The State of Hackintosh: Which Netbooks to Hack » -::: MITRAMSI :::-

Control Panel


Login Panel!


 
Register Forgot your password
User Panel
Navigation on the site: MitraMSI » Tutorial » The State of Hackintosh: Which Netbooks to Hack

Navitgation

Top News

Calendar

Our Friends

The State of Hackintosh: Which Netbooks to Hack Category: Tutorial, Tips & Mods
Added: 5 November 2009

alt

 

BoingBoing Gadgets' netbook compatibility chart is a great resource for putting Mac OS on netbooks. But before taking the Hackintosh plunge, here are the major contenders' strengths, pitfalls and quirks to consider, plus guides for when you (carefully) jump in.

Rob's chart, with all its scary red marks and mysterious orange ovals, has the tendency to give the impression that the outlook is fairly bleak; almost every row of "confirmed working!" ticks is broken up by at least one pesky caveat, and some netbooks on the list are not sold anymore. But your prospects really aren't so bad. Buck up, kids! Here's what that chart means, practically, with a real-world rundown of what these netbooks can offer, what they can't, and how best to try your hand at Hackintosh.

 

The State of Hackintosh: Which Netbooks to Hack

The HP Mini 1000
Status: In production
Now that the Dell Mini 9 has passed on, in retail terms, this is your best option. Main components are compatible across the board.
What you get: A well-styled 10.2-inch machine with respectable guts, a notoriously great keyboard and an increasingly reasonable price. In fact, the slightly smaller Windows-less 16GB SSD version, a prime candidate for OS X-ification, is listed on Best Buy's site for $280 right now.
What you sacrifice: I think the styling works; some people get turned off by the large bezel around the screen, though it's on par with other 10-inch netbooks. Many Hackintoshers find little gremlins after install—lack of fan speed control and temperamental Wi-Fi control, to name two—which can generally be fixed, though rarely simply. By and large, though, this is as good as OS X gets on a cheap netbook.
Resources: Install guide, with video; support forums.

alt

Dell Mini 9
Status: Out of production
This was, and still is, a fantastic candidate for Hackintoshing. As such, they're not that easy to find for a reasonable price. Even Dell's been getting in on the post-Mini-9 action, rereleasing the little laptop for brief period last week. UPDATE: The Vostro A90, the Mini 9's equally Hackintoshable business counterpart, is still around in some retail channels.
What you get: Just like the HP, Dell's Mini 9 lays claim to near-total hardware compatibility, including mobile broadband support. The fact that everything just kinda works is pretty wild, if you think about it.
What you sacrifice: Battery life isn't great. And since release, the Mini 9's hardware has aged a bit. That said, entry-level netbooks all more or less live on the verge of obsolescence by definition, so having a slightly older Atom processor than your friends shouldn't be much of a concern.
Resources: Our definitive install guide; support forums.

alt

Dell Mini 10v
Status: In production
For some time after release this Mini 9 replacement was held up by Mac driver difficulties. Now it works fairly well, and could serve as a replacement Mini 9 for some Hackintoshers.
What you get: In some ways, this is better than the Mini 9. It's a newer unit, updated to address some of the general population's broader problems with the Mini 9: The screen is slightly larger, and more importantly, the keyboard has some room to stretch. It's cheap—often cheaper than the a coveted used Mini 9—at about $300 new.
What you sacrifice: The Mini 10v is patchier than its predecessor across the board. The onboard microphone is difficult to get working, video drivers are still a little precarious, often causing crashes when external monitors are connected, and sleep and hibernation modes aren't very reliable, which is crucial for a totable netbook. If you're willing to bet on driver support improving, it's a prudent purchase. That's a big if, by the way.
Resources: The Anguish Install+Fixes Guide; User forums.

alt

Lenovo S10
Status: Out of production
Like the Mini 1000, the S10 is a worthy replacement for the Mini 9. Or, it was, before it was replaced by a touchier, more erratic S10-2. (More on that below).
What you get: Another capable machine, though it was—and still is—a little too expensive for what you get. Hardware works across the line, down to the webcam and two-finger touchpad scrolling.
What you sacrifice: Ethernet doesn't work, which could kill the S10's usefulness as a travel device (old hotels, etc) and the 3-cell battery is a little anemic. It too suffers from age: The cheapest version and most popular spec comes with 512MB of RAM, which will suck the joy right out of your OS X experience.
Resources: Multi-boot guide (attached to linked post in PDF); User forums.

alt

Lenovo S10-2
Status: In production
This bears the outward appearance of a minor update to the S10. As far as Hackintoshing is concerned, it's a major step backwards.
What you get: Compared to the S10, a better touchpad, bigger keyboard, nicer case design, slimmer profile, more default RAM, and lower price. Great!
What you sacrifice: Any semblance of usability in OS X. Adding to the lack of ethernet support, everything from sleep to external video to stability is lost, to the point that the S10-2 isn't really much of an option.
Resources: The same S10 guide, with caveats; User forums.

alt

MSI Wind U100
Status: Out of production
A perennial Hackintosh classic, it's still a safe choice, and fairly easy to track down used.
What you get: A Mini 9 level of compatibility, with very similar hardware. Styling is clean, but not as pleasing as the Dell, Lenovo, or HP alternatives, and the keyboard is usable.
What you sacrifice: Again, we're dealing with old-ish hardware here, and again, the three-cell battery won't run marathons. The touchpad is janky, and, I almost forgot, this guy really doesn't like them.
Resources: A whole bunch of install guides and support info.

alt

Acer Aspire One
Status: In production
A hugely popular, widely available and all-around decent netbook, the Aspire One is a cautionary tale: No matter how tempted you are to pick one up, Hackintosh development has come too slowly to justify buying one for that. This rule applies to other netbooks not shown, too.
What you get: An expensive-looking, cheap-as-chips workhorse.
What you sacrifice: Virtually everything, including the biggest dealbreaker of them all: Wi-Fi. Lots of netbooks don't work, but I wanted to include this one as an example: Just because a netbook is wildly popular and bolstered by a huge community of support forums doesn't mean that Hackintosh will eventually work. Some hardware and software issues are just beyond the hobbyists' purview, so don't buy a netbook with the hopes that issues will be resolved. They might not be, and you'll be stuck swapping out hardware components just to get basic features working.
Resources: Install guide with some fixes, wi-fi recommendations; user forums.

Despite losing its greatest soldier (well, almost), the Hackintosh netbook movement is still alive and well, to the point that buying one of the more compatible netbooks listed above with the express purpose of turning it into an unofficial mini-MacBook is a great idea. Take your pick.

Dear visitor, you went to the site as unregistered user. to register (it only takes 1 minute), or enter the site under your login.

Other publications on the topic:


Author: mitramsi    Views: 2539 Comments: 1 Print
Comment 1     1 February 2012 16:02

Group: User
Number of News: 0
Number of Comment: 16
Register: 31.01.2012
тема супер
Information
   Members of Guest cannot leave comments.
Ïîäïèñàòüñÿ íà íîâîñòè

Site Info

Articles
Top Contributors:
  1    mas_sas 277
  2    mitramsi 210
  3    brigs 67
  4    vint57 25
  5    kangmas 15
  6    odobbybix 15
  7    ynior07 9
  8    KIN 8
  9    post78962 7
  10    seregarulit 4
  11    emmet24son 3
  12    sn2012 2
  13    tahumie87 1
  14    qwert777 1
  15    vipmoneys2012 1
  16    shino 1
  17    SuperNews2011 1
  18    dlavzroslihhh 1
  19    andersen 1
  20    msidot 1


Articles:
  This Hour: 0
  Today: 0
  This Month: 14
  All Time: 652


Membership:
  Registered Today :81
  This Hour:4
  This Month:3464
  Total:35095
  Banned:0

User
Online Users: 16

Visit
Today Visits: 3794
This Week Visits: 59388
This Month Visits: 217459
This Year Visits: 1478543
All Visits: 3756309
Record: 26355 In 27.06.2011

Latest News

Referer

Google: mitrams69
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard for your entertainmen...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard pop up trade show dis...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard cf card gps receiver
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard install sound card
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard ear piece
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard pay for performance b...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard performance review ph...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard hd am radio
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard trade show stand prod...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard frequency 55
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard ar-15 manual
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard the magic house
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard av receiver with dvi ...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard how to hook-up surrou...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard television tower
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard tuner
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard tuner
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard lifespan of plasma te...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard picture of comcast hd...
Nigma: MSI Air Power Cooler
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard ravin performance exh...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard entertainment center ...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard av receiver review
Google: harga AMD Neo X2 Dual Core Mobile ASB1
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard bluetooth gps receive...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard bravo television netw...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard station casino
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard home theater receiver...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard embedded gps receiver
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard today show msnbc
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard movies #14
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard today show online
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard magic touch productio...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard how to hook up surrou...
Google: gmabooster 4500 xp
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard performance measureme...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard earpiece
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard 3800 performance part...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard what is hd ready tv
Google: v02.58 bios
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard ati performance produ...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard future film releases
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard first television tran...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard motorola hdtv receive...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard high performance orga...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard frequency drive
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard recommended av receiv...
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard performance metrics
Google: Powered by Article Dashboard trait oriented perfor...
Theme Created by Arya.
Copyright 2009-10 MitraMSI.com. All Rights Reserved.