Icebreaker Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Hi all, I have been thinking of buying a PC for OSX but now my wife needs a laptop. She uses multimedia apps alot so a dual core laptop would be nice, but I understand that OSX will only run with one core enabled? Here in Italy, where we live, Dell laptops offer the best performance/$ ratio, but I´m puzzled about the dual core issue with OSX. Is it possible that I would have to buy an Apple laptop to get the dual core support? If all PC dual core laptops won´t work with OSX, I´m thinking if the cheap Dell Inspiron 1300 might be ok? It has the GMA 900 integrated graphics and other cheap components. An alternative is to wait for the Macbook, but I suspect it will be overpriced vs PC laptops. All advice is welcome! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konami® Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 just buy a p4 based laptop and should run OS X without problem, I have a old P4 toshiba laptop from 2001 and run OS X 10.4.6 without problem, of course does not support QE or Core Image Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-96804 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebreaker Posted April 15, 2006 Author Share Posted April 15, 2006 P4 is obsolete and I want both CI and QE...otherwise I will just run XP and a linux distro. Macbook dual core is rumored to cost 1400 euros, with the tiny 13" widescreen and it is way overpriced IMO, so I´m just going to get some decent PC laptop. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-96807 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebreaker Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 I´m surprised that no dual core laptops work perfectly. What single core laptop would you recommend then? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97285 Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobNyc Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 good topic! im also interested in knowing this since im shopping for a notebook too and it seems the intel core duo can be better packaged than the amds .. in laptops Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97395 Share on other sites More sharing options...
adlai Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 If you buy a Windows laptop, run Windows on it. If you want to run OS X, buy a Mac laptop. I've installed the cracked version, but it was on an old computer that was getting really bad, and it was a desktop. I would definitely not buy a new computer with the express purpose of installing cracked OS X on it. So many problems, so much futzing with system directories. the macbook laptops are actually really good deals for dual core laptops, comparable laptops from Acer are $300 more. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97411 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebreaker Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 If you buy a Windows laptop, run Windows on it. If you want to run OS X, buy a Mac laptop. I've installed the cracked version, but it was on an old computer that was getting really bad, and it was a desktop. I would definitely not buy a new computer with the express purpose of installing cracked OS X on it. So many problems, so much futzing with system directories. the macbook laptops are actually really good deals for dual core laptops, comparable laptops from Acer are $300 more. I´m going to have dual boot. The cheapest Dell dual core E1505 costs $750 while the Macbook pro is $1999. I know the MBP is more powerful, but this Dell is CHEAP and powerful enough for my needs. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97421 Share on other sites More sharing options...
adlai Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Well, you don't get a comparable vid card, hard drive, RAM probably, dvd burner, etc. Add all of that on, and the price difference isn't that great. Besides, the cheaper Macbook (ibook equivalent) should be out within a month or two. I'd wait for that to come out. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97428 Share on other sites More sharing options...
babyjenniferLB Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 guys osx dodgie is fine for tinkering with on old computers and stuff but dont forget were steeling and commiting copyright enfringment. If your buying a laptop to run os x then your buying a ibook or a macbook or a macbook pro or a older powerbook. some hacked together notebook will never work as well as a apple notebook with 2 finger scrolling and a design to kill for. Your cracked laptop is never going to work without a hitch nor come with bluetooth and wifi and all the other bells and wistles as standard. but i guess you want a dell as you said you want a cheep tacky dell so buy a cheep tacky dell, i earn $60 a month and i mave a ibook 14inch i saved up for, you live in a contury were you can earn what i and people in my contury earn in a month in one day and you cant afford a ibook you would rather have a dell cos its cheeper, and you compare a lower spec system to a higher one and have the cheeck to say the higher speced computer is expencive, its not expencive. You are getting a $100 OSX licance and ilife 06, and all the other great features, i dont know if you have checked but right now the current ibook has 6 hours battery life if you need a cheep notebook now buy one of thous. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97462 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebreaker Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 Well, in my case, a Mac laptop is not a option since I need to run XP and cannot afford Mac pro and I cannot wait for the Macbook.... So I´m getting a pc laptop and it would be very nice to have a dual boot, so I´m asking what is my best option if I want some performance on a budget? Normally a Dell dual core would offer most speed for the buck, but if I only wanted to use XP. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97819 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonajona Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Get the new ZD8000. Go to HP website and check it out. It has all the bells and whistles you'll ever need for XP and OSX. QE and CI are not supported right now but it will be soon... just check the MacVidia site. I have a ZD7000 and it works flawlessly. Wireless works and everything else. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-97842 Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossbetween Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 i have the dell e1505 running 10.4.5 in a dual boot environment, xp and osx. Got the idea from a thread here, search for e1505 and you will find it. I have the base options for the vid card and wireless, 1gb ram and t2300 processor. I would get the dvd burner if I were to do it again but over all i am VERY happy with my purchase. I would recommend this as the only thing "broken" in my osx install is sound.... not that important until you start itunes I would try that laptop first personally.... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-98221 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Crow Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 i have the dell e1505 running 10.4.5 in a dual boot environment, xp and osx. Got the idea from a thread here, search for e1505 and you will find it. I have the base options for the vid card and wireless, 1gb ram and t2300 processor. I would get the dvd burner if I were to do it again but over all i am VERY happy with my purchase. I would recommend this as the only thing "broken" in my osx install is sound.... not that important until you start itunes I would try that laptop first personally.... hey acrossb, i am also thinking of buying e1505.. can u please tell us how "quite" is it? (the Cpu fan) I have a dell c400 and it's reaaallyyy silent concerning sound, did you use the new patches etc??? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-98330 Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossbetween Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 hey acrossb, i am also thinking of buying e1505.. can u please tell us how "quite" is it? (the Cpu fan)I have a dell c400 and it's reaaallyyy silent concerning sound, did you use the new patches etc??? hey i just saw youre response. sorry. i work nights and sleep during the day.... Anyways im awake now! I use to have an old compaq laptop. Pretty much the same dimensions, it was a little thicker, had a pentium 4 1.5, 256 mg of ram 20gb hd, that thing you could hear start and stop it was SO loud. (below applies to when im in winxp and osx) Comparing the e1505, this thing runs very silent. i honestly dont know when it's on or off. I looked for fans in regard to the cpu (at least where I think it's at) and it looks like just heat pipe. It can get a little hot when using the cd drive for dvd or something but nothing to be concerned about. I am overall very happy with the laptop, esp for the price. i dont need alot of hd space and I dont game. i do the occasional photoshopping, video editing, web surfing, budget stuff, im-ing, and that's about it. Works very well with my wife too! I have read some others complaining about build quality and screens not looking so great with the upgrade. i did not get the higher resolution screen so I havent seen what they are talking about. Some were complaining about light bleeding at the bottom of the lcd screen. I have none of that whatsoever. I would highly recommend getting this laptop, quiet, cool, speedy. Not the most lightweight thing on the block but it isnt a monstrosity like giant hp laptops. about the sound patches..... I have not seen any patches yet for this specific sound card, it's a sigmatel. last time I heard they are working on it. I would assume they would post it in that thread about the e1505 but you never know. There are a couple more things about the e1505 that you need to be aware of if you purchase it and intend on using osx86 with it. Obviously the apci doesnt work so no suspend, sleep, etc. however the boot is pretty quick so it's not much of a concern for me. the other, more important thing is that with the e1505 it has media direct on it. The ability to press the media direct button and boot a dvd player (within a very light version of winxp) and access dvd player functinality, see your pics on your hd, mp3's on hd etc.... now this is a great feature but when you install osx86 and if your format your whole drive you loose this functionality as it needs that first 40mb partition and also the system restore partition. If either of those two partitions are gone that's basically hosed. You can restore it if those are partitioned according to a website, pm with details if necessary, I would have to look it up. But they are saying that it's kind of difficult and sometime doesnt work at all, you just loose that functionality. I did not get rid of those partitions as I wanted that ability so i was able to change the mbr on the hd and repair it with the os cd that you have to purchase with the laptop (definately get this option when you check out- the os cd's) I used the fix media direct boot, then chain0 in the boot ini file and I have all of it working again! One last thing is that the core duo doesnt work in osx, you have to go into the bios and turn that off if you want a smooth operating osx86, it's jumpy if not. Anyways, i hope those things deter you in any way of getting the e1505, it's a great machine, Im very happy with it! And I would highly recommend it. If you have any questions more about it feel free to email me at acrossbetween at gmail dot com. thanks! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-98958 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Crow Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 THANXXXXXX !!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-99159 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dxben Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 You need to seriously consider the Thinkpad T60p. It is a gorgeous laptop, easily the best quality of any PC laptop out there. Performance is great. I know people are running OSX, but the only problem is no audio. Are people able to get native audio on these other laptops? That would be curious to understand how. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-99682 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdogg Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 I have had my E1505 for about 6 weeks, using Acronis to dual boot Windows XP Media Center edition and OSX 10.4.6. I sold an iBook PPC (1.2 ghz, 12") to purchase it and I actually made $80 more than the total of the E1505 w/tax and shipping. I also own a Mac mini (PPC - came w/ Tiger preinstalled) and I have a purchased copy of Tiger, which I did not install on the iBook when I sold it, so I may be rationalizing a bit, but I do own a license for it even if the EULA has been broken with the patches. Before you flame, I want to be sure you know that I am a rabid Apple fan. Not justifying breaking the EULA, but I'm also not trying to rip them off either. Their products are the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. Just wanted to get that out of the way. I lucked into buying mine on one of those days that Dell was being particularly generous, and I got the 1.67 Dual Core, w/ a gb of RAM, the enhanced version of the 15.5" widescreen display, and a DVD burner for right at $700 - with tax and shipping. My wireless works beautifully both at home and work. And to say that this thing runs OSX better than my Mac mini or the iBook is a huge understatement. I dare say it runs as good as the MacBooks I have played with! The only glitch so far is the aforementioned dual core and sound issues, but I have a set of USB headphones that work awesome with it. And until a patch - or Apple breaks down and offers a shrinkwrapped OSX for non-Apple machines (I can hope), it works great running at a single core. The chipset for the most part is absolutely identical to the MacBook equivalent; having been one of the Mac Faithful for years, it is very disheartening to see what an enormous margin that Apple is making on their hardware. Yes, the case components of the MacBook are of higher quality - but nowhere near justifying a cost of $1300 more for essentially the same computer. The display is crisp and sharp - not Apple Cinema quality, but wayyyyy better than my iBook's display. I really can't recommend it enough. I disagree that this should only be used on old systems. If you have hardware that's identical to the MacBook's or the Intel desktops like this, there's no reason it can't be used as a primary OS. Other than the EULA being broken. There...I'm sure I beat someone to the punch :>) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100306 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Aronowitz Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 You can now get the e1505 with a 256MB ati x1400 which should work with osx10.4.X. Not so sure about the sigmatel sound though. I was thinking about buying this myself but havent pulled the trigger. Right now I have a powerbook 12.1 an Ibook 12.1 a p4 3.0GHZ dual booting xp and osx. A Fedora box running mythtv in my living room and a box for downloading porn and osx86 updates . Ultimately I'd like something 12-14" with a video card that will support vista with all the garbage, osx86, and enough to support games and light enough to carry back and forth to work. (external monitor is fine when I am sitting at a desk) The closest I have seen is the compaq v2000 amd series but the ati 200m just doesnt cut it. Also I'd like it to be around or under the $1200 range. If dell comes out with a 12-14" with the 1505 specs I'd go for it. BTW the 1505 is huge. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100313 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatDeceiver Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 as acrossbetween and gdog say, this is the perfect notebook. I got this from a thread by greta... As soon as I read this I changed my order with an intel wifi to dell. everything works beautifully except sound. I get around this problem by using a thumbdrive type sounddevice that came with my headset. works fine for head phones and decent sound over speakers (no 5.1, but for travel this is great). as said, it's jumpy with dualcore but that can be turned off in bios, so there is really no need to stick with single core. I got mine as well that one day for 700 with all the bells and whistles. happy camper here with dual boot (using the chain0 option). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100326 Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossbetween Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Im not sure if this helps or anything but I did see this http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=15474 this person says that there is a way to get around the dual core issue slowing osx down, I havent tried it personally on the e1505, will be doing that this weekend, but if it does work then that is at least one less thing to worry about with the e1505, as far as I can see you can tell the kernel to just use one core so no switching in the bios before you boot! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100403 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatDeceiver Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Im not sure if this helps or anything but I did see this http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=15474 this person says that there is a way to get around the dual core issue slowing osx down, I havent tried it personally on the e1505, will be doing that this weekend, but if it does work then that is at least one less thing to worry about with the e1505, as far as I can see you can tell the kernel to just use one core so no switching in the bios before you boot! I tried the idlehalt=0, but it's still jumpy, didnt' help. however, forcing it to see only one cpu by cpus=1 helps. thanks for the tip. no switching in bios anymore. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100575 Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain21 Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 If you wanna run both OSes, get a MacBook. There are several comparisons out there with a MacBook and a similarly configured Dell/Acer, etc. As one poster said, the Acer was actually $300 more. The Dell comparison puts the Dell cheaper by $18, and that is with both Mac and Dell coupons applied, including a big one for the Dell that you likely won't see around very often. Basically it amounts to getting a "boutique" laptop (think Alienware, etc.) for the price of a standard laptop. You also get an expresscard slot. WHile that may seem bad because there are very few expresscard device out there, within a year there will be a lot. ExpressCard gives you 1.5Gb/sec bandwidth - a HELL of a lot faster than PCMCIA/Cardbus cards that are still the norm on most laptops (the similarly configured Dell did have an expresscard slot). The Mac has a MUCH better screen than pretty much ANY of the standard laptops that it compares to. I do graphics, video editing, etc. I REFUSE to use any LCD on my desktop computers except for the Apple Cinema displays (and right now I don't have the $$$ for one of those). There is no way around it on a laptop. Honestly, there is a HUGE difference between the Apple Cinema displays and some other brand display. It's not size. It's the brightness, accuracy of colors, ability to be correctly calibrated, and they don't suffer from many of the "smears" that you see on an LCD monitor when the desktop is set to ANYTHING other than the single native resolution of the LCD monitor. If you decide to go non-apple and you want to run both OSes you will run into the following problems/caveats: 1) If you don't have the exact Intel Shared graphics chipset of the MacMini, or the ATI Radeon X1600 (or whatever) that the MacBooks use, you will be forced to stay in 1024x768-land on your new laptop. 2) You will NOT be able to access files off of your HFS partition from within windows, even with MacDrive! If you attach another drive that is HFS formatted, you will be able to access that from with both Win & OSX provided that you have MacDrive Pro for Windows, however, MacDrive Pro can ONLY access OSX files from within windows on a single, dual formatted HDD within the BootCamp environment. I know, I talked to some of their people the other day (incidentally, the FAQ says that you cannot access the HFS partition using MacDrive from within windows if the drive is dual formatted, i.e. NTFS partition & HFS partition. They assured me that this info is actually incorrect, and it does work on a dual-formatted HDD, but only in a MacBookPro/Boot Camp setup) 3) Your wireless card may or may not work, depending on the drivers, etc. 4) When a new version of Mac OS comes out, you will have to wait for it to be cracked before you can upgrade/install it on your Windows Laptop. If you have a MacBook you can get the update right away and not have to worry about anything. Ditto for the windows partition. I have debated this back & forth for a while. I was *really* looking forward to getting a new Dual-Core TabletPC and then dual-booting OSX (yes, I know I lose Tablet functionality when in OSX - no biggie), but so far all of the announced dual-cores are nVidia-based. That coupled with the fact that most only come with a single drive, and MacDrivePro won't do what I need it to since I'm not using BootCamp, plus the whole LCD factor, I've decided that my next latop (getting in a few months) will be a MacBook Pro, and I'll bootcamp it. I may get my laptop when Leopard comes out, but I don't think that will be till the fall, and I can't wait that long. So Instead of dual-booting a TabletPC, I'm getting a MacBook Pro and bootcamping WinXPTabletPC edition and I'll hook up a small Wacom Graphire. It's a kludge as far as Tablet functionality goes, but it seems to be the best solution right now (and if Apple announces a MacTablet later this year, I'm just gonna shoot myself). Hope this helps, Brain21 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100657 Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrossbetween Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 I tried the idlehalt=0, but it's still jumpy, didnt' help. however, forcing it to see only one cpu by cpus=1 helps. thanks for the tip. no switching in bios anymore. strange thing when i did it, and it's a myzar install, is that I had neither of those options. So i still need to switch. Oh well, might have to do 10.4.6 soon. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100763 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatDeceiver Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 strange thing when i did it, and it's a myzar install, is that I had neither of those options. So i still need to switch. Oh well, might have to do 10.4.6 soon. that may be the problem, I have the 'other' install 4.4 to 4.5 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15095-dual-core-laptop-for-osx/#findComment-100856 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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