How many Hackintosh users switch back and forth?

[My Cart]

I just made my HP into a HP-intosh and I was just looking to see how many users that did the same and switched back for whatever reason. I guess I am curious cause I am to the feeling that if I can't have a real Mac I might as well make my notebook what it was again and then save my pennies to get a real Mac. So how many have switched it back and how many have kept it a hackintosh, and why?

 

Thanks for all your input

[new]

I'm thinking aout switching back because parallels doesn't work with my machine. So I still use Windows. My goal was to abandon windows but I still use it. MY Windows does its job. It runs smooth and reliable so why use MAcOS. Just for experimenting?

[djboo]

i have no choice but to switch back and forth as macos isnt seeing my usb, lan, wifi or internal display. im growing to love macos but without network access and no ability to use the laptop unless at my desk (where my external LCD is) im kinda forced to mostly use windows, tho i do have darwine setup, so once i have wifi, windows use will be minimal

[chawknz]

I am a new Hackintosh user as of last week and did it mainly to see how viable of an option replacing Windows would be. I guess I got lucky that all of my existing hardware is very compatible with Hacking and aside from my wireless NIC and SoundBlaster card, everything else works great, including onboard sound and Ethernet.

 

Currently running 10.4.11 and when an easy installer is available for 10.5, I'll try to upgrade to that. If all goes well, I fully expect to keep a Windows installation somewhere, but use OS X full time. I see no reason not to, especially since Parallels is working flawless.

 

I haven't used true Windows since my install.

[Objection]

I use MacOS for work related things (dreamweaver, photoshop, quicken, numbers, pages...) and play my games in Vista. I probably boot back and forth two or three times a day.

[Doug the Impaler]

I'm along-time Mac user (going back to the 7.x days) and when my Intel Mini bit the dust in March (lightning storm), I had to find SOMETHING until I could save up the cash for another Mac. My games PC happened to have just the right stuff - 7600GS, Intel CPU, Intel chipset, etc. And for a minimal cash outlay I got a compatible NIC. I've been using OS X x86 since then, and hopefully next month I'll get a real Mac. It's not a matter of "going back to Windows" for me...I have too much Mac-only software (Logic Express 7.2 and the Garage Band jam packs, specifically) to go to Windows.

[fagosu]

I've been using OSX since JaS 10.4.8. In the beginning I was switching back because I didn't trust the hacked OS, but later I upgraded to Uphuck 10.4.9 and now I'm running ToH upgraded to 10.5.1 in my P4 SSE2 and I no longer go back to windows. I use my box for professional work such as web & print design, video editing and 3d modeling as a hobby. Next week I will try to build another OSX box with some of the hardware recommendations I've found in this forum, and I can say that I'm NEVER going back to windows.

[dr.house]

OK, so here are my 5 cents:

Last year I switched from PC and Windows2000 to an older Powermac G4 (DA466 upgraded to 1GHz, Nvidia FX6200 graphics and enough RAM) and OSX Tiger. A testdrive with Leopard showed me, that this machine becomes slowly outdated, so I was searching for a cheap alternative. Having an empty PC-case, an unused 80GB HDD and a DVD-RW-Drive, I decided to buy a new mobo with a dual-core cpu and enough RAM. I bought an ASUS P5GC-MX and an Intel E2160 with 1.8 GHz and 2GB of RAM hoping it would be an good base for a hackmac.

JaS 10.4.8 ran out of the box except networking which caused me to use a Realtek RTL8139D PCI-card. Also mac.nub 10.4.10 runs without problems, so I don't see any reason to switch back, neither to PC, nor to my outdated Powermac.

I'm quite happy with Tiger but I will also try Leopard on this machine, staying as a hackintosh-user...

[My Cart]

I did it, I ended up switching back, and when I did my vista install I removed everything that HP installs in the process of using the recovery CD. I must admit after my switch from Leopard back to Vista I can see some things that I liked alot in Leopard and some things I like alot in Vista again, I am going to have to say though that I don't think I am going to jump back to Mac until I can buy and actual Macbook or whatever is out at the time I have the money. I can see why someone would want to run OSX though it is a stable and beautiful operating system.

[xplizid]

I have had this hackintosh a little over a year. I purchased it instead of an imac because i wasn't sure if i was going to adapt to Mac OS X <-- lawl (oh and the 500 dollar difference in price tag). Anyways that being said it is completely functional and love it. I have in the past year had XP thru parallels and dual booting but in the past 6th months ive completely ditched windows since it craped out for the 2nd time on this machine (corrupted files + wouldn't boot!). Currently I'm running dual boot Leopard and Tiger - Tiger soon to be erased.

 

Also I am ditching this Hackintosh when my MBP arrives next week .

[Andrewvideo]

I am staying with mac. I hate windows, it slow and crashs. On my Laptop I am runing 10.4.8 and it great. the only thing is the mouse tering and no DVD player. But so what I find a way round the probum use mousepose and VLC.

 

The only time I need windows for is copying from a card reader in my laptop.

 

On my desktop i have 10.4.10. I been try to run the EFI no luck yet.

 

I well not buy real mac cost to high. it more fun with a hackintosh, well sometimes. lol

[BJMoose]

I've been using Windows so long it would be hard for me to completely switch to OSX. But since the advent of Adobe's CS3 suite for Mac, I work on the Mac Side a lot more now than in the past. Parallels works fine on my system and since Office 2007, which I use a lot, runs very well on Parallels, I don't actually have to boot into windows too much anymore. I really don't like Office 2004 for Mac and Office 2008 isn't going to offer Access or Expression Web, both of which I use extensively. There are also a lot of ancillary video editing programs that I don't have a Mac substitute with which I'm comfortable.

[xavier2]

I haven't switch to Windows XP weeks since I installed Leopard on my personal PC. Sadly most of the apps I use for work do not exist for the Mac. Otherwise, I'll convert my work PC to a hackintosh too. Some softwares seem to run faster on Leopard like Photoshop.

[inimicus]

I installed OSx86 10.4.8, had some initial issues, upgraded to 10.4.10, and have been savvy every since. All hardware working as intended.

At this point, I had XP, Ubuntu, and OSx86 on my machine. Recently I reformatted and reinstalled just OSx86. I no longer have Windows on this box. And I don't miss it.

 

(OK, maybe I do miss it when I wanna play my old Starfleet Academy game... but I have other boxes for that if I really need a fix.)

 

Everything runs smoother, faster, and more efficiently on OSx86 vs XP with the same hardware. The decision is clear.

[phobox]

I began using OSX some time ago now on an old PowerMac G4 (Dual-500, 1gb RAM) which I switched to from a AMD Athlon-based Windows XP machine. OSX impressed me so much on that PowerMac that I decided I never wanted to go back to a pure Windows machine again. Now unfortunately the PowerMac G4 began to show its age and inability to keep up with certain tasks (especially virtual machines which I do a lot), so I needed an Intel-based Mac and not being all that well off, Hackintosh was the only option left open to me. Luckily my Dell GX620 machine that I got second hand a few months ago worked great when I installed JaS 10.4.8 on it and I quickly upgraded it to 10.4.10 which I used along with XP under VMWare. Im now running Leopard on the same box with a Tiger dual-boot (which I'll probably get rid of eventually), I run Windows XP in a virtual machine to allow me to run some small apps that are Windows-only and Im very happy indeed.... I'll never go back to Windows as a main OS ever again.

 

Eventually I plan on installing Vista as a dual-boot which I will use only for gaming, it wont be setup for any other purpose. Then I'll be using Vista for games (which I dont do often anyway) and OSX for everything else.

[fryke]

Old time Mac user. I'm only into this Hackintosh thing, coz Apple doesn't release an inexpensive, expandable desktop Mac. So my PC has OS X on it – and only OS X. No need to switch around.

[clintoy]

i only boot to vista for games...and osx for all of my work...music...videos...stuff...

[Dreamland69]

Actually newer had a money for a new and real mac. It's too expensive in Europe. Hackintosh for me was the only possibility to get a working MacOS in its actual version. After 12 years of experience with windows and linux I switched to MacOS. Sometimes I use Windows in VMWare Fusion virtual PC only for programs that don't work in MacOS. Usually - MacOS + Adobe CS3 + Coda 1.3. Why Apple sells MacOS only with "Apple labeled computers"? Why I can not bay a MacOS and install it on PC where its works? The hardware from Apple is expensive and I'm not sure that the one is the best what I can get for my money. Sorry for my english - no native language.

[phil a meant]

Although I used to dual and triple boot on my Hackintosh, both Windows XP and Vista were LESS stable than Tiger (and now Leopard)! At first I really liked Vista, but all the incompatibilities (as well as messing up my bootloaders) made me long for XP again. In the process of re-installing XP, I got VERY frustrated by driver-issues with my soundcard, graphics card, etc and decided to ditch windows altogether.

 

I now have dual-boot Tiger 10.4.10 on one drive and Leopard 10.5.1 on the other (with EFI patch!) If I ever need Windows (for keygens or the like ; ), I run Parallels. All of my hardware (except for sleep) works FLAWLESSLY in OSX86, it' FASTER and more STABLE than Windows, and I will NEVER go back to a dedicated Windows partition!

 

My system consists of a Badaxe2 MB, intel e2160 (OC'd to 3ghz), NVidia 7600GS, 2GB RAM, 2x Pioneer DVR-110 optical drives, 80Gb & 250Gb SATA HDs, and an Antec Trupower 380s. Geekbench score is 3761, XBench is 148! HIGHLY recommended for a budget system, I plan on adding a 320Gb SATA for Time Machine backups over my recently Mac-only network (MacBook, 2x MacMinis, and my Hackintosh)!

 

-philAmeant

[stronzo]

I just started into the Mac thing only about three weeks ago. I've been a long time Windows user, but prefer Linux. Some of the gang at work use Macs because of the clients they have to support. I thought I would give the Hack a try just to see what I really think of Mac OS. I must admit, I am using Leopard and have all the apps I need. I use Windows at work - only because we have to.

 

However, I do flip back and forth because not all the apps I use are on a Mac. I use Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Visio extensively. I installed VMWare Fusion on my Hack, so I can at least run those packages.

 

I would be curious to know how people compare VMWare Fusion with Parallels, pros and cons of each, and what the general Mac population prefer.

 

Cheers.

[BJMoose]

I just started into the Mac thing only about three weeks ago. I've been a long time Windows user, but prefer Linux. Some of the gang at work use Macs because of the clients they have to support. I thought I would give the Hack a try just to see what I really think of Mac OS. I must admit, I am using Leopard and have all the apps I need. I use Windows at work - only because we have to.

 

However, I do flip back and forth because not all the apps I use are on a Mac. I use Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Visio extensively. I installed VMWare Fusion on my Hack, so I can at least run those packages.

 

I would be curious to know how people compare VMWare Fusion with Parallels, pros and cons of each, and what the general Mac population prefer.

 

Cheers.

I think it is a matter of personal choice. I prefer parallels because it seems faster and more responsive for what I do than vmware is. But I also know several people on this forum whose opinions I trust who would say just the opposite. I use Office 2007 everyday, and since most of my DVDs need subtitles, I also use Lemony Subtitler extensively everyday. I'm not a gamer at all, so I can't tell you how either works in that market. I'm running bootcamp on my mac pro, but haven't yet installed parallels there. This weekend I may have time install it and copy my virtual drive from my hack (with a few hardware tweaks). It will also be interesting to see how it might access my bootcamp partition.

[SticMAC™]

ONLY 10.5.1 on my Dell Dimension 9200 PC

ONLY 10.4.11 on my HP nx7010 notebook

 

 

 

SticMAN

[Ongeloof]

I have always used windows, and uptil Xmas 2006 i was a MAJOR MS fanboy, but after buying a lil iPod shuffle, i saw the light, and saw how good Apple products were. When Tom Merit did the OS X on a PC thing on CNETTV, i was absolutly fixated with running Mac OSX, but obviously i couldn't afford one, so i tried running it on my PC. i was a gradual thing, first making the quicklink icons on XP, massive and putting them in the middle of the explorer menu, then it moved onto FLYAKITE OS... and gradually i found out about JaS 10.4.8, which in my opinion is a solid build and the best tiger disc out... but since downloading it in august, only since XMAS 07 have i actually been able to run it.

My sound work without patch, on both Leo AMD, and JaS tiger, and ethernet goes through a REALTEK adapter.

I only use XP on my the other 2 PC's in my house, but i am working on switching the family to OSx86 lol...even if the don't know its there... lol

I can safley say, as soon i can work, my first pay cheque will go straight on a one way ticket to the apple store...with out a doubt. and the first item on the shopping list will be a lil Mac Nano, or iMac, and or iPhone prefferable 3G by then...

 

Think Mark

[IzNoGood]

I installed OSX86 because I always have been curious for Mac os. Been using it for some time now and I realy like it.

In fact I like it so much, I will be purchasing a Mac Pro or a Macbook Pro in the near future. Not that my hackintosh doesn't run smoothly, but I just want to get a real mac.

 

Switching back to windows is not necessary for me because all my hardware is supported at the moment by Tiger 10.4.9 (osx86)

 

Maybe when i get a Mac pro i will start using something like cross-over or virtual box, use bootcamp or whatever, might there be a windows app i desperatly need. Until now I see no reason for it tho.

[yan.kun]

I HAD a real iMac but switched to OSX86 because Apples hardware politic really pissed me off. They have no "Mac" nothing to fill the gap between an iMac and a Mac Pro. So here jumps my hpMac in and does a good job.