Silly Question About Macs

[pica_nuttalli]

Can you install the Mac OS on a home-built computer? I really want a Mac desktop, but I don't feel like shelling out $1500 for a bottom-tier model.

Suggestions?

 

[for_my_fish]

no unfortunatly you can't. Hence apple can keep over charging for thier hardware.

 

[wendywc]

No you can't, but you can buy a used Mac system for much, much cheaper. You can try looking at local ads. Or you can buy refurbed Macs; here are two suppliers I've personally ordered from in the past. Their stock is constantly changing from week to week depending on what they get in... so if they don't have it right now, they might next week.

http/www.macofalltrades.com/
http/expercom.com/browse_by_brand.html?BRAND_ID=2091

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

there working or have released a mac os which works on a pc ill edit in a link
cant find a link sorry but i read somewhere it is possible, you could just run a parallel

 

[Danno]

I would say stick with PCs if you are on a budget. Apple rips people off because they have the "cool" operating system; that and they think that a white everything is "hip".

I say screw it.

 

[piratedninja]

it IS possible but extremely complicated and i dont suggest you try it
ive tried it on my laptop and nearly killed the harddrive doing so


im kinda with Danno
Apple products are BIG ripoffs and the worst part is people still buy them because an evil man in a black longsleeved shirt and jeans tells them that apple procuts are "hip" and "cool"


sorry for going on a rant
but back to the subject

its really NOT worth wasting your time and money on trying to get osx to work on a PC
but if you insist
Google:
[codebox]OSX on PC[/codebox]
and go the wiki, from there it will guide you to what you are looking for

 

[pica_nuttalli]

well, ok then. i'm not sure that i appreciated being told that i was a brainwashed consumer zombie, but i did get the quick answer that i was looking for

i'll be sure to check out those links, wendy

--EDIT--
maybe i'll just try Linux. all i care about being able to run are the Office suite, iTunes, World of Warcraft, and "teh Interweb".

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

can't run osx on a PC but can run windows on a mac.

Hmm I'm thinking notsuch a ripoff, especially n you consider all the viruses I'm mising out on!

SLC

 

[for_my_fish]

all depends on what you do, I run two machines one with Linux and one has windows. In the years I've used Linux and windows I've had zero viruses on Linux and ONE on windows, this is on a machine connected 24.7 to the web, is used for web surfing and email as well as photo editing and trying out software. With reasonable anti-virus and commonsense viruses are quite easy to avoid. I do have spybot search and destroy scheduled to run twice a week to clear that stuff out.

MAC users tend to get hit hard with viruses as they are complacement about things like email attachments etc, its just currently there are fewer viruses currently.

I do thing MAcs are a ripoff when you consider an equivelent PC. MACs are harder to upgrade. But they do look nice and the operating system is very slick.

 

[andywg]

can't run osx on a PC but can run windows on a mac.

As has been established already, one can run OSX on a PC. It is not the easiest of things to do, but is certainly possible.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

can't run osx on a PC but can run windows on a mac.

As has been established already, one can run OSX on a PC. It is not the easiest of things to do, but is certainly possible.

but can one run it instead of windows? all the things that i looked at seemed to indicate that wasn't possible. i saw a lot of noise about emulators and double-booting, neither of which i'm really interested in.

i've not had virus troubles on my pcs (that i'm aware of in any case) but it would be nice to have that extra level of protection. i'm mostly just interested in trying out something new and all of my arty friends that have macs seem to really like their OS.

 

[Danno]

World of Warcraft can only run on a PC unless you are a computer genius and use emulators and create virtual hardware.

OSX to me is over simplified. Linux is over complicated. Windows is juuuuuust right. (for me) People just don’t like Windows because it is popular and a lot of people use it. People want to be unique and this drives them away from it.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT LISTEN TO THE MAC COMMERSIALS ON THE TV. THEY ARE A LOAD OF BULL!

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

can't run osx on a PC but can run windows on a mac.

As has been established already, one can run OSX on a PC. It is not the easiest of things to do, but is certainly possible.

but can one run it instead of windows? all the things that i looked at seemed to indicate that wasn't possible. i saw a lot of noise about emulators and double-booting, neither of which i'm really interested in.

i've not had virus troubles on my pcs (that i'm aware of in any case) but it would be nice to have that extra level of protection. i'm mostly just interested in trying out something new and all of my arty friends that have macs seem to really like their OS.

You run bothcamp , bootcamp (which is a free download) runs either windows or OSX whichever you choose but they are both on the computer. parallels lets you run windows and OSX at the same time, it costs $80.

SLC

 

[andywg]

World of Warcraft can only run on a PC unless you are a computer genius and use emulators and create virtual hardware.

OSX to me is over simplified. Linux is over complicated. Windows is juuuuuust right. (for me) People just don’t like Windows because it is popular and a lot of people use it. People want to be unique and this drives them away from it.

Most people don't like windows because it is such an unstable platform that bloats itself on RAM and is not secure.

I would take over complicated over unsafe any day.

All you need for WOW on ubuntu is WINE: http/www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4169902864.html

 

[pica_nuttalli]

World of Warcraft can only run on a PC unless you are a computer genius and use emulators and create virtual hardware.

i'd say that half of our guild use Macs to play. one guy specifically got a powerbook just for the purpose of loading up WoW. and trust me, this guy's no computer genius.

the Mac OS appeals to me because (1) there are fewer Mac viruses so that decreases the random odds of an infection, (2) XP is not secure and never has been, (3) Vista is bloated and broken, and (4) the Mac freebie software is better associated with my needs and interests than the Windows freebie software. the only reason that I hadn't switched sooner is that i'm an Excel power-user and "need" the MS Office products. (sorry Andy, but I'm never going to be satisfied with Open Office programs if they don't offer 100% of the MS formats and features. ) you can whine about Mac interfacing all you want, but every single version of the MS OS has stolen elements from the previous Mac OS. Mac is always further ahead in the development curve while simultaneously producing fewer buggy products. I will 100% concede that you can play more computer games with MS. But I only have the time and interest to play WoW. Thus the biggest reason to pick Windows over OSX doesn't apply to me.

however, since it doesn't really look like I'll have the option of installing OSX instead of and without XP, I'll just use the OS that I already own but I also think that I'll try installing Linux on my old box and seeing how that works. I'm not really a big computer person but I do like the idea of using a very bare-bones operating system because I know that would free up a lot of resources on my computer. does MSN Messenger work in Linux?

(i'd like to take this time to point out that Andy's approach is the superior means of being an OS fanboy: focus on providing positive information about your own OS. the arguement that "Macs Suck" is not exactly persuasive and insulting Mac users as deluded, obsessed with being cool/different, or otherwise uninformed consumers is also ineffective.)