# Hacking your way to a Mac netbook



## TeddyK (Mar 10, 2009)

> Despite all the rumours about an impending Mac netbook, the real deal has yet to materialize, so as a Mac user, there aren't really any existing options for a small netbook that can run Mac OS X. Unless, of course, you're prepared to make one yourself.


Hey everyone!

One of our newest writers, Gadjo Sevilla, at MacWorld Canada wrote this piece for the site, and we wanted to get feedback from the community. Gadjo has been running OSX on a Dell Mini 9 netbook for a couple of months, and finds it to be a (mostly) smooth experience.

Anyone else out there tried to make a hackintosh netbook? Is it worth doing?


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## xorpion (Jul 26, 2002)

I've done it to a Dell Mini 9 also, and I love it. Only drawback with the SSD models is there's not much HD room to play with. Otherwise, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.


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## minnes (Aug 15, 2001)

I made my first and last Hackintosh. The worst part was that it was all the caveats added up to a computer tha is unusable for the most part. I made one with a Intel dual core Atom, which is faster than the single one in netbooks, plus I put in 2GB of Ram , which is also twice what is i most netbooks, as well as a faster desktop hard drive..
If you can be happy with the same performance of say, oh an 800Mhz G4 iBook, that's about the speed you will get out of a Atom at 1.6. BUt it will be much more buggy than that G4 iBook
It's a total dog and combine it with Intel GMA 950, and it's even worse than he iBook, add in the various glitches and problems and hassles and unsupported hardware and hacking hassles, and you have a very unsatisfactory time in my opinion. The GMA950 graphics saps off 128 MB from the 1GB you get in a netbook Ram.
Oh and sometimes the graphics will have artifacts and glitches.

If you have a choice between a used Powerbook, iBook or MacBook or unsupported NetBook, go the vintage Apple route, you will have the better experience.


I m waiting for Apple to come out with a tablet device that will serve my portable needs, which are pretty minimal, but I want a bigger screen than an iPod Touch, mabe 6 to 10 inches and no keyboard, jut a touch keyboard and a usb port.


On the other hand, Ubuntu or WinXP seem to work ok on Netbooks, but they arent Mac then.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Yea just get a used 12" iBook G4 or PowerBook G4, they're both compact, you get an optical drive, and for the most part they're more powerful than a lot of netbooks out there despite having 4 year old processors. A PowerPC G4 1.2Ghz can outrun an Atom 1.6Ghz EASILY despite the lower clock speed, and you get 6 hours of battery life with a new battery.

The only caveat is that Leopard is the end of the line for OS X upgrades on the G4s and G5s, but it's still less frustrating than trying to get Snow Leopard to work on a PC. I'd rather use Vista than go through that.


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## Manatus (May 11, 2009)

I have to concur with dona83. I tried a Mini 9, and to be fair it was fun. I enjoyed the process of doing something "off road" that was a little tricky and felt like I'd accomplished something. But really, that's about it. The Mini 9 is usable, sure, but I would still go with an old 12" Mac, even if it's a bit bigger and heavier. 

Realistically, there is no support for the Dell other than what some enthusiasts have put together. Getting actual support from Dell is a nightmare, just because they're a terrible company when it comes to customer service. My Mini 9 arrived with a damaged battery. It took literally 3 hours on the phone, being transferred from one department to another, most of the reps totally incomprehensible (phone lines had tons of noise too), and just got the impression that either no one knew how to help me, or would just rather pass it off than take some initiative. Of course, each of the reps asked me the same questions, like they were reading off a sheet. In the end I just gave up, and as luck would have it, the battery started working the next day. I'd put up with this if the machine was reliable, but it isn't. It feels cheap and especially with the constant workarounds required to keep up the Mac facade, I just don't trust it to keep working when I need it to, which is basically the main Mac selling point. As others have stated, it's not like it's even that much more powerful than a 5 year old iBook.

I'd say if you have the cash and you enjoy the process of making and modifying it to come up with a useful and unique computer (some people have even cut apple-shaped holes in the Dell's case to make it look like a tiny Macbook), go for it. But if you just need a tiny Mac for practical purposes, I don't think it's worth the hassle personally.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

I've played with Hackintosh MSI Winds, HP Mini 1000s and EEEPc 1000HE's. All three have been pretty decent machines. I even gave my mom a $249 HP Mini 1000 when her G4 iBook logicboard died.

Especially with the MSI Wind, there's almost no "hacking" involved. The machines are stable, and compare nicely to a late model G4. There are a bunch of tradeoffs either way - boot is faster with the Atom, but graphics are worse, etc...


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

**double post** please delete


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## bsenka (Jan 27, 2009)

I recently "hackbooked" an HP Mini 1035nr. The process went very smoothly, and everything works well. I'm really happy with the HP Mini, this is a piece of hardware that I really wish Apple would make. It's very well built, solid, well featured, and works significantly better than I expected from something so small and cheap. I'm particularly impressed with how well this thing handles video.


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## Niteshooter (Aug 8, 2008)

I've loaded OSX Leopard on an Aspire One. It started out with the 8GB SSD which is too small for an install of the Kellaway hack.

Wound up installing a 16GB CF card with SSD adaptor in order to load OSX. It ran slow due to the slow write speed of the card and all functions weren't available. 

Win 7 actually ran better on the CF card though still hampered by the slow write speed of the CF card.

Eventually reinstalled the SSD and installed Ubuntu which runs fine.

K


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## hyperweaver (May 6, 2005)

Thanks TeddyK - The reason I became engrossed with the idea of Mac subportable was that we really haven't had this option since about 11 years ago when Apple discontinued the PowerBook 2400c which was (ironically) an IBM-built Apple subnotebook which was similar to today's netbooks. The Dell Mini 9 running OS X was an attempt to recapture that niche subnotebook Apple device.


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## hyperweaver (May 6, 2005)

bsenka, that's great to hear. The HP minis, to me, seem to be the nicest designed and most solid-looking PC netbooks around. When I first saw one, I was convinced HP's designers took a few cues from the MacBook Pro line. How much RAM do you have on your HP Mini?


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## wslctrc (Nov 13, 2007)

I am surprised this thread is allowed to continue.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

I have a feeling that all these netbook people will have some new options come the fall.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

The HP 1035NR has the best keyboard (IMHO) of all the netbooks. The 1000HE with it's chicklet keyboard (like a mini version of the MacBook/Pro KB) is decent too, but the HP one was just the biggest/easiest to type on, IMHO.


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## imobile (Oct 6, 2007)

*Yup... a Nyet book eh?*



dona83 said:


> Yea just get a used 12" iBook G4 or PowerBook G4, they're both compact, you get an optical drive, and for the most part they're more powerful than a lot of netbooks out there despite having 4 year old processors. A PowerPC G4 1.2Ghz can outrun an Atom 1.6Ghz EASILY despite the lower clock speed, and you get 6 hours of battery life with a new battery.
> 
> The only caveat is that Leopard is the end of the line for OS X upgrades on the G4s and G5s, but it's still less frustrating than trying to get Snow Leopard to work on a PC. I'd rather use Vista than go through that.


NYET book?

What is an old G4 iBook worth....
a few hundred maybe's?

Here's a use for an old iBook

A 2004 iBook used for Navigation on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

wslctrc said:


> I am surprised this thread is allowed to continue.


Why not? It's in support of the commercial venture of MacWorld Canada.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

I'm still happy with my 1st gen MBA netbook....


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## wslctrc (Nov 13, 2007)

Atroz said:


> Why not? It's in support of the commercial venture of MacWorld Canada.


I was under the impression that it was not legal to install osx on something that was not apple labeled, are you telling me it is legal? Or it is not and we are advocating breaking the license agreement?


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## Niteshooter (Aug 8, 2008)

wslctrc said:


> I am surprised this thread is allowed to continue.


Lighten up eh....


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## Niteshooter (Aug 8, 2008)

While looking for an editorial from Laptop magazines editor I found this article. Has a note about converting your old Netbook over to OSX.

Things to Do With Your Many Aging Netbooks

K


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## bsenka (Jan 27, 2009)

dona83 said:


> Yea just get a used 12" iBook G4 or PowerBook G4, they're both compact, you get an optical drive, and for the most part they're more powerful than a lot of netbooks out there despite having 4 year old processors. A PowerPC G4 1.2Ghz can outrun an Atom 1.6Ghz EASILY despite the lower clock speed, and you get 6 hours of battery life with a new battery.


I had a 1.33Ghz iBook back in the day. My HP mini is a LOT faster than that was. You can get a 6-cell battery for these netbooks that will give you 6+ hrs too. Some models in the 1000 series even come with the 6-cell. It's also got an SD slot, more RAM, bigger hard drive, and much faster WiFi. And I bought it brand new with warranty for under $300.



hyperweaver said:


> bsenka, that's great to hear. The HP minis, to me, seem to be the nicest designed and most solid-looking PC netbooks around. When I first saw one, I was convinced HP's designers took a few cues from the MacBook Pro line. How much RAM do you have on your HP Mini?


The keyboard was the main reason I picked the HP Mini for the project. It's almost full size, and very easy to type on. I'm very picky about keyboards, and I very strongly dislike the ones that Apple is using now. 

It's very solid, and very well built. If Apple is serious that they "don't know how" to build a small inexpensive notebook, they should just license THIS design from HP and sell them with OS X preloaded.

I've got 2GB of 800Mhz DDR2 RAM in it right now. It can take 4GB, but the local stores were out of 4GB SODIMMS, so I'll make that upgrade later.


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## jamesB (Jan 28, 2007)

wslctrc said:


> I was under the impression that it was not legal to install osx on something that was not apple labeled, are you telling me it is legal? Or it is not and we are advocating breaking the license agreement?


Does this forum not have a moderator, and if it does maybe they can clarify where ehMac stands on content of this nature.


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2009)

It's seemingly not outright "illegal" to install OSX on a non-apple branded piece of hardware. You are not breaking the law if you do so, but you are breaking the EULA as defined by Apple. Pretty grey area.

My MSI Wind (1.6Ghz Atom based) is faster for most usage than my 17" G4 1.67 Ghz powerbook running OSX. Not much real "hacking" involved in installing it either. The keyboard is not amazing, but better than some netbooks I've tried and the trackpad is usable. Runs much better with OSX than it did with windows or linux in fact. Aside from a bootloader and a small driver pkg it runs the retail version of leopard.


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## Manatus (May 11, 2009)

I seem to remember from a past thread that it's against the forum rules to instruct someone or ask for instruction on making a "hackintosh", but not to say you have one or to discuss their merits. I may be wrong though.


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## wslctrc (Nov 13, 2007)

Manatus said:


> I seem to remember from a past thread that it's against the forum rules to instruct someone or ask for instruction on making a "hackintosh", but not to say you have one or to discuss their merits. I may be wrong though.



http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/75270-talking-hackintosh.html

check out screatures reply #8


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## bsenka (Jan 27, 2009)

jamesB said:


> Does this forum not have a moderator, and if it does maybe they can clarify where ehMac stands on content of this nature.


The content originates from this site. The posted article: Hacking your way to a Mac netbook specifically asks us to talk about it in this thread.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

Oh, but it's ok now to talk about it because Macworld Canada has an article about it.


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## Manatus (May 11, 2009)

wslctrc said:


> http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/75270-talking-hackintosh.html
> 
> check out screatures reply #8


I'm not arguing whether it's legal or illegal to create a Hackintosh, my post was just about to what extent you can discuss them within this forum's rules. Screature's position is that discussing them at all should be against the rules. That's nice, but it doesn't make it against the rules.

My personal feeling is that, for the reason you stated, the forum shouldn't be used to teach people how to create a Hackintosh, but that doesn't mean we should pretend that they don't exist or that it's a word never-to-be-spoken. To certain people, they are an interesting part of the Mac experience. But that's beside the point.


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## ldphoto (Jul 9, 2009)

I have and use a "hackintosh netbook". I also have a 15" MBP and an 8-core mac pro, so it's not that I'm trying to make a Mac on the cheap. For me it's all about form factor.

Even the Air with its 13.3" display is too large to be used comfortably on a plane or in a car. I can't fit one in a LowePro Slingshot camera bag for dumping pictures on when traveling and sending quick emails.

I can do that with my Acer Aspire One however. Pretty much everything works except sleep mode (which I will admit is a bit of a pain), no glitches and no crashes. I only wish that the fan was quieter (there is a software fix for this in Windows, but none for OSX).

If Apple made an 8.9" netbook, I'd be first in line at the Apple Store to buy one and ditch the Acer. I wouldn't mine paying more, because I know the hardware quality would be orders of magnitude better than Acer's. But it doesn't exist, so I do what I can.

Perhaps I will look into the MSI wind or HP models, because the fan on the Acer really annoys me. I hear the Mini 9s are very nice for OSX, but I need to be able to put in a 2.5" SATA hard drive to get at least 120GB storage. But I will keep on using a "grey area" netbook with OSX in some form or another until Apple offers a proper substitute.

Cheers,

Luc


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## jfpoole (Sep 26, 2002)

wslctrc said:


> http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/75270-talking-hackintosh.html
> 
> check out screatures reply #8


If would-be lawyers could fly this place would be an airport.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

wslctrc said:


> http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/75270-talking-hackintosh.html
> 
> check out screatures reply #8


It seems the Mayor has had a change of heart by allowing the article to promote the discussion here. 

My stance was essentially that of supporting the rules that the Mayor set out for ehMac and what was in ehMac's best interest. If he has changed the rules and MacWorld is endorsing the discussion then I have no problem with it.

Incidentally the Talking Hackintosh thread was a follow up to the original thread titled:

Dell Mini 9 with OS X + XP

In which the Mayor shut down the thread with the final post:



> Regarding EULA's, ehMac does respect them.
> 
> Thread closed
> __________________
> ehMac Twitter Page | Join ehMac's Kiva.org Team, loan and change lives!


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart Updated - Mac os x netbook chart - Gizmodo


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## bsenka (Jan 27, 2009)

Yay! They finally updated the chart! It had been out of date for a long time!


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