Perfect out of the box? Lenovo (IBM) ThinkPad Laptop

[3nigma]

I want to marry the perfect software, OS X, to the perfect hardware, the IBM ThinkPad. Some may not find it pretty, but it is the epic monolith of the laptop world, with a titanium case and internal roll cage frame, hard disk cage, keyboard-liquid-spill tray, etc.

 

Here are the hardware specs. I am hoping to match the hardware of the MacBook perfectly.

 

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T8100 (2.1GHz 800MHz 3MBL2)

Display Type: 14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ Camera

System Graphics: Intel GMA X3100 GM965

Memory: 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)

Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: Intel Turbo Memory 1GB (*OPTIONAL)

DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim

System Expansion Slots: PC Card Slot & Media Card Slot

Wireless Card: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG OR Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)

Integrated Bluetooth PAN

 

My questions are, (1) since the video card is identical, will it be perfectly supported, with all the QE and such?

 

(2) The Wifi card is not Atheros, it is Intel- is there a fix for this yet?

 

(3) Should I get the optional Turbo Memory (Santa Rosa option, I think), for faster boot time and app-cache, or will OS X not be able to use it anyway?

 

(4) Can OS X handle a 14" widescreen resolution, rather than 13.3" wide res?

 

(5) Would Bluetooth work?

 

(6) Would the webcam work, or is this stretching it?

 

Thanks guys very much.

[hellobenny]

Just to share my experience, im using a T61 right now with the hardware supposedly the most compatible with mac osx86. That is, I'm using the x3100 video card, and using the atheros 11 a/b/g wireless card. Though the configuration is similar to a macbook, there are still major problems for me though:

 

Sound: does not work (I've looked high and dry for solutions to get the AD1984 sound card running, nothing yet)

Sleep/Display issues: After Waking up from sleep, the screen is gray and scrambled (looks kinda like a mosaic). This is probably the biggest dealbreaker

 

Some other problems:

Wireless connects and disconnects very often

Time runs slower than actual time

OS X Glitches (many random ones, unexplicable)

 

Because of these problems, and the fact that I want to run osx really bad, I've decided to sell this machine (and buy a real mac). Not because its not a great machine, like you said, thinkpads are rock solid. However, I really do feel like there some major issues that prevent this machine from being a good canidate to run OSX. If you really want to run OSX, I'd consider a Macbook Pro. The price difference is higher, maybe by $500 for a similarly equipped machine, but the screen is much nicer, and your time is probably much more valuable than the price difference. The way I think of it is, would you rather be doing work or be on this forum looking for fixes to your laptop.

 

Good luck.