niteman1969 Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 Hi People, firstly forgive me - I'm kinda new to all this and only recently stumbled on to the fact that you can run mac osx x86 on non-apple hardware. I am going to be buying a new laptop soon and although the macbook pro looks very nice it is a bit pricey for me at the moment. Also I have never used OSX before so I only want to mess around with it and not use it as my main os, only as dual boot native. Could anyone recommend a laptop that will work well with OSX 10.4.4 /4.5 Myzar without any serious issues and with everything important (sound/graphics/lan/wlan/dvdwriter) working and supported in all mac osx software ? Regards Niteman1969 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatDeceiver Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 there are a couple posts in the forum that discuss succesfull installation on Dell E1505/6400. I bought one myself with DualCore and Dell WiFi. The only thing that does not work and needs some extra help is the sound. I am using a usb sound adapter that works fine (although you have to plug in speakers or headphones). Everything else works out of the box, no issues. Well, except you have to either change the bios to use only one CPU or you simply change your com.apple.Boot file to use only one cpu and you don't have to change it in the bios. It runs fast, smooth and recognizes resolution and graphics (onboard Intel 950). I also heard that there is an IBM/Lenovo thinkpad that works nicely. then there are still others that are convinced the only way to go is macbook. You can run osx without any problems (including future upgrades, whereas you always have to wait for a patched version if you use a nonMac notebook) and you can instlall XP using bootcamp. The downside as you noticed is the price. I went with the Dell for 720 after waiting for the right moment to get the most out of coupons and rebates. I think it's a beautiful notebook with a brilliant lcd and excellent hardware (coreduo 1.66GHz, 1Gb 533 DDR2, 60Gb 7200 hd and Intel Graphics 950GM). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-101146 Share on other sites More sharing options...
INFNITE Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 you could wait for the MacBook (AKA Intel iBooks), which is expected to come out next month. Those should cost somewhere between $1000 and $2000 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-101162 Share on other sites More sharing options...
doggyworld Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I just ordered an E1505 with almost the same specs. Can you tell me if the wireless and onboard NIC works? What did you have to patch for your installation? And do you see mouse tearing at all or graphics glitches? Thanks for the help. there are a couple posts in the forum that discuss succesfull installation on Dell E1505/6400. I bought one myself with DualCore and Dell WiFi. The only thing that does not work and needs some extra help is the sound. I am using a usb sound adapter that works fine (although you have to plug in speakers or headphones). Everything else works out of the box, no issues. Well, except you have to either change the bios to use only one CPU or you simply change your com.apple.Boot file to use only one cpu and you don't have to change it in the bios. It runs fast, smooth and recognizes resolution and graphics (onboard Intel 950). I also heard that there is an IBM/Lenovo thinkpad that works nicely. then there are still others that are convinced the only way to go is macbook. You can run osx without any problems (including future upgrades, whereas you always have to wait for a patched version if you use a nonMac notebook) and you can instlall XP using bootcamp. The downside as you noticed is the price. I went with the Dell for 720 after waiting for the right moment to get the most out of coupons and rebates. I think it's a beautiful notebook with a brilliant lcd and excellent hardware (coreduo 1.66GHz, 1Gb 533 DDR2, 60Gb 7200 hd and Intel Graphics 950GM). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-102836 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatDeceiver Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I just ordered an E1505 with almost the same specs. Can you tell me if the wireless and onboard NIC works? What did you have to patch for your installation? And do you see mouse tearing at all or graphics glitches? Thanks for the help. if your wireless is dell then everything should work without doing anything. Only thing is that sound does not work. Nothing to patch. Can't think of an easier install. I used MacOSX_10.4.4DVD patched 10.4.5.iso for install. The awsome thing is that there is no mouse tearing that I see on my destop. the graphics card is detected 100% with correct resolution and aspect ratio. here is what I have Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps) Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950 GM if you order this with the Intel WiFi, it won't work. you are going to enjoy the E1505. It's a great notebook Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103029 Share on other sites More sharing options...
doggyworld Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 if your wireless is dell then everything should work without doing anything. Only thing is that sound does not work. Nothing to patch. Can't think of an easier install. I used MacOSX_10.4.4DVD patched 10.4.5.iso for install. The awsome thing is that there is no mouse tearing that I see on my destop. the graphics card is detected 100% with correct resolution and aspect ratio. here is what I have Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps) Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950 GM if you order this with the Intel WiFi, it won't work. you are going to enjoy the E1505. It's a great notebook Ok.. Thanks.. That's exactly what I ordered.. I have the 1390 card coming. Now I can't wait! Have you tried the iLife or iWork apps and see if they work ok? I know there were some apps I wanted to try out that wouldn't work because I didn't have qe/ci on my desktop. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103034 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I found one. It's called the "Macbook Pro". JK Here's one that would be alot like a Macbook though. http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelme...l1=5&l2=75&l3=0 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103044 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayland Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I found one. It's called the "Macbook Pro". JKHere's one that would be alot like a Macbook though. http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelme...l1=5&l2=75&l3=0 Check out the Asus Z83v.... There is a huge write-up that I wrote here: http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?sh...c=12989&hl=Z83v Since Asus is making the new macbooks, it seems fitting to go with an asus! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103111 Share on other sites More sharing options...
niteman1969 Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Looking at a cheap option would a dell inspiron 1300 work ???? Has anyone already tried one and does it work ???? here are the specs... Up to Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB) Intel® Celeron® M Processor 380 (1.60 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB) Minimum: 256 MB DDR2 RAM Maximum: 1280MB DDR2 RAM Integrated Intel® GMA 900, Intel 910GML 64MB (with 256MB system memory) or 128MB (with greater than 256MB system memory) 40, 60 or 80GB ATA-100 hard drive 8x DVD/CD-RW combination drive (do not burn DVD's) or 8x DVD+/-RW Optional: Dont Know Which to go for... DellTM Wireless 1370 802.11b/g 54Mbps Mini-PCI Wireless Card DellTM Wireless 1470 802.11a/b/g 54Mbps Mini-PCI Wireless Card (Dual Band) Integrated Audio Type: AC'97 Audio controller: SigmaTel STAC9200 This system uses an ExpressCard Slot which does not support any cards available for PC Card. Keyboard: 88 keys (Europe) Touchpad pointer; 20 points/mm (500 points/inch) resolution I know this is a pretty low spec laptop but the price is not bad and it does include the gma900 graphics which is kind of all that I need as I don't expect to be playing any games on it. Hopefully won't have to do the vga or svideo dongle trick to get lcd to display osx but i'll have to wait and see. Regards Niteman1969 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103159 Share on other sites More sharing options...
doggyworld Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I think it's worth the price to upgrade to the E1505.. I was looking at the B120 also, but I decided to go with the E1505 for the better graphics chipset in the GMA950 and also the ability to have a Core Duo CPU. Also, Dell has coupons and deals all the time. Or another option is to buy one off of Ebay.. they're selling for close to around $650 on there for brand new ones. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103489 Share on other sites More sharing options...
niteman1969 Posted April 27, 2006 Author Share Posted April 27, 2006 I'm afraid that I'm on a very tight budget £450 to be exact. So the Dell 1300 i can get for £420 on ebay with the DVDRW, 40GB HDD, 512MB RAM and Dell 1370 wireless networking. I am not (at the moment) looking at getting something that will run OSX permanently because I have never used OSX before and am only interested in trying it out. I don't need dual core or any of that stuff, as I don't play games on the PC Instead I use my xbox 360 Funny how Apple have switched from PowerPC to intel on Macs and Microsoft have switched from Intel to PowerPC in the 360.. I just need a working laptop for doing my finances and stuff in excel etc and using windows apps. Having it as compatible as possible with OSX is just my personal preference because as I said I want to test OSX out. It won't replace my windows partition because I can't afford to go out and buy office and other programs that I use on a daily basis for OSX. Although I will be giving open office a try. Regards Niteman1969 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/15756-buying-new-laptop-want-to-mess-around-with-osx86/#findComment-103759 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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