What are YOU going to run OS X on?
There have been rumblings for the past few days that people have finally (it has taken much longer than I thought) got OS X to run on fairly generic PC hardware. The process seems fairly straightforward which brings up the question: When OS X intetlified hits the stores are you going to slap it on a Mac or marry it with a couple of sweet AMD Opterons? Before you run out and buy a dual opteron setup I should note that Apple will probably just keep making the process more difficult with each release so maybe you shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet.
In other news:Intel is redesigning their chips. As not a huge fan of the PPC to Intel switch I hope they get it just right but time will tell. I love the marketing speak that peppers the piece, sounds a lot like S. Jobs at the last Macworld. Performance per watt (repeat ad naseum)
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If it runs at all on generic PC hardware, then I’ll have at least one of those. Since I don’t predict that prices will come down at all, much less enough to make any difference, I expect to be able to build a suped-up, tricked-out system for whatever I might spend on basic Macintel branded hardware.
Either way, I’ll add at least a Macintel Mini so that I can begin the long process of switching over to the Intel OS X software.
Unless I am overwhelmed with OS X for Intel running flawlessly on PC hardware, I’m sticking with Apple hardware.
I’ve found, between Windows and Linux, the biggest problem with stability is maintaining compatibility with the myriad selection of PC hardware products. And often, the Windows driver provided the manufacturer of the “Hapy Sunshinie Xtreme USB 2.0 Adaptor Card” (misspelling intentional) isn’t certified by Microsoft and probably a culprit when you add a new USB webcam 8 months from now.
I don’t want to try OS X on PC hardware to find that my BIOS rev of the system board has quirks when used with a SoundBlaster Audigy card and PCI-Express adapter from ATI after spending weeks scouring Google to discover why my computer crashes at random when my screensaver pops up and I can’t return the hardware because it’s past 15 days.
This sort of thing happens (often) with Windows so I fully expect it with OS X on generic PC hardware. Why put myself through the agony to save a few hundred bucks on hardware?
I’ll pay the premium and enjoy the extra free time of NOT troubleshooting my equipment.
For a long time I had an addiction… I’m ashamed to admit it… But I was once a hardcore PC Gamer. I’d buy the newest shiney video card when it came out, the most obnoxious multi-channel sound card, DDR266, 333, 400, then DDR2 (1066!) RAM… neon lights, liquid cooling, you name it. I was hooked. Hooked on performance? No, not really - in PC land the difference between last months hardware and this months is always pretty negligible. I was hooked on making the stuff actually work with Windows XP. I’m not convinced any of my problems were Windows fault, I’m sure a lot of manufacturer drivers were to blame, but nonetheless one of the things I’ve enjoyed about Apple’s hardware/OS X combination is that I haven’t fought with a driver now since I’ve switched. Will this remain the same with a homebuilt OS X machine? Probably not. And since the thrill of obtaining stability over and over again on all new hardware has long since faded in favor of productivity and a newfound love for music creation (a profession I’m returning to after a 3 year absence) I think I’ll stick with Apple hardware.
Agreed. I think while it may be possible to run OS X on generic PC hardware, it may never work quite right and will likely require continual tinkering. Why not spend the extra $200 to know that future upgrades will all work as expected? If I save my self 5 hours of tinkering with that extra $200, that’s money well spent.