Laptops that work with Leopard

[jomat]

Hi Everyone,

 

I want to get a new Laptop to which I can install Leopard and I can still run Windows XP or Vista.

 

I know that I can buy a Mackbook and then use the Boot Camp to install Windows XP, but looking at the prices for Macbooks and comparing its features and hardware to a PC-Laptop I think I will be better off buying a Laptop and then installing Leopard.

 

My main concern is which hardware is compatible (Drivers, controllers,...) in order to be able to run Leopard. The features that I am looking in a Laptop are:

 

- Intel Core 2 Duo at least 1,66 GHz

- At least 2 GB of Ram

- At least 200GB of Hard Drive

- One of the following Graphic Cards: Intel X3100, ATI Radeon HD2600, ATI Radeon HD2400

- Intel Wireles 802.11 A/B/G/N

- Bluetooth

- DVD+-/RW Burner

- Integrated Webcam

- V.92 56K Data/Fax Modem

- 10/100 integrated Ethernet LAN

- 5-in-1 Media Card Reader; 6 USB 2.0, RJ11, RJ45, IEEE1394, external microphone, headphone port, RGB, TV-Out

- The Manufacturer could be Toshiba or HP

 

I know that some of those details are 'irrelevant', but any suggestion in any of them will be great. I want everything working, or at least, the most important element (i.e. I dont care about the Modem).

I was not able to fin the name and type of the motherboard. I guess the motherboard is one of the most important parts, but I think they use the same mother board to run the Intel Core 2 Duo processor in Laptops (Including Macbooks).

 

So, I will be very glad if any of you fellows can suggest me:

1) Brand (Either HP or Toshiba)

2) Hardware requirements (Which ones work better and smoothly) (Which ones should I NOT take)

3) Software to be installed (Which Leopard, Parallel, OSx86, Hackintosh,...)

4) How should I install it

5) Any other suggestions

 

Thanks. Best Wishes

[vbetts]

How much are you willing to spend? If it's gonna be atleast $1000, you might as well just get a Macbook.

[~pcwiz]

Check the 10.5 Portable Computers HCL in the wiki.

[jomat]

Thanks vbetts for your comment. The price of a Macbook (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 1GB memory /120GB hard drive) is $1,299.00. In the other hand, the Laptop that I am looking for has better specs and it is around $900.00; hence cheaper. That's why I am looking for a Laptop that can support Leopard.Thanks PCWIZ. I will go and check the Wiki

Check the 10.5 Portable Computers HCL in the wiki.

[vbetts]

I see, if you had the money to then the macbook would probably be the best choice since you wouldn't have to worry about compatibility. I would say a refurb macbook, but you won't find one like that with atleast the x3100. I suggest shopping on newegg.com for "cheap" notebooks.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

Laptop wise, Macbooks are unbeat. The quality is unmatched, Leopard runs flawless, and Macbooks have a high resale value.

 

Desktops is where I'd go Hackintosh. But it's too much farting around for a laptop to get Leopard to work.

 

Macbook / Pro = Best laptops in the industry. Period.

[glassJAw]

Don't bother with a laptop, I don't think sleep works on them still. Get a Macbook, you can't find a laptop for the same price and the same size.

[xplizid]

definitely macbook most hacks dont sleep well and on a laptop thats not a good feature to be missing. Also, when buying your 900 lappy with better specs think how much that wil be worth within 6 months to a year, the macbook will resale at a very reasonable price on ebay more than you would ever expect giving you an option of getting the latest and greatest with much less invested.

[Colonel]

MacBooks, MacBook Pros, PowerBooks ( +867MHz ), iBooks ( +867MHz).

[steadybootleggin]

yeah... i got a macbook black and a hack desktop....laptop=macbook, best you are gonna get.

and do not buy a toshiba or an hp.! hp /compaq is the biggest piece of {censored} going and the last time i was in best buy, there was 6 people on the repair line all with those new toshiba laptops under their arms(those glossy ones with toshiba written big on the notebook), that is a flag for me atleast!

 

too bad samsung doesn't make notebooks for sale in the US, in general i always felt they made an all around quality product.

 

if you got 900 put the rest on a credit card

[Kane Adams]

Powerbook guy has some nice ones.

http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/...-p-1-c-464.html

http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/...0-p-1-c-23.html

[jomat]

Thanks everyone. I just got a Laptop and I installed Uphuck 10.4.9. The machine is an Acer 5680. It has been working great but the Wifi and Camera (Even the Bluettoh works).

 

Best Wishes

[(MoC)]

That was smart..... (sarcasm)

[debauchery1st]

Does every single topic about hackintosh laptops have to include marketing for the apple store? We all know that macbooks are the ideal laptop when it comes to OS X, but some people cannot afford to buy a laptop that starts at over $1000. That is the main reason that the "hackintosh" exists. I really don't think it's necessary to spam every single post related to laptops and OS X. If we could all afford macbooks, this topic would not exist.

 

So either donate to "the human fund" to buy us all macbooks, or get some therapy for your "redundant reply syndrome".

[Mac OS X Lover]

We all know that macbooks are the ideal laptop when it comes to OS X, but some people cannot afford to buy a laptop that starts at over $1000. That is the main reason that the "hackintosh" exists. I really don't think it's necessary to spam every single post related to laptops and OS X. If we could all afford macbooks, this topic would not exist.

 

+1!

I am new here on this forum, and I see this pattern so very often - someone asks the questions "Which is the best machine to run OSX?" and a whole herd of smarty pants rain down replies with Apple hardware suggestions. Duh!

[Detosx]

I would have to add to the voices and say buy Apple but... if you absolutely cannot afford it right now and have store coupons or whatever, Intel based HP laptops have tended to be some of the most compatible. That said, after a fresh install and with the power settings at their defaults, I was distracted enough not to notice that my laptop was not powered down, just a black screen and no fan running. I put it in my daypack and... it fried. Whose fault is that? No one but my own. Easy to do if you're tired or in a hurry after a fresh install. If you've partitioned your hard drive, put an operating system on it that HP/etc don't condone installing... you don't have much of a come back, do you. Hell, no.

 

Again, if you can, buy Apple. Yes, they are over priced... or are they? In terms of time saved? As someone pointed out, they have a higher resale value, too, when it comes time to move on up.

 

Seriously, people aren't saying buy an Apple just because they are Apple fanboys/girls.

[S.SubZero]

That said, after a fresh install and with the power settings at their defaults, I was distracted enough not to notice that my laptop was not powered down, just a black screen and no fan running. I put it in my daypack and... it fried.

That's interesting. I originally was using a sound driver fix that caused this same thing, but my laptop tends to stay in one place so I always noticed it. Aside from the power light being on though, I wasn't aware it was actually "still on". I'd think a laptop in regular operating mode with no fans running would get hot quickly enough that it would feel hot to the touch almost immediately, but I don't recall this, and I have to actually reach over the hard drive/CPU area of the laptop, which gets warmest during normal use, to reach the power button. I figured it was in a sort of broken sleep mode (since sleep doesn't work on my OSX anyway) and since the fans don't run in sleep mode, and it's designed to be able to be left in sleep mode, that it was harmless to have just the power light on.

 

Anyways, that sounds like a viable warranty return. You're under no obligation to send your hard drive back to them, if you said it had confidential info, or you needed the info on it while the laptop was out for repairs, they'd likely cover it without question.

 

---

 

Back on-topic. The regular Macbooks are not priced TOO badly away from competitive Dell or whatever laptops, but the Macbook Pros are insanely priced and should not be considered unless you are using OS X for commercial use where you're gonna make the money up specifically because of Mac-based applications. The last time I spec'd out a Macbook Pro, it priced out way, way over the price of a similar Dell Inspiron. I think I was at about $3000 for the Macbook Pro and $1800 for the Inspiron. Same CPU, same screen size, same resolution, same video chipset, same amount of RAM, same everything, except the Dell had a webcam (lols). Apple also bends you over fierce for upgrades. Dell used to be bad but they got better on most things. I know Apple's supposed to be SUPER QUALITY but that's just too big a price difference for a "nicer screen I think!"

[logiclover]

Hmmm.... I have mixed feelings.

 

In short: I think Macs provide a much better value than these budget p.o.s. laptops HP and Toshiba offer.

 

Long: If I would have known that I could have bought a Mac for a few hundred dollars more than what I paid for my Compaq I definitely would have done so. First-of-all, installing OSX86 has resulted in so much lost time it's not even funny. I think most people here can relate to this and are either nodding their heads or smiling as they read this statement. {censored}, I felt some WOW freak when attempting to explain to people what I had spent my entire week and/or weekends doing! Anyways, the after-sales service HP/Compaq has provided me with has been abysmal. {censored} them, seriously. Mac people freak me out, but at least they deliver a better product, perhaps a bit overpriced, but it's the only alternative I see. I have a Compaq C504US and the optiarc cd/dvd burner has just gone all crazy here and no longer burns cds or dvds. I've barely had the laptop for one year!

 

So, if we're talking about a $200-$300 ask yourself this:

 

1. Do you have the money? If so, go for it. You won't regret it.

 

2. Do you feel like spending endless (many many many) amounts of time reading forums about how to make your system function properly?

 

I say just get a Mac and get it over with it. It's not the best value on the planet, but it's a much better value than HP or many of the other manufacturers can match. Just because something is under warranty this does not mean it won't be a pain-in-the-ass trying to get the thing fixed or waiting for it to get fixed.

[thespottedelf]

wow its really fricken stupid that you guys think that spending 900 on a never going to work right laptop is worth it, when you could ebay and get a macbook for the same money....

[Synaesthesia]

:

I agree with everyone else that a Macbook is a great laptop for OS X, the best actually. Just look at how thin it is, and it's battery life...BUT, if you really wanna go the hackintosh route, there is loads of info on the site:

 

Acer Laptop users (Intel)., Acer laptop users, come share your Leopard thoughts and tips.

HP dv6000 & dv9000 series, A place for us dv owners to work together to solve our problems.

HP Dv6000 & Dv9000 Intel Only, HP Intel Laptop layouts and setups

[Compilation] Dell XPS M1330, M1530, Vostro 1400, 1700, Inspiron 1420, 1520, 1720, Guides, Tips, files

And I also recommend the 10.4.8 wiki and 10.5.1 wiki above the 10.5.2 wiki at the moment - far more comprehensive.

[mschilling]

It does really depend on your priorities. My wifes POS ibook 14" mac is way more useable as a laptop c/w my hack, only because it works so well on battery. Sleep works awesomely, along with "forget-about-it" wireless, and amazing battery life. My laptop works better as a desktop c/w hers though with the greater processor power, and compatibility with the more recent graphics features. Mine has a way better monitor with the 17" screen. But on hers she can slap the lid closed, throw it in a backpack, and head down to the corner wifi coffee shop without a worry, and she NEVER turns it off or reboots it! I can't really do that with mine. Both of these laptops were within a few dollars in value, last time I thought about it (around $500 to $600)

[guitaristz]

That is amazing that no generic notebook can handle the lid-to-sleep trick.

I am ~o close to buying a used macbook tomorrow - $650-800 - vs. an aluminum briefcase build (reviewed here last week). If only the monitor could be built into the lid somehow.

 

I also wish the iPhone could run Garageband.

 

Guitarist