I need to buy a cheap (not an Apple) laptop that will run OS X smoothly. Does anyone have experience doing this? Will any intel-based laptop be capable of running OS X? Thanks in advance.
Last year’s macbooks (the white ones) are dropping in price, so you might consider those. Still not cheap though.
For real cheapness, you could consider a netbook. Boing Boing Gadgets | Boing Boing has a nice chart - the MSI wind (about 350 - 400 euros) seems to be the best in terms of compatibility.
Note that you’d still have to buy OS-X seperately (about 120 euros over here) and you probably can forget about apple (or anybody else’s) support if you run into trouble.
edit: AFAIK just about any intel machine is in theory capable of running OS X, but you can get into all kinds of trouble getting drivers for network/wi-fi/graphics cards/blue tooth facilities - especially if you get a laptop.
For example, would OS X run smoothly on a Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 (2.0GHz/667Mhz FSB/1MB cache)?
I don’t understand. There’s no way to run OS X on a non-Apple computer without violating the license agreement, as it says, “This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.”
So your only option is an older Apple notebook system.
It’s hard to say without trying 
Someone has tried it, though: http://www.espressoreport.com/83/dell-inspiron-1525-hackbook-pro-tutorial/
But unless you can try it out on the machine, you should probably make sure all the components you need are actually supported, especially the graphics and network systems (laptop manufacturers swap all kinds of stuff all the time, even for the same types)
What is your definition of “cheap”?
Under $600. This is a laptop for my mom. She does not need a lot of horsepower, but she is used to using Apple computers at her school.
While you can shoehorn OSX into many non-Apple laptops, the result will never run smoothly. Performance might be fine, but the incompatibilities will be many. And it’s nothing I would ever recommend to a novice. I will guarantee that you’ll have to do a lot of research, will run into some pretty major bugs, and fixing them will not be easy. It’s possible that some will never be fixed.
My recommendation would be to just find a refurbished macbook, or buy used.
eta:
Yeah, if this is for your mom, don’t do it. Giving her a hacked OSX install ranks up there with forcing Linux on her.
You can get a refurb macbook for $850.
Thanks. I actually saw that site. Seems like a step in the right direction since I know it’s theoretically possible.
Is your Mom local?
Because, you are going to have to be doing tech support on this FrankenMac you are creating. I don’t think it’s wise to give her a machine that’s fundamentally a hack. Why don’t you find a used first-generation MacBook for her, or even buy a refurbished one from Apple for $849 (full warranty).
Moving to IMHO from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’m a windows guy and a puter shop owner and I agree with this sentiment.
If she nees MacOS buy her a mac, you are looking at $600 for a laptop and $120 for an OS you are $100 shy of new hardware designed to be compatible with full warranty and support available. Going the hackintosh route at this price point is silly.
I’d also point out that OS X is a BSD derivative with a fancy windowing system. If you’re just going for “look and feel” and don’t actually need true compatibility with other apple kit, get a cheap x86 notebook, throw a free/open operating system on there and get an OS X skin/theme for Gnome or KDE.
Hi I just got an second hand Apple ibook yesterday. Cost me 150 euros. Works fine so far. Check your local buy and sell or want ads. Save you having to install OSX on another system.
That’s not really true. Yes, OS X is based on Free BSD, and Yes, OS X has a fancy windowing system (Quartz / Aqua). but there is much much more to it than that. Like, when his mother tries to use iTunes…
Thus the “just going for look and feel and don’t need compatibility” conditional.