Quick question: A friend has asked me to spec him a PC that can run mac os and final cut pro... Before I trawl the boards can anyone quickly say if there are any limitations hardware wise? Thank you!
http://www.hackintosh.com/ Everything you need to know about a Hackintosh and more. Including supported components.
Could you virtualise the mac OS. Then run it on a Windows or linux machine. Edit: Had a quick look around. It seems thats a non runnner.
Use that hackintosh site that Cei linked. I was fortunate with my last system being fully supported for OS X. I'm pretty sure you need an intel cpu. That site has a lot of info on the forums too.
Also have a look here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/home.php They have some buyers guides on there which may help. And they've got some driver packs and installation guides, as well as some very helpful forums!
You can go AMD, but it's a lot harder than Intel with more difficulties and incompatibility. Go for Intel and frequently it's a case of install and off you go.
Rule of thumb for building a hackintosh... 1. use CPUs from intel 2. use GPUs from nVidia 3. use motherboards from Gigabyte That's the three basics really that should get you going, but you get a list of tested hardware over @ tonymac
Thank you all... I did have a look at that link and wondered if I'd getaway with a z77 asus board. Looks like gigabyte is the safest bet
While it's fairly easy to get a Hackintosh up and running if you go with the gigabyte + intel + nvidia formula (Being careful to pick models which are known to work okay). Running with a Hackintosh is not the same experience as running with a real Mac. From my own experience: - It's really hard to break a genuine OSX install on Apple hardware. It's much easier to break a Hackintosh install. So be very careful! - A 'broken' install may not boot, or it might boot and have issues (No sound, network etc) - It's real easy to bring back a broken OSX install to full working order (should you ever deliberately break it!). Not so easy on a Hack. - OSX is a breeze to keep up to date and it's software update process is very occasional, quick and easy on a Mac compared to Windows on a PC. On a hack you'll need to research every software update before applying it. Some will require repairing the OS from a boot disc after applying. - Some really handy OSX functions such as Time Machine are less reliable on a hack. For example you may run into serious issues restoring a backup from a hack onto real apple hardware. ( I tried it once and it rendered the OS non bootable ) - Setting up the OS and reinstalling in the event of hardware/drive failure are real easy on a Mac, you don't even need any reinstallation media. Not so easy on a hack so plan for that. - Dual booting Windows and OSX on Apple hardware 'just works' out of the box. I use VMWare fusion from time to time and can even boot into my windows partition in a virtual machine from inside OSX. Real nice to run the windows updates before I reboot the machine into Windows. It saves having the machine sitting idle for 20minutes while MS installs 128 of 1024 updates! - Be prepared to be familiar with the kexts you'll need to keep the machine happy, stable and booting fast. - You'll have to plan for downtime around OS upgrades. A Mac can usually be updated to a brand new OS in <30mins. You may not even be able to update the Hack to the OS until others have verified it's possible, and doing so 'may' require a different routine than the last time. Would I use a hackintosh now? Well I did for a few months when I needed a beefier machine (and could use my PC rig) and was waiting for a new range of Apple gear, but I wouldn't do it again now. The time investment paired against the additional hassle factor just doesn't make it worth it for me. But if you're going to be building a real beefy machine that competes with a 6/12 core Mac Pro and you're bud is aware it needs a bit more TLC than a real Mac you can certainly save a few squids.
I still think that unless you want to create a really, really highend Hackintosh it is cheaper and easier to buy the quadcore Mac Mini (the one with i7-3615QM, for £679.00). Upgrade the RAM to 16GB and hard drive to SSD if needed.
I can also vouch for tonymac, followed one of their guides some 3+ years ago. Installed 10.6 on some old Core 2 Duo hardware we had laying around at work. It took me a few days to get it booting reliably, but it was quite a fun process : ) I believe it or not did it for a joke, a member of SLT kept moaning because he hadn't got an iMac and others had, so we got it going and installed in his office over half term. He was a mixture of impressed and angry when he first saw it : P Keep in mind that 10.8 and 10.9 where exclusively digital downloads, so would will probably need a Mac of some kind to create the bootable media. Also install disks that are bundled with macs 10.7 and earlier are generally hardware specific. So you'll have to get yourself some retail media : ) Best of luck. Keep us posted on your results!
Disclaimer - used to work for Apple... Just buy a Mac... Whilst I personally wouldn't touch a mac with a very long stick if you friend wants/need OSX-specific software [Final Cut Pro], it seems daft to fart on with a hackintosh... Esp as it's for someone else [meaning you'll get the earache if the hackintosh goes tits up]...
Thank you Guinevere/MrJay/RedFlames for the insights. It certainly sounds like a major headache in an attempt to save money. My friend John who has asked for this simply wants to use final cut pro on a 8/12 thread chip whilst also able to play Star Citizen on windows. A windows alternative to final cut pro would be simpler. I have absolutely no experience of video editing software so I may be asking for something that does not exist
The alternative on Windows is Avid or Premiere, but video editing software choice is incredibly personal. I use FCP and literally can't get on with Avid to save my life, and bitch constantly about Premiere when I do have to use it. As others have said, Hackintoshs can be hard work. Arguably the best way to use one is to not constantly apply software updates, and keep it off the internet. The £679 Mac Mini would be a decent buy, but it hasn't been updated since 2012
It is the proprietary **** you get with Apple...are they still soldering parts in? I assume if and when SC is released on mac, the mac mini would fall over and weep trying to run it
I've just setup a VMWare machine running Mavericks (although it doesn't have the Apple apps like Garageband etc). It works, and is enough for me to learn the OS enough to help support the odd client that I have who run Mac OS. It's not 100% legal though, and I think the same goes for Hackintosh. I will end up buying a Mac Mini when the new model is released - any day now, apparently - or buy the 2012 model at a cheaper price.
To be honest, you won't get much of performance increase with a newer Mac Mini than the 2012 model. i7-3615QM is Ivy Bridge after all, so what you could get with a Haswell based Mac Mini is minor CPU performance increase, bigger IGP performance increase and a bit lower power consumption.
Agreed, it won't be a massive jump - but I would still kick myself if the new one came out days after I bought it. I would hope prices for the old 2012 model would go down slightly when the new one comes out too.
