I never thought that I will actually get a netbook. When they were first launched the netbooks to me seemed like a marketing gimmick by the PC makers sell us more computers. Well most large markets start – as a niche.
Netbooks are cheap, light and often have several compromises.
I have been thinking about getting a mac for sometime now — ever since the macbook air was launched…. but the macbook price tag… kept me away from it. Often I used to make stops at the apple store or best buy just to play with a mac. Macs are cool & beautiful – however, it was not enough to make me give in and buy one of them with my hard earned dollars.
Recently, I have been reading several posts on Hackintosh from the lifehacker. What stuck me was the netbook hackintosh compatibility chart.. This gave me ideas of trying to run macos on a netbook for a lot LESS price that actually buying a apple branded – over priced hardware.
After reviewing several netbook I found that HP Mini 1000 was the best suited for my needs. (10.1″ display, 1GB ram, Atom N270 1.6Ghz, 60GB HDD, 92% keyboard – with all keys as a laptop keyboard, touchpad, camera, mic built in, wifi, bluetooth, ethernet, SD/SDHC, 2 USB’s & a customer VGA extender for external display)… sees close to perfect. You could pick up one of these from ebay for <$300. And best of all — its 100% hackintoshable… everything work with OSX! Everything!
I juiced up the RAM by upgrading to Corsair 2GB (with $25 more)
After buying one of these I use the iDeneb installer and followed the procedure.
Here are my impressions on what I finally have — (Hackintoshed HP Mini 1000).
The hardware is pretty good for the price. The keyboard is very usable (with 92% size) – all the key in the right place. HP’s Glossy screen is a little painful in bright sunlight. The battery life is average with about 2hrs with a 3 cell battery. The built-in speakers are not good.
I have been using this as my primary machine for the last week without any major issues. However, do keep in mind that I dont do any CPU intensive work at home.
I have been running OSX 10.5.7 and it requires a separate post of my experience with it.
If you want to experience Mac OSX without the hefty price tag with some compromises — this is definitely the way to go.
Have you tried your own hackintosh or used a HP mini before… let me know what you think?