What are the Benefits of Having a Legit Version of OSX?

Special Note: This thread is not discussing how to install or use OSX on non-mac hardware, this is discussing practicality issues on which would be more conventional and practical for this day and age.

Ey guys, me and my brother have been getting into pretty heated battles about which is better: Legit version of OSX or hackintosh(OSx86 Project). We are arguing about practicality, not about morals or anything else, so no responses about doing illegal things being wrong please, because that is not considered in this argument.

My main argument is that support for the system is absent if hackintosh is used. So if anything were to happen to your system software or hardware wise there would be no help and you would be left on your own.

My brother's main argument is that hackintosh is legit and is developed for specific hardware systems and that it runs just as smoothly as the real deal, and the greatest thing is that it is free.

So now this is where I ask you guys to come in. Which do you consider to be more practical and why? Which side would you support and why? Even if you have bought a mac and everything you can still vouch for the other side, would like to hear all of your opinions. I know most of you are going to stress that it is illegal, but please refrain from making that your #1 point.

 

Hackintosh because you can upgrade your hardware to make it superior to what Apple offers. As for recieving no support, you should know what you did wrong, and even if you don't you can find the solution online.

 

assuming they are same hardware, same performance, I will still go with Apple with double or even triple price tag. I guess it's a mental thing, let's say there are 2 car with same V8 engines, i will choose the one with ferrari badge, no particular reason, just because it is a ferrari. same theory applies to Apple.

 

There is a reason why Apple doesn't release a version of OS X which you can just freely install on any hardware, and that reason is compatibility and drivers.

Although you might be able to obtain some of the same components a Mac uses in a PC system (since everything is Intel now - which eliminates some driver issues), you cannot get the logic board with EFI, since it is custom made. This means that you will not be able to run the same chipset a Mac does, which means you will be using hacked/custom made chipset drivers, which probably means you have to emulate EFI on a BIOS, which would mean your machine will crash and kernel panic once every few seconds.

Although some people have been able to run a 'stable' hackintoshed systems, that stability is nowhere near as good as good as running OS X on a Mac system, or even Windows on a PC system.

Therefore, you lose one of the major advantages of OS X, which is its stability. Not to mention the ability to update your OS etc.

PS: If you believe you can run OS X perfectly fine on your new Alienware rig with some super overclocked quad core and 9800GX2 in tri-SLI, then you are mistaken, since you will need to download custom made/hacked drivers for those components, which would mean even more crashes and abnormal behavior, since these hackintosh driver writers simply do not have the skill or the time or the effort to create drivers up to the standard Apple's OS X development team do.

 

As you mention below, my Hackintosh installs have all been amazingly stable.... after I get them working, which isn't always easy.

It's strange. On my Sager 5793 I ran OS X for a little bit, and aside from the driver issues (no wireless, basic 2-channel sound) I had an overall "better" experience than I do with my Macbook Pro. The MBP has a weird stutter problem, especially with audio. The Sager has no such issue. This is aside from the Sager simply having better specs than the MBP, including a faster video card, which is faster than anything available in a MBP. The Sager seemed a little smoother in doing things overall.

Hackintosh is a cute "gateway" to OS X, if one does not have access to Macs. It's also a good way to learn how the internals of OS X works, since it will be necessary to modify the OS a bit to get it working. It's not something I really recommend for long-term work use. I also don't recommend installing it for someone else. It requires too much babysitting.

 

Actually my M15x worked pretty well with a Hackintosh install. No wireless but with a simple Wireless USB device I was back in buisness. My hackintosh intrigued me enough that I will be buying a new 17" MBP as soon as I get off this platform.

Hackintosh's as Subzero has stated is a great gateway to opening up Mac OS x. I don't have a problem with people trying it out, but if you like and want to continue using it. Buy a legal copy.

 

I have to say, that hackintosh installs are pretty stable. There are custom drivers, but they dont lead to kernal panics every few seconds.

But when I used a hackintosh, I realized how good OSX was, and it made me pretty much go out and buy my MBP. If I didn't have that initial exposure to it, I would never have wanted to get a Mac, as I was was pretty much anti mac.

So I think hackintoshs are a good 'gateway drug', into the life of a mac user, and I dont regret buying my mbp at all, and I wouldnt have gotten it if it wasnt for that hackintosh.

 

My hackintosh install was pretty damn stable and I probably would have kept it if I had been able to find sound drivers.. And I installed it on an AMD PC.

 

There is already a really good OS for hacking.. its called windows !

OSX is best on mac hardware, its not built to run on x,y,z hardware. Thus it will suffer many more problems than windows does, and its by no means an "easy" install process... that's the facts. Also from my limited knowledge of the install process, there are still fairly strict hardware requirements,eg some motherboards won't work, or work as well as others... thus for the average user, navigating this minefield of getting the right hardware is not feasible.
Compare this to the experience of building your own windows pc, which on the whole is relatively easy.... why bother?
The real advantage of OSx is that its a closed system, thus all the advantages of the coding that come with that are lost on a hackintosh.
Likewise windows big draw card is that it is built to accept pretty much anything...
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QFT

As for people saying hackintosh is a gateway to OS X, I disagree. It's more a gateway into more pirated things. I think people who want to see what OS X would be like need to try some of the more customized linux distros with OS X-like themes.

 

I installed 10.4.6 (Yes, it's been a while) on my P4 machine because I was bored and wanted to try it out. After my third install, I finally got it right and had enough drivers to operate it. I still had to burn a CD with ethernet drivers and load them up. After I got the ethernet working, I had to download another half dozen drivers so everything else would work.

So almost 6 hours later, I finally got it up and running.
So everything was good until I went to shut it down. It took a good 10 minutes to kill itself.

So a few months later, I tried updating to 10.4.7. Back then, they didn't have updaters. You had to re-install the whole thing.

So I did that... only took me one try to install it, but I still had to fiddle with drivers for over an hour.

A few weeks after I did that, they released an updater package. Grand.

Keep in mind, I only booted it up in Mac OS X every once in a while just to try it out on the PC. I have always had a Mac running OS X since the developer preview of 10.0 (Apple send my company a copy so the techs could learn how to use it), so the X86 version was a novelty.

I got bored with screwing around with it. Updates break the install unless they are modified.

It's a cool novelty, and for some people it encourages them to buy a real Mac. For me, I already had a Mac, so I did it only to do it.

I'll vote it is far easier running Mac OS X on a Mac, and the benefits are very visible once you have an OS update.

 

There are a couple fairly simple responses to this question for why a legal version is superior:

(1) A legit version doesn't run the risk of subjecting you to legal penalties (however small the risk with a hackentosh, the risk is still there);
(2) A legit version doesn't run the risk of coming pre-compromised. Your version on your hackentosh might 'work' flawlessly, while simultaneously being pre-setup to work as a part of a botnet, installed with a virus that will spread and infect windows machines, etc.
(3) The benefits of dealing with a real support staff that is highly rated in the industry
(4) Enjoying the benefits of optimized code for a particular hardware set.
(5) You save time - you don't have to go through the hassles of setting up and carefully maintaining your install (i.e. software updates from Apple won't break the delicate balance of hacks)

Those are the immediate benefits. Longterm, apple is going to be around for a while - god knows what will happen to the hackentosh. Now, if you're just fooling around/have lots of time on your hands this isn't an issue. If you use your computer professionally, or are busy enough that you can't afford to blow a couple days trying to get your computer working again, then the hacked-system, and costs that accrue when you have to fix your hack, exceed the costs of actually buying a mac.

If your time is worth, say, $50/hour, and you're not working for 10 hours while you fix a problem, then you've wasted at least $500. That could have just been spent buying a mac itself

 

This has been a great discussion, really...unfortunately, I do have to close it down. NotebookReview's official policy is that we don't allow discussion of this sort here. If you want to use Mac OS X, you should purchase a Mac. We don't support or endorse the use of Hackintosh in any way, and absolutely, purchase your own copy of Mac OS X if you are going to run OS X.

It really has been a constructive discussion though .