get it work, sure, build a Hackintosh.

 

[armoguy94]

thx for the friendly quick reply. since i v waited long enough, there ll be no harm to w8 few more days for snow leopard. i will buy the 24'' imac 3.06gh even if there is no major upgrade on spec . video editing dont consume much GPU? so i guess there is no need to upgrade gt130 to hd 4850 either?

Customer support isn't that great for Apple actually. :\ In a lot of my experiences, it's been awful - and those standards were taken even lower when I called my local apple store. I guess it would all depend on who you get connected with on the other end of the phone.... a lot of apple's representatives suck though. I don't understand how they get hired, it's like they just switched to macs and they know nothing about the system.

Anyways, I really would not suggest an iMac. TONS of people have built or bought Hackintoshes and they work PERFECTLY under Leopard. You need to understand that. Sure, any update could break the machine, but how likely is that..just wait and see if it broke other people's machines before you update

Building a hackintosh is cheaper... a LOT cheaper... the hardware in it will definitely be more reliable than in an overheating iMac, and it'll also be DESKTOP components inside the box - iMac uses mobile components and I know Apple is known for underspeccing components.

To each his own, but if you want more power for a cheaper price, also more customization, get a hackintosh. If you get an iMac, sometime in the future I bet you will regret it.

I have a tip for you and the iMac though, I say you should wait for the iMac to update to Matte screen - that is the BIGGEST complaint I have about mine right now - after long hours on the computer, for the year that I've had it, my eyes get sore, and they strain often, and I could tell my vision has gotten VERY noticeably worse. This is because of the glass over the LCD panel, the glass flips the display's image upside-down and your eyes simultaneously have to reconstruct the image to make it look right-side-up. This causes huge eye strain and is the last thing you want to do to your eyes.... especially if your vision is not that great in the first place.



I hope this post helps! Good luck.

 

[300D]

Hackintrash is never a smart option.

 

[armoguy94]

Hackintrash is never a smart option.

care to back your post up?

 

[chriszzz]

If you want a hobby machine to toy around with then build a hackintosh.

If you want a reliable machine that comes with hardware and software support then spend some money and buy an iMac.

 

[DoFoT9]

care to back your post up?

+1, id like to hear his reasoning

If you want a hobby machine to toy around with then build a hackintosh.

If you want a reliable machine that comes with hardware and software support then spend some money and buy an iMac.

or, if you want a reliable machine that you can play around with and costs you next to nothing - get a hackintosh, put in a few hours and find the right drivers for your hardware and you are good to go.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

I'll throw in my Hackintosh vote. An iMac would be nice, but you have no avenue for upgrades. Build a Hac and you can upgrade CPU and GPU any time you want. I just built one (kinda, have to rma my ram) for about $700 with a quad-core, 4gbddr3, and a gtx260. You could probably save a few by going down a notch on the GPU and get a better CPU instead. Runs osx great(until my memory flipped a bitch) and is pretty beastly considering the price.

 

[300D]

care to back your post up?

Legality, compatibility, reliability and cost vs what you actually get. Most of what you pay for in a real Mac is R&D and hardware/software optimization.

 

[DoFoT9]

Legality, compatibility, reliability and cost vs what you actually get. Most of what you pay for in a real Mac is R&D and hardware/software optimization.

the underlined things are supposed to be strike-throughs, because they are wrong.

a properly researched hack can do anything a "real" mac can, run anything a "real" mac can, and costs a ton cheaper. a "real" mac isnt really a "real" mac anyway, the only difference is the EFI - which doesnt do much to the computer at all...

im not sure about legality in the US - but here in australia it is legal to build them AFAIK

 

[300D]

because they are wrong.

Only in the minds of the uninformed.

 

[Hellhammer]

im not sure about legality in the US - but here in australia it is legal to build them AFAIK

It's still against EULA and Apple's terms and conditions which you agree when you install. Okay, who cares about it anyway

 

[DoFoT9]

Only in the minds of the uninformed.

ahhh right, so the stable, reliable, cost effective hackintosh that i am using right now is imaginary?? care to explain please.

It's still against EULA and Apple's terms and conditions which you agree when you install. Okay, who cares about it anyway

doesnt matter. here in aust we use UK laws, in the UK for an EULA to be considered a contract one must sign it before they purchase it. i did not sign anything when i bought the Leopard DVD im using - seems fine to me.

 

[Hellhammer]

doesnt matter. here in aust we use UK laws, in the UK for an EULA to be considered a contract one must sign it before they purchase it. i did not sign anything when i bought the Leopard DVD im using - seems fine to me.

I think you sign/agree EULA when you agree terms and conditions before you're able to install. There's no way to install OS X to PC without breaking something, but as I said, who cares, you're not going to jail because of that.

 

[DoFoT9]

I think you sign/agree EULA when you agree terms and conditions before you're able to install. There's no way to install OS X to PC without breaking something, but as I said, who cares, you're not going to jail because of that.

oh i dont know.... the UK law is different to other places. i am fairly certain of this. it is when you purchase the product, not install it. mind you i am not a law/contract informant.

but yea, nobody will chase you lol..

thats part of the topic though, wat do u think of the stability/price etc topic??

 

[Hellhammer]

wat do u think of the stability/price etc topic??

If you have the right hardware and drivers, it's as stable as a "real Mac". Price wisely, Hackintosh is much cheaper but it takes more time to search for right HW, drivers etc.. plus updating Hackintosh may be painful, so you may want to stick with 10.5.3 as an example. Hackintosh is great option if you like to play and spend time with computers but if you don't or don't have time to do it, real Mac is so much easier and you get good support if you need. There are positive and negative things about both, so it's hard to say which is better for you.

 

[DoFoT9]

If you have the right hardware and drivers, it's as stable as a "real Mac". Price wisely, Hackintosh is much cheaper but it takes more time to search for right HW, drivers etc.. plus updating Hackintosh may be painful, so you may want to stick with 10.5.3 as an example. Hackintosh is great option if you like to play and spend time with computers but if you don't or don't have time to do it, real Mac is so much easier and you get good support if you need. There are positive and negative things about both, so it's hard to say which is better for you.

oh right, so your not completely "up there" with the knowledge of hackintoshes. (sorry to be blunt).

there is an installation method known as "Vanilla" - basically, you can upgrade to the latest OS's without any problems at all. its exactly like a mac, once set up it is compatible 100% with your hardware. its not hard to setup either.

the term "real mac" is used pretty specifically.. but what i think is funny is that if one builds a corei7 machine with say a GTX260 or 8800, that is pretty much an exact MacPro, compatibility will be 100%! if you find a motherboard that is supported as well you simply cannot go wrong. i think the term "real mac" should be redefined to a set of hardware that closely resembles that of an "actual mac".



as for price, i paid $500 Aus for a PC machine, then a year later i decided to install OSX on it. i didnt research the hardware but i found it very easy to install onto it. this $500 machine performs better then my $3k Aus iMac!!! its crazy, yet so simple to do!