Which Quad-Core 17'' Laptops support hackint0sh?

[Panarchy]

Hello

 

Could I please have some recommendations of 17'', 2.4GHz (or higher) Quad-Core Laptops with 2+ hours of battery-life, [preferably] capable of becoming hackint0sh's?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Panarchy

[ne0shell]

Avoid the Sony laptops - the crippled Bios access leaves you unable to set AHCI and HPET. I've watched aroudn a dozen Vaio laptop owners come through the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] support forum and they all leave broken hearted.

 

Some success reports with Laptops that have the Intel mobile 55 chipset and Nvidia graphics. As longas you verify the following you should be able to get OSX working one way or another:

 

1. Intel p55 chipset (mobile variant is the m55 i believe, one success report with an Asus that uses a mobile m58 and one of the really nice 8 core CPUs [4 core plus hyper thread])

2. Make sure the bios allows you to set AHCI and HPET modes.

3. Make sure the bus is SATA for storage and DVD, Intel chipset driven is best. (some of the Intel based mobos still use SATA chips by other mfr's).

4. Nvidia graphics are best. I've seen two reports of the M300 series working with kexts from the update that accompanied the new macbook pros. The MBP use Intel GMA graphics and the Nvidia m3xx with a graphics manager that switches to the Nvidia GPU for higher intensity video tasks so there may be some hacking of the kext file though one success report claimed to use the nvidia kext from that update "as is".

5. Audio might be tricky. You'll probably be looking at Intel HD audio which uses the ALC 88x codec. Some of these work with just a kext file, some partially work - my alc888 has all inputs and outs working including digital. If you end up using a USB audio solution that's acceptable IMO. I'm building a USB digital to analog converter for my setup so I can update without having to worry about my onboard audio. (I'm designing an internal version of this DAC for people to use in place of mobo audio in future hacks, actually).

 

The laptops are just like any other system - break it down to individual components and see how they line up a/f/a compatibility.

 

This Sager looks good if you get it with the Nvidia GPU, not the ATI: Sager: Build a Laptop

[Panarchy]

Thanks for the advice ne0shell, I will see if I can get a Laptop as you specified.

 

If there are any other [specific] suggestions for which Laptop I should purchase, please don't hesitate to post.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Panarchy