hello all this is my first post and new to the hackintosh world (well Macs in general). i have done a lot of research and have been deciding whether or not i should build my first Mac or purchase one.

A lil background on what i will be using this for... I dj and produce music and use lots of music/recording programs i.e serato(dj software which connects to your turntables) reason (vst instruments) cubase(recording)..

also i am a graphic design student and use all the common adobe products.

anyway...i need a more reliable computer and hoping Mac will be solution (and more powerful)

here are the specs of my build




HERE ARE REBATES THAT WILL MAKE THE BUILD ABOUT $420 sidenote (does the dvd drive HAVE to be a sata drive??)


any id like hear opinions as far as what i should get

some pros cons for me


MAC MINI $550 w student discount
pros:
small (big plus for me as i have lots of music gear, my current pc tower takes up a lot of space)
stable(will never have to worry about any hiccups with hackintosh errors0



cons:
expensive!!! for specs im getting

HACKINTOSH
pros:
more bang for your buck!!!
easily upgradeable/configurable
cheaper!!!

cons:
unstable
will be using my current PC case ..still BIG!!!!


any comments i would appreciate

My only comment is on DVD drive. It may not necessary be SATA, I have two IDE drives, both working perfectly. Although some motherborads do have some issues on supporting IDE drives under OS X (if combined with SATA HDDs). So, any way, SATA DVD/CD would be a better choose.

In all honesty, unless the size is that much of an issue, the Quad core in your Hack build will just run circles around anything available in the Mac mini format.


But, if you are going to be transporting the machine around with you, perhaps a mATX build would work better for you.

You can use all the same components, just substitute a Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L or GA-G41M-ES2L for the motherboard.
They are about half the expense (or less) of the EP45-UD3P and would allow you to take the savings and put it into a mATX case.

Plus there are some mATX cases that have handles built into them. Which would make it easier for you to transport them around.

Like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811154071

or several of the different cube cases that have handles.


There are a couple other things on your list that you could change to shave some money from you build without sacrificing much.

While the 9500GT is a fine basic video card (I use one), you can probably use a 9400GT without losing any performance. The 9500GT is just faster at 3D.
The nice thing about the 9400 and 9500GT's is that they are available in models that have passive heatsink versions with no noisy fans on them.

If you have it available, Sparkle makes a couple versions of each that have no fans and they work excellent. One less source of noise from you computer.


Also, that DVD drive looks pretty expensive. You should be able to get something for around $30 or less.


Yes, you want the machine to be 100% SATA as that way its as close to a real Mac as possible.

The new MacMini actually isn't a bad deal- it'd probably suit your needs for the most part. It'd certainly be easier to transport.

I agree with broken- if you go the hack route, look into a mATX board and case to go with it, maybe something like the Thermaltake LANBOX which is made to be carted around, but is still roomy enough for all the components you need.

One of your cons you list with a Hack is 'unstable'. While this can certainly be true, if you set up a Hack with known working parts, using a good guide and don't feel some burning need to futz with it all the time, then a Hack can be just as stable as a real Mac.

Often times when you see people messing with their Hacks constantly, they've either started out by using hardware that's questionable and have to figure out a way to get it to work, or they've installed an update directly over their currently working install without testing it first.

Both of these scenarios are easily avoided with a little prior planning- IE: pick the right hardware and use a test-partition install of OSX to test updates, not your main install that you're relying on.

(And yeah, I would stick with SATA over IDE. IDE is out; Apple was wise to get rid of it. If nothing else the cables are a PITA, especially in a small case, and the controllers can cause problems in some Hacks.)

i won't help much just wanted to come in and say Hackintosh's are very stable. The only problem I am having is trying newer software with the older mac versions. but just keep everything up to date and it is very fast. Every real Mac I have been on is "Unstable" trust me own a real mac for a year and watch it go crazy and do stuff you wouldn't think an expensive computer would end up doing. For example we had Macs at Guitar Center that started having a lot of Memory errors and video errors. A Mac Mini at my school one day had a kernel panic and Apple said it wasn't covered under warranty but they could have it repaired for so much $$$. Anyways I have had my Hack for a while now, was really easy to set up had it up and running in 4 hours, some updates can take a while at first. Also I can have mine running for about 70 days before a fresh restart is needed. Once I went 120 days without turning it off but I have found it to suddenly just go really slow from taking 10 minutes to open a program. but I restart and the problem is solved. anyways do the hack, for much less you could have a decent mac pro comparable PC.