Hi everyone,

So my original plan was to build a new PC to replace my old Pentium III machine and then buy a new Mac Pro to replace my old G3 tower. I build the PC, put Windows XP on it, and then with a spare drive started experimenting with getting OS X running on it.

Well, it runs pretty well! It doesn't like to shut down, but boy is it fast! It works well enough that it made me reconsider buying a Mac Pro. So I was wondering something: all of us here have turned PC hardware into Macintoshes. And most of us have some quirks with it (won't shutdown, random crashes, inconsistent video card support, etc). So how many of you would trust your great, new OS X experiment enough to make it your primary computer? Keep all your documents on there, your resume, your taxes, your music, all your family photos? Has anyone actually lost any data due to an OS update gone bad or anything like that?

What do you all think?

I keep an image on a separate hard drive, so if anything goes wrong I just restore to the image. But I've had to do that tonight a few times because of this 10.5.3 update. I love my hackintosh but sometimes I wish updates were a little smoother. That's been my only complaint.

well alot of them shutdown, havnt had any random crashes, and my video card has GFX strings so its close to real but I still have my MAC PRO as my main pc.

No, I do not completely trust it.
I have mounted a 320GB drive, a 300GB drive and a 200 GB drive.
The 300GB is backup of the 320GB drive, but all the information on those drives are also on my MacBook, which is my main computer. The MB has a faster processor, as well as Bluetooth for my wireless keyboard etc.

Dell Dimension 9200(XPS410) 10.5.3 - ONLY OS for 7 months - no problems!
HP DV6716ez 10.5.2 - ONLY OS for two months(new notebook) - no problems! I'm upgrading as we speak!
HP NX7010 10.5.2 - ONLY OS for 6 months - no problems! Sold it to someone in Basel, Switzerland with MacOS on it and he is still happy!

SticMAN

i trust mine 110%. I almost never touch my MBP any more

I switched from a Mini to my "Hack Pro". I love it and use it as my main OS. Just get the right components for the vanilla install and you should be fine. The small updates are no problems and the major updates are simple thanks to Netkas and Kalaway. I would suggest that it feels kind of like what it must be like to run a "borrowed" version of windows - sometimes you might have to think before you do a major update. My build is totally stable and I can't find a way to break it.

I trust mine 100%. Haven't had any trouble with it and haven't booted into windows since january or something. Its a dream to work with and beats the crap out of the G5 I have at work. I also use Kalyway 10.5.2 on my HEL80 laptop and it runs great & everything works except shutdown. Allthough it feels a little more sketchy on my laptop than on my desktop.

I absolutely trust mine, with a caveat: DONT LET ANYONE ELSE MONKEY WITH IT IN ADMIN MODE. Make sure you require passwords to wake from sleep, screensaver, etc, and have a guest login for anyone but you. My wife has her own login, no admin rights for her. I don't want anyone but me installing anything, because I need to keep my eye on everything going onto this computer in case something breaks. If I break something, I'll at least know what broke it. If someone else breaks something, I won't necessarily know what broke it. That's the rub. Backing everything up periodically (TimeMachine is AWESOME for this) is pretty standard for anyone using any computer these days, it's no special circumstance or requirement for a hackintosh.

Once you lock down your security settings, it's really quite an excellent machine. I've got EVERYTHING working except sleep on S3. It's very nearly a real mac, and I've already used it on projects. (I'm an editor). My clients have been blown away by how fast it is. Granted, my wife resented not having admin rights for a brief moment, until I explained the situation to her, and she totally understood.

best of luck,
K

if u can go for a mac pro, i would buy that over a hack. but i use my hack as my main machine. however, i have xp on my other drive just incase it {censored}s up.

trust it 100% - just by the *right* parts.

...been trusting it since shortly after I joined this place (it's been awhile).

same with tha_toadman ... with all the right parts i complete trust it.. i have 2 stable hackintosh to run cinema 4d and maya on. I work in interior and architectural design. 2 hackintosh notebook. My mom's and my brothers pc+notebook are all hackintosh.

plus i pick a few notebooks to be most compatible with osx86. So far i had change my family from windows users to mac user now. It's too good to be true.

With all the fun running hackintosh. I also a proud owner of a both the macbook and the 24inch IMAC.

I trust it as much as any computer. As said before the updates are so much easier on a real mac. I test out the updates on a similar install on a usb external hdd. What you save in cash, you spend in time.

Trust my "HackPro" 110% - is as solid as a rock, and super powerful.

Agree with tha_toadman - get the right hardware, and it makes things a lot easier.

well, i have a hacked pro running rock solid 100%... no problems whatsoever... upgraded to 10.5.4. i followed the guide of weaksauce12 (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=112708&pid=797614&mode=threaded&start=800#entry797614)

to build it. you can also check out the new kid on the block e-fix.. which is supposedly tinker free and natively installs retail leopard on your hackintosh. You can do all updates directly from apple update without bricking your system. But it only works with a very specific hardware.. so you'll probably have to do a proper research on it. The creators do claim that they have nothing to do with osx86 scene.. so i am not sure how stable is their platform. i will still stick with osx86 as they are the pioneers who started all this.


so far i haven't had any issues with my system:

Hacked Pro (Kalyway 10.5.2 updated to 10.5.4)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 8 mb cache @ 2.4GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P
Ram: 4gb (2x2gb) 800 mhz DDR2 Transcend
Graphic Card: Zebronics 7300GT 512mb Ram (Quartz Extreme is supported and vram is 512 mb)
Case: Coolermaster Elite 330 with 390 Watt SMPS
Hard drives: one 300gb, 3GB/s, Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm Hdd and one 160gb, 1.5 GB/s Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm(from my old extinct PC)
Monitor: AOC 2216sw 22" widescreen TFT
Dvd Drive: MoserBaer liteon 22X DVD writer

Right now, yes.

I'm in a transition between my old computer and this one hackintosh only machine.

and shivdreamz18: you should overclock that q6600.. I mean.. you can easily reach 2.8-3.0 without stressing your parts.. you should do it. get some info on it.

The only thing that is keeping me from totally switching from the PC is this audio problem that plagues me at nearly every turn (posted in another forum and I use the PC for strictly playing WoW). With the exception of the audio the only other thing that I wish was different is I'd like the onboard LAN to work (I have a PCI thats better so I don't really care tbh)



Keyfer

The audio is indeed a pain in the ass to patch.

For me, there's one very last thing that makes me "need" windows.

There's a software that I use that works on both os x and windows (it also works on linux.. sweet) but there are some plugins for that software that aren't compatible on os x. However, there are some equivalents, I will just need to time to find these...

And right now, I have a few projects that use these windows only plugins.. so, until I finish them, I can't really be a 100% os x guy.

Mine was 5 times cheaper then MBP and everything worked exept the mic and i dont use the mic

Trust my "HackPro" 110%

I use my Hack for work and normal computer use, I use VMware Fusion to run my XP apps (Lotus Notes and Office 2007), no problems at all.

i trust in it 200% - got two of those "main computers" - and nothing else

Its actually my production machine. I feel as if you keep the important stuff backed up theres really no reason not to use it for your regular machine..

I Started with pearPC, and I have had both Intel and AMD hacks, I currently only have OS X on my computer hardware.

hope to be able to afford a real one, but college is Expensive and so is Gas.

I trust my Hack, it hasn't KPed or failed to boot for no reason yet *knocks on wood*

I m now using the hackintosh as my main computer, it trust him at 90% ( 10 % for the update part even if i m 100% vanilla )

it s always good to wait a little before upgrading it !

I trust my hackbook pro 100%, and I use it everyday at college going on 2 years now. I am vanilla though, and upgrading is pretty easy (so far). Although an external drive used exclusively for time machine backups give me some extra peace of mind.

Well I use Leopard as main OS now. I think that I'll remove Windows. My Hackitosh is running good and I trust it 100%

Yup I trust mine 150%. My main/only comp. It is totally rock solid. Running vanilla kernel but a few patched kexts for audio/gfx/LAN so updates I am always warey about. But stability is not an issue. It is on 24/7, sleep, shutdown etc everything is perfect. The only thing which would make you know its not a real Mac is the lack of bootcamp! Lol. But yea, all hardware everything is fine! Use it for work, all my documents/data stored on here (backed up of course but thats just good useage with any system!) As soon as you overcome the teething issues and learning during initial setup and usage and provided the HW is good your set! Any windows apps you use just get VMware fusion!

My personal opinion is I would rather this to a real Mac as its more fun in a sense!! Lol.

I would trust it more, but it likes to freeze during random things like:

1) Too many tabs in Firefox
2) Virtualization (VirtualBox, VMware, etc.)
3) Copying from LAN Sharing computers

and just other really random stuff. Hopefully my next install (soon) with iDeneb 10.5.5 will go better.

So I trust my current install 90%

full of trust but also full of tests
i need it for video edit etc so i want to be sure that programs run faster there than xp (after effects etc)
i need more time with this, right now is 50-50 dual boot
but yes, i have a lot of works even inside the mac, i spent a lot of time

Mine IS my main computer. You can trust is all day as long as you have it backed up. I have an external 1 TB hard drive so it's safe to say I'll be okay. I've came a long way and have even successfully updated to 10.5.5. I think I have installed Kalyway and Leo4All at least 60 times. But it's all test and re-test. For now I am good with no mouse artifacts like before. Oh how I love my ''MacPro3,1''

i trust my hack pro 100%, first i was install my hack pro on USB External drive for around 1 month, then when i get sure of stability i removed my Vista from my Dell Latitude D630, and i installed iATKOS v4, running it as my main os now, and have parallel for xp virtual machine for some applications that i do not have replacement on mac. my only problem is the update to 10.5.5 and i will install another hack pro on my external hard drive and test upgrades on it, but the problem that it need some time each time to install the new mac os.

Ehm... kinda.

I trust my Hacbook fully with my data. It's a Toshina L20-300, with the infamous x200 chipset. The only reason I don't use it as my main system is that it can't play video fullscreen. Since the hardware specs, I can't upgrade to Leopard.

But all of my important data is on it, so I trust it, yes.

I've been trusting my main machine for 7 months now. Haven't had any problems. Most definitely as reliable as any real Mac I've ever owned, probably moreso, since I have a collection of dead iMac's. And I had a dead G4 PowerMac that I turned into a hackintosh..

lol