Buying a new cheap laptop for hackintosh

[vipr]

Hello.
Please forgive me lack of details. I'm looking for a new laptop for my daughter, not expensive (up to £400), something she could use longer than a year, with hackintosh as a side project in mind, so she could use Win/MacOSX/Linux systems and learn different apps.

My first choice is 15" HP Pavilion http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...165sa-15-6-laptop-neon-pink-10030263-pdt.html or blue version. I'm quite sure, that colour means more than CPU and RAM for 11 years old girl, so I can pick any config as long as laptop looks nice and isn't too heavy.

My second choice is this one: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...15-r150sa-15-6-laptop-black-10034877-pdt.html

I wonder if any of these may be transformed to hackintosh. I tried to find some troubleshooting for these models but without success. It doesn't mean they will work out of the box. I'm quite new in hackintosh realm and it remind me walking in a dense fog, so I'll be grateful for any directions. I think it's better to ask before purchase than looking for solutions after installation failure. Is there any list of successful builds on modern laptops? I googled but only found a very old netbooks compatibility list. What's yours experience? Should I go for HP or maybe Lenovo or Acer?

If these two above are not compatible with mavericks/yosemite, maybe some other laptop from this price range would be good? http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...1-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-criteria.html
maybe this one? (my third choice) http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...ible-touchscreen-laptop-red-10022728-pdt.html

Sorry that I can't be more specific.
Thanks

PS: and sorry for my english too.

 

[RehabMan]

Hello.
Please forgive me lack of details. I'm looking for a new laptop for my daughter, not expensive (up to £400), something she could use longer than a year, with hackintosh as a side project in mind, so she could use Win/MacOSX/Linux systems and learn different apps.

My first choice is 15" HP Pavilion http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...165sa-15-6-laptop-neon-pink-10030263-pdt.html or blue version. I'm quite sure, that colour means more than CPU and RAM for 11 years old girl, so I can pick any config as long as laptop looks nice and isn't too heavy.

My second choice is this one: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...15-r150sa-15-6-laptop-black-10034877-pdt.html

I wonder if any of these may be transformed to hackintosh. I tried to find some troubleshooting for these models but without success. It doesn't mean they will work out of the box. I'm quite new in hackintosh realm and it remind me walking in a dense fog, so I'll be grateful for any directions. I think it's better to ask before purchase than looking for solutions after installation failure. Is there any list of successful builds on modern laptops? I googled but only found a very old netbooks compatibility list. What's yours experience? Should I go for HP or maybe Lenovo or Acer?

If these two above are not compatible with mavericks/yosemite, maybe some other laptop from this price range would be good? http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...1-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-criteria.html
maybe this one? (my third choice) http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...ible-touchscreen-laptop-red-10022728-pdt.html

Sorry that I can't be more specific.
Thanks

PS: and sorry for my english too.

Read here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/laptop-compatibility/106791-laptop-compatibility.html

 

[vipr]

Thanks, I've done it, read this forum for few days, but I'm still clueless. I know that processor, chipset and graphics card are essential and the full compatibility depends on guts of particular laptop, but it's hard to tell what driver I would have to use before I even started installation and if there is any driver available for me (for wifi for example) without running computer.
I can buy one of many available laptops within this price range but if it won't hack properly I can't give it back . They give me 21 days to change my mind after purchasing as long as I don't open the box, but I can test each laptop in a shop and make my decision based on readings from device manager, I just have to know what else should I check.
I read about some installers for certain laptops on the market, so I hoped someone had already the same dilemma as me and hack his laptop with or without success, this is why I asked my previous question. It would be naive to think that hackability depends on laptops brand but on the other hand I believe there are some successful builds among most popular laptops which were worth to invest some time and build specific tool for them. If so, that would be a nice shortcut to know what to buy in advance if we could have some list of confirmed hacks.

 

[RehabMan]

Thanks, I've done it, read this forum for few days, but I'm still clueless. I know that processor, chipset and graphics card are essential and the full compatibility depends on guts of particular laptop, but it's hard to tell what driver I would have to use before I even started installation and if there is any driver available for me (for wifi for example) without running computer.
I can buy one of many available laptops within this price range but if it won't hack properly I can't give it back . They give me 21 days to change my mind after purchasing as long as I don't open the box, but I can test each laptop in a shop and make my decision based on readings from device manager, I just have to know what else should I check.
I read about some installers for certain laptops on the market, so I hoped someone had already the same dilemma as me and hack his laptop with or without success, this is why I asked my previous question. It would be naive to think that hackability depends on laptops brand but on the other hand I believe there are some successful builds among most popular laptops which were worth to invest some time and build specific tool for them. If so, that would be a nice shortcut to know what to buy in advance if we could have some list of confirmed hacks.

For a noob, 21 days to hack a laptop is a stretch. You will likely need longer than that to learn everything you need to know. Unless you have a schedule filled with nothing but hackintosh or start out with exceptional skills.

If you want an "easy" hack, stick to one of the HP ProBook/Elite book models supported by the ProBook Installer. See here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook-yosemite/

 

[vipr]

Thank you. I don't have exceptional skills I'm just developer and designer (java, javascript, actionscript), so not a rookie but far from hardware layer and I'm sure there is a lot to learn. I'm going to build a desktop hackintosh as well, so it's worth to invest some time to get to know how these things works.

Unfortunately business HP's are not available in my local store. I could order online, but I'm short of time now ( I should ask earlier instead of lurking on this forum and trying to figure out by reading only). Besides even the cheapest HP ProBook 450 G2 is above my budget (mentioned proper hackintosh have a higher priority).

I'll try my chances with a cheaper model HP Pavilion 15-p, risking that something won't work (should I try HP Probook Installer?). In worst case scenario Ubuntu would be the main system (for web browsing mostly) and Win/MacOSX just for games and working in certain apps like office, photoshop and lightroom.

 

[RehabMan]

Thank you. I don't have exceptional skills I'm just developer and designer (java, javascript, actionscript), so not a rookie but far from hardware layer and I'm sure there is a lot to learn. I'm going to build a desktop hackintosh as well, so it's worth to invest some time to get to know how these things works.

Unfortunately business HP's are not available in my local store. I could order online, but I'm short of time now ( I should ask earlier instead of lurking on this forum and trying to figure out by reading only). Besides even the cheapest HP ProBook 450 G2 is above my budget (mentioned proper hackintosh have a higher priority).

I'll try my chances with a cheaper model HP Pavilion 15-p, risking that something won't work (should I try HP Probook Installer?). In worst case scenario Ubuntu would be the main system (for web browsing mostly) and Win/MacOSX just for games and working in certain apps like office, photoshop and lightroom.

The ProBook Installer is only for supported ProBook/EliteBook/zBook models.

Any other laptop needs to be dealt with one step at a time, unless you find a well written and correct guide (rare).