280 replies to this topic

[jacob019]

My definition of fully working means that graphics work perfectly with QE and CI, audio, touchpad, usb, and ethernet must work too. WIFI isn't as critical because anyone can replace their MiniPCI WIFI card with a cheap compatible replacement card. It seems to me that the ATI Radeon 9600 is the only truely working graphics chip. This is because the chip is used in genuine apples so it is fully supported. My friend has two hackintoshes, a macbook, and a powerbook. He wants a fully working hackintosh for under $400 and I think it can be done with some help from eBay and this scene. Here is my list of budget laptops which use the ATI Radeon 9600. My reasearch indicates that everything else should work on these too--confirmation needed.
Gateway

• M505
• M505X
• 7405GX
• 7422GX

eMachines

• M6805
• M6809
• M6811

HP / Compaq

• NC6000 - commented on below

Averatec

• 5500 (AV5500)
• 6100 (AV6000)

IBM Thinkpad

• T60

Please post comments regarding the use of these laptops or just your thoughts. It would be useful for us to put together a list of inexpensive fully working OSX86 compatible laptops. Also, I noticed that Apple also uses ATI Radeon 9700 chips. Has anyone tried using a laptop with the 9700?

[toddicus]

lots of budget laptops use GMA 900 and 950s, they have QE/CI right off from install (usually), might be worth listing those.

[jacob019]

lots of budget laptops use GMA 900 and 950s, they have QE/CI right off from install (usually), might be worth listing those.

The problem with those laptops is that they don't work unless you start them with an external monitor plugged in. There is no fix for the problem and I consider it big enough to call those laptops non-working.

[pakoto]

Dell inspiron 6400/E1505 works QE/CI without external cable, but no sound support (sigmatel9200)

[ome.ijs]

I have an HP NC6000 (Pentium M version). QE/CI work out of the box, with a bit of tearing. Powermanagement works almost with the hacked power management bundle, with some 1.4.7 kexts it even shows state directly after boot (ac/batt), but only updates correctly after re-inserting the battery. Turning off display needs Radeontool. DSS works with the ACPICPUThrottle package. PCMCIA slot isn't recognized and built-in ethernet works only with the hacked BCM driver. Everything else (sound/bluetooth/wifi/usb/whatever) just works as expected.
Battery life is poor tough, about 1 hour vs. 4 hours in windoze.

[TribesMan]

My friend bought Acer Travelmater 2423 few weeks ago, and it works like a charm. Everything from graphics (Intel GMA 900 & 1280*800 14.1") to WiFi (Atheros). Only downside of it is that it has Celeron 1.5Ghz CPU... But the price is nice... only 550 euro And it is quite well made, and it only weighs 2.3kg.

[Colonel]

The MacBook is a laptop and it has full hardware support and acceleration.

[jacob019]

The MacBook is a laptop and it has full hardware support and acceleration.

Yes, MacBooks are good and I have one but I'd like a cheap light backup computer

[retroz]

Yes, MacBooks are good and I have one but I'd like a cheap light backup computer

Wondering if the lineup will change with new chips next month!

Doubtful, but for us builders, we should get more GPU and driver support.

Was thinking about a MB, or iMAC, but since I have a PC DAW AMD and my HACK which works with Final Cut and sees Digital Camera's, Camcorders, might just wait.

Would like a good MB. Personally, and this is my .03 cents, the MB and MBP lines need to be re-vamped with cooler chips, but anyway, the MBP should be the MB, backlit and all...and the MBP should be a dual duo core, then the tower line should be the quad duo core, but apple won't sell it that way, like intel, they will price gouge as much as they can until they can no longer either by way of OSX86 or licesing the OS to Dell, etc.

[jacob019]

My friend bought Acer Travelmater 2423 few weeks ago, and it works like a charm. Everything from graphics (Intel GMA 900 & 1280*800 14.1") to WiFi (Atheros). Only downside of it is that it has Celeron 1.5Ghz CPU... But the price is nice... only 550 euro And it is quite well made, and it only weighs 2.3kg.

So your friends laptop has full graphics acceleration and doesn't have the external monitor startup issue?

Retroz,
I agree with you. My friend has a macbook and it has some problems and is in for repairs right now. He's using a hackintosh laptop right now as my backup. The lack of video acceleration sucks though.

Also,
How bad is this mouse tearing issue I keep hearing about? Does it interfere with the use of the laptop? Is there any fix?

[Bicet]

I've Got a Mitac 8050D and it's fully compatible except for the Intel wireless Card

[atiom]

Also, I noticed that Apple also uses ATI Radeon 9700 chips. Has anyone tried using a laptop with the 9700?

I've got an acer travelmate 4002wlmi with mobility 9700 64mb.
Works fine, qe and coregraphics, still can't get native widescreen res.

wifi and touchpad do not work on this model, as well as sleep function.
also sometimes the keyboard stops function.

cheers!

edit: got native wide screen with full accel! callisto driver=)

[macman88]

just wondering...how well would these laptops run in comparison with a macbook (reg, not pro)?

im planning on getting a laptop soon [college], but my parents gave me a huge rant when i asked them if i can have $1100 for a macbook...so i'm trying to find a temporary solution until i save up enough moola (and combine it with selling the hackintosh laptop) to get a real macbook.

[JakeGub]

HP dv2000t

I'm having to use my Installation DVD to boot up for now or else i get a b0 error. Reinstalling but my Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/ Bluetooth is not really working. Bluetooth shows up but i Do not have a device with which to test it. Ethernet and wifi not working. I don't know how to tell if the graphics acceleration is working, but I have not noticed a problem with it yet. Audio not working. Pretty disappointing, I may have to go back to windows until someone way smarter than me fixes some things.

edit: b0 error was a problem with setting a partition active. Thanks to the forums, my intel pro/100 ve ethernet is now working well. haven't messed around with audio yet. wireless sounds like a longshot, I may look into a replacement wireless card, although I payed an additional 10 dollars to include bluetooth with mine.

[jacob019]

speed is impressive on the hackintoshes. They run very fast. I'm on one with a Pentium M 1.4 and it's MUCH snappier than my 1.66GHz PowerBook. After much review the chepest laptop with the best hardware support seems to be the HP Compaq NC6000, that is if you buy one used on eBay. Some tinkering may be in order to get all the hardware working perfect but I believe it can be done.

[Batousai]

About your list, I have a Thinkpad T42, and it's not that hot when it comes to Hackintosh action. I had to do a lot of tweaks to get even OGL to work partially. The Thinkpad T60 on the other hand, with the integrated GMA 950 worked great out of the box, all I had to do was a minor tweak to get Sound to work and that's it, QE/CI were enabled by default, & I could enable Q2DE as well.

[jacob019]

I have a Thinkpad T42, and it's not that hot when it comes to Hackintosh action.

Thanks for you input, I've modified the list to reflect it.

[guiyoforward]

hi there, this thread is great, I added a link to it in the wiki. however, I think we should make up something like a built hackintosh logo. having a guide for the right configuration for, say, the current dell, hp and toshiba models would really help this scene. just my $.02

[jacob019]

I got the HP Compaq nc6000. It works well but not perfect. The sound craps out under heavy hard drive load. The audio shows up as Line Out and plugging headphones in leaves the internal speakers on, this can be remedied with USB headphones. Power management doesn't work without unplugging the battery and plugging it back in. The video isn't perfect the mouse leaves artifacts and other small ones pop up too. Most of the video problems can be remedied with mouse locator in always on mode with a custom locator image (transparent or a pic of the cursor). It's sooo nice to have video acceleration on a hackintosh. Make sure you have a genuine HP WiFi card. I believe the W400 W450 and W500 all work. I have the W450 which has a broadcom chip, its a little known secret that this card works with this laptop. The Intel WIFI card doesn't work with OS X and any other cards will cause a bios lock to halt the computer at boot. Power scaling doesn't work right for the longest time the computer would slow to a crawl without the power cord plugged in. Make sure power scaling is disabled in the bios. I can't think of any other issues right now. I'm very happy with this machine. It works better than my MacBook because it's not always dropping the wireless signal. I will keep looking for the perfect fully working hackbook. Please continue to post your experience with any fully working hackbook including full video acceleration and sound.

[vpvl66]

HP dv2000t
...
wireless sounds like a longshot, I may look into a replacement wireless card, although I payed an additional 10 dollars to include bluetooth with mine.

Don't waste your time/money getting a different brand wireless card. I just purchased a Dell 1390 mini PCI-e w/ Broadcom chipset for my dv2000t. However, after plugging in the new card you are likely to get a '104 - unsupported wireless card' BIOS boot error, which is HP's way of saying 'buy our expensive cards'.

I've been trying to play with BIOS modifications, similar to http://www.richud.co...on-104-Bios-Fix and http://www.paul.slad...rd-pci-ids.html to make my 1390 work in dv2000t. However, it seems that this unit has a very different bios structure, so applying the same type of mod won't be easy. Also, you risk making your new dv2000t a nice 5lb brick.