somorastik Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hi, I have an oportunity to get this VBI (verified by intel) notebook which seems to me more or less the same hardware as MacBook Pro for about 1/2 the price of Mac. My config would be: 2,5Ghz Core2Duo 6Mb L2, 4Gb Ram, 250Gb HD,Bt, Wifi (Atheros CM9)... which comes up to 1545 Dollars Here are the specs, let me hear your opinion on the hardware and compatibility, and if I shoul buy one SANTA ROSA REFRESH - 45nm CPU support FL92 PM2 Barebone Dual Core Notebook, Featuring Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology - Santa Rosa platform, 15.4" WXGA+, DVD+/-RW Dual-Layer, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT 512MB (DirectX10, HD DVD, Blu-Ray, Vista), 2Mpx Web-Cam, Fingerprint, TPM, GLAN Not included: HDD, CPU, RAM, WIFI card, BT module, OS ! Processor Support Socket P Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (Penryn 45nm, Merom 65nm with 800MHz) – Soc-P Only Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (Merom 65nm with 800MHz) – Soc-P Only Intel® Celeron® Processor (Merom 65nm with 533MHz) – Soc-P Only Supported FSB 533 /667/ 800MHz– Soc-P Only Chipset Intel® GM965 Express Chipset Intel® GM965 GMCH Intel® ICH8M Main Memory Two (2) DDR2 SO-DIMM connectors 533/667MHz 512MB to maximum 4GB Support Intel® Turbo Memory Yes( 2nd Mini Card Slot, support up to 1G) Display & Graphics 15.4”W WXGA+(1440 x 900), Glare NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT 512MB BIOS Phoenix First BIOS Hard Drive One 2.5” 9.5mm SATA 3Gbps HDD Memory Card Reader 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro) Express Card Slot Express Card 34/54mm X 1 Optical Drive 12.7mm height PATA Combo(CD-RW/DVD-ROM) DVD-RAM/-R/-RW readable (Rambo) Communication - Modem - LAN - WLAN - Bluetooth - Camera Internal Modem with MDC 1.5 solution V.92/56K bps; V.90/56K bps Broadcom 5786 Gigabit LAN Optional Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN/AG and Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (Mini-card interface) Three Antennae support Optional Bluetooth Camera 2.0 MPixel System Status LED 3 K/B indicators: Caps Lock (Blue), and Num Lock (Blue), Scroll Lock (Blue) 1 LED for IDE HDD activity (Blue) 1 LED for System status (Power On / Suspend) (Blue) 1 LED for Battery status (Charging / Full / L1 / L2) (Blue/Amber) 1 LED for Wireless LAN & Bluetooth (Blue/Amber/Purple) 1 LED for Power Button(Blue) 1 LED for Mute(Amber) 1 LED for Power USB on(Amber) Interface No port Cover Hi-Speed USB 2.0 x 2 Power USB x 2 (1A) RGB; VGA port x 1, 15pins S-Video out x1 Microphone-in x 1 Headphone-out x 1 DC-in jack x 1 RJ-45 jack x 1 RJ-11 jack x 1 3-in-1 Card Reader x1 1394a x 1 Kensington lock x 1 Fingerprint reader x 1 Keyboard Button & Hot Keys on Keyboard 86 keys support with 101/102 key emulation without stick-point. Windows key, Application key Standard pitch, 3.0mm travel length. Multi-Language support Power button x 1 Magnetic lid switch control for system standby/wakeup or suspend/resume Mute button x 1 Control button for short-Cut key functions 1 WWW (Explorer) key 1 E-mail (Outlook) key Control buttons for Smart Charging Smart Charging Control buttons for Power USB Power USB (Workable in system off mode) Audio Realtek ALC268, 2 channel HD Audio Microphone-in and headphone-out Two stereo 1.5W speakers Power Management ACPI 2.0 Battery Pack & Life 6 cell Li-On, 4800/5200mAh AC Adapter Universal AC adapter. 90-264V AC, 47-63HZ 90W with 19V DC Dimension & Weight 2.7 kg /355mm(W) x 257mm(D)x 35.2mm(H) Security HDD Password Kensington lock Regulation EMI: FCC-B, CE, CCC, A,C-Tick, VCCI, BSMI Safety: Compliant to UL/CSA, TUV, CB PTT: FCC-Part 68, CTR 21 MDA2005 Compliant Software Utility Phoenix First BIOS Phoenix First BIOS Suspend to DRAM/HDD Security: TPM Power-On Password, Supervisor Password HDD password USB memory Boot support Support SMBIOS 2.3, PCI2.2 Support PXE Wake on LAN from S3 Wake on LAN form S4 in AC mode Windows Certification Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional(SP2) Microsoft® Windows® XP Home(SP2, 32bit only) Microsoft® Vista® Home Basic (32 & 64 bit) Microsoft® Vista® Home Premium (32 & 64 bit) Microsoft® Vista® Business (32 & 64 bit) Microsoft® Vista® Ultimate (32 & 64 bit) Cheers! img.asp.jpeg Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
derailed_spark Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 ...at the first glance , the wireless card is incompatible. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-810039 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 ...at the first glance , the wireless card is incompatible. Yes yes, I know I just modified my post about that, I will be using Atheros CM9 wifi, which shoul show up as AirPort Extreme. What about all the other stuff ? The Borad? Besides I know and I dont mind that the camera and the fingerprint reader wont work. Thx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-810128 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Mills Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Why won't the fingerprint reader work? I got mine working on my Toshiba U200. Camera might work with Macam as well Rest looks like it should work well enough.. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-812437 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Why won't the fingerprint reader work? I got mine working on my Toshiba U200. Camera might work with Macam as well Rest looks like it should work well enough.. Realy? Thats great news! I supose the fingerprint reader didnt work out of the box, did it? How do you use it in OsX ? R. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-812725 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiliMac Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Just my two cents, but for that price, you might take a look at the refurbished Macbook Pro on Apple's website... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-813931 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stellarola Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Just my two cents, but for that price, you might take a look at the refurbished Macbook Pro on Apple's website... Agreed. Running OSx86 on a laptop usually is a complete pain in the ass. I think if you're going to spend that much dough, so grab a real mac. -Stell Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-814026 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Agreed. Running OSx86 on a laptop usually is a complete pain in the ass. I think if you're going to spend that much dough, so grab a real mac. -Stell Yeah you both right, but Im from east europe so getting even a refurbished MacBook Pro can cost a lot. So Im trying to find some other way. In USA the prices for macs are great... Hmm but its an VBI notebook and as far as I googled out these work with a lot of thing out of the box with osx86, though im affraid that itll be pain in the ass as you said.... Thx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-814125 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 No ways, you will be able to get OSx86 working perfectly in that laptop! Get it! Even the fingerprint scanner is working, if you read Macgirl's thread, she gets her Dell XPS M1330 pretty much working perfectly. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-815871 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Descalzo Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Yeah you both right, but Im from east europe so getting even a refurbished MacBook Pro can cost a lot. So Im trying to find some other way.In USA the prices for macs are great... Hmm but its an VBI notebook and as far as I googled out these work with a lot of thing out of the box with osx86, though im affraid that itll be pain in the ass as you said.... Thx Getting it all to work is half the fun! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-815989 Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I would watch out for the 8600, because apparently from what I understand, all of the 8600 and 8400 mobile devices are bugged, and are in danger of failing due to temperatures. Which most people haven't had a problem with this, but tons of people also have. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-816527 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 No ways, you will be able to get OSx86 working perfectly in that laptop! Get it! Even the fingerprint scanner is working, if you read Macgirl's thread, she gets her Dell XPS M1330 pretty much working perfectly. At LAST some positive reply! Thanks Synaethesia! I have to find macgirls thread witch you mentioned...here are some other therads that show that compals run quite well: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...rt=#entry812463 Thx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-817558 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 On the other hand I found this...it makes me think otherwise.... http://www.insanelymac.com/lofiversion/index.php/t97739.html r. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-817579 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 How can I work out the Lan Broadcom 5786 ??? As far as i read its uncompatible? Or? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-817627 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 On the other hand I found this...it makes me think otherwise....http://www.insanelymac.com/lofiversion/index.php/t97739.html mmm...some very minor complaints here. It really doesn't matter what the system detects, everything works perfectly!! 1.- No processor name, just unknown at 1.99. (instead of Core2Duo at 2.0) 2.- No chipset model under SATA, instead of Intel PM965 + ICH8-M 3.- FSB is stuck at 100 Mhz instead of 800. 4.- Express Card not recognized, Card Reader not recognized. 4.- The computer identifies as a Mac Pro, not Mac Book. How can I work out the Lan Broadcom 5786 ??? As far as i read its uncompatible? Or?If it's incompatible, it's incompatible. There's nothing you can do about it except connect via wi-fi or buy a USB-Ethernet connector. (there are some that work) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-819225 Share on other sites More sharing options...
somorastik Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 mmm...some very minor complaints here. It really doesn't matter what the system detects, everything works perfectly!! If it's incompatible, it's incompatible. There's nothing you can do about it except connect via wi-fi or buy a USB-Ethernet connector. (there are some that work) So do you suggest to get that notebook? Oh mighty Synaesthesia? On the other hand, I will be forced to use windows on school much of the time so I just put this more or less as an experiment. Is there any special configuration to install Mac Os on a notebook, like a special dvd? My brother has Macbook maybe I could hack that? Thx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/114389-osx86-god-of-laptops/#findComment-819823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts