I’m Now A Mac User

One of the things that really made the Dell Mini 9 appealing to me (especially since I already have a Fujitsu P1610) is the fact that it’s supposedly one of the easiest netbooks to ‘hackintosh.’ A hackintosh is a non-Apple computer that is outfitted with an unofficial copy of Apple’s OS X operating system. As you can see, I am now running OS X on my Dell Mini 9.

The install is actually pretty simple, if you have a bit of computer knowledge. I followed the steps here, one by one, and now I’m currently downloading the OS X 10.5.6 updates over WiFi. I didn’t have to do any hardware tinkering with the Dell, and thus far, I believe everything is working fine. Obviously it boots, the touchpad works, WiFi works, and the display seems to be at a proper resolution. The system update should be done in about half an hour (seriously?), after which I’ll simply need to reapply a few patches to get everything rocking and rolling once again.

So, why OS X, if I’m so pleased with Windows 7? Partially, because I’m a big geek, and I like to check out these other operating system options. Partially, because 90% of my daily workload is done inside Firefox, which means that I could really get by on any operating system. I have friends (most of who read this blog) that use Macs, and I’ll admit that I’ve always been rather curious. Also, every time a new version of iLife comes out, I get really lustful for a Mac.

Unfortunately, I’m far from impressed with the Apple hardware (yes, I said it). I don’t really care for the looks, and they’re usually far under-spec’d. Apple products are also not ‘budget’ priced. Given that I’ve not previously used OS X before, I can’t say that I’m willing to dive head first into a new environment, particularly with hardware that I’m not impressed with. Thus, I was able to cheaply get ahold of a Dell Mini 9, toss OS X on it, and play to my heart’s content. It’s an extremely low-risk environment, as I can easily toss Windows 7 back on the Dell in less than an hour. Brilliant.

More to come soon on how I’m liking OS X. However, given that this will be on my netbook, and not my main computer, there are a few things that I can promise I won’t be covering: Mail, Contacts, and Calendar are givens. I’m *definitely* not prepared to ‘tinker’ with anything around my contacts/calendar/other PIM information, period. I likely also won’t have much local media on this machine, though I certainly will be testing how it fares with network-shared media, both music and video.