Noob Questions - 4730 vs 4530 and some confusion on my part

[alovingmommyof3]

First, does anyone know which laptop is a better choice for specs and compatibility with lion?

I looked over an older installer guide and it makes it seem that to hackintosh these laptops you already need a hackintosh or a mac???

Has anyone upgraded the memory on these?

Is there a guide to dual boot with windows?

What search terms should I use to find the most current install guides for each of these laptops? There are about 38 pages of post topics and some of those topics span for many many many pages. I don't have the time to manually go through some of it. For some reason when I think of search terms I don't end up finding what I need.

I am a complete noob for this. I do have some computer experience with hardware and software, but not with programming (though I can catch on to some stuff if I find a helpful tutorial). Unfortunately my computer experience is not up to date because I have been out of the scene for awhile.

My goal is to have a working hackintosh laptop and/or desktop. I already have parts picked out for the desktop; though it will cost more than I would like. If there is a very good docking solution for these laptops, I might only need the laptop. I prefer a desktop or a desktop like environment for my college work. I will be getting my master's in a computer related field so some of this will help me at least a little.

 

[RehabMan]

First, does anyone know which laptop is a better choice for specs and compatibility with lion?

Take a look at this post: viewtopic.php?f=259&t=35110
Those are the ones known to work well. Happy shopping!

I looked over an older installer guide and it makes it seem that to hackintosh these laptops you already need a hackintosh or a mac???

Yes. You need to buy Lion and then use Unibeast to create your USB install stick. My suggestion would be to borrow a friend's Mac for an afternoon.

Has anyone upgraded the memory on these?

Mine was pre-upgraded to 8GB. It works.

Is there a guide to dual boot with windows?

See my blog (in signature). It runs through quad-boot Win7, Win8, Lion and Ubuntu. You can pick and choose as it is divided into sections.

What search terms should I use to find the most current install guides for each of these laptops? There are about 38 pages of post topics and some of those topics span for many many many pages. I don't have the time to manually go through some of it. For some reason when I think of search terms I don't end up finding what I need.

Most of what you need is on the first page. Check these posts:
viewtopic.php?f=259&t=41546
viewtopic.php?f=259&t=64780

I am a complete noob for this. I do have some computer experience with hardware and software, but not with programming (though I can catch on to some stuff if I find a helpful tutorial). Unfortunately my computer experience is not up to date because I have been out of the scene for awhile.

My goal is to have a working hackintosh laptop and/or desktop. I already have parts picked out for the desktop; though it will cost more than I would like.

Be prepared to learn a lot, do a lot of google searching, ask for help here when you get stuck, and to do things over several times. That's just the way it goes...

If there is a very good docking solution for these laptops, I might only need the laptop. I prefer a desktop or a desktop like environment for my college work. I will be getting my master's in a computer related field so some of this will help me at least a little.

I haven't tried any of the HP docking stations. The only one for this laptop would be USB. Of course you can always simply plug in a USB keyboard, mouse, and monitor via HDMI. All of that I have done with success. I used an old Dell USB keyboard, a cheapo no-name wireless mouse, and HDMI to a Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (1920x1200) monitor.

 

[alovingmommyof3]

I checked out the laptop in the thread you posted. Most are not for sale anymore. As luck would have it, the ones I was interested in were not for sale. They are deactivated on Newegg and just not for sale on Amazon. My guess is they are discontinued.

 

[RehabMan]

I checked out the laptop in the thread you posted. Most are not for sale anymore. As luck would have it, the ones I was interested in were not for sale. They are deactivated on Newegg and just not for sale on Amazon. My guess is they are discontinued.

They are definitely on their way out, as they are Sandy Bridge and HP is making room for Ivy Bridge. But you can still find them around. I purchased mine as a refurb on tigerdirect.com.

The other thing you could do is pay attention to people's signatures here and if they list the specific model they have working.

Even so, if it is a Sandy Bridge ProBook, chances are you can get it to work. You may need to replace the wireless card if it is not Atheros, and no matter what be prepared you end up with something that won't work. You could always resell it or use it as a Windows machine.

If you open your shopping search beyond newegg.com and amazon.com, you can probably still find one of the known-to-work models. Check out ebay. And check out google.com/shopping.

 

[alovingmommyof3]

I checked out the laptop in the thread you posted. Most are not for sale anymore. As luck would have it, the ones I was interested in were not for sale. They are deactivated on Newegg and just not for sale on Amazon. My guess is they are discontinued.

They are definitely on their way out, as they are Sandy Bridge and HP is making room for Ivy Bridge. But you can still find them around. I purchased mine as a refurb on tigerdirect.com.

The other thing you could do is pay attention to people's signatures here and if they list the specific model they have working.

Even so, if it is a Sandy Bridge ProBook, chances are you can get it to work. You may need to replace the wireless card if it is not Atheros, and no matter what be prepared you end up with something that won't work. You could always resell it or use it as a Windows machine.

If you open your shopping search beyond newegg.com and amazon.com, you can probably still find one of the known-to-work models. Check out ebay. And check out google.com/shopping.

Thanks for your advice. I think that replacing the wifi card will be much easier than hunting down the precise laptop that will have the right card. I have yet to buy and replace a laptop wifi card, but I can probably do it once I have info on how. One thing I noticed is some wifi cards double as Bluetooth cards. So I wouldn't know if I need that or a wifi only card.

I found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-ProBook-Notebo ... s=hp+4530s

I had hoped for a faster processor, but I doubt I can find it. Good thing this hobby is a hobby, otherwise the time and energy spent wouldn't be worth it. It would be more efficient to by one. This is interesting to me.

 

[RehabMan]

Thanks for your advice. I think that replacing the wifi card will be much easier than hunting down the precise laptop that will have the right card. I have yet to buy and replace a laptop wifi card, but I can probably do it once I have info on how. One thing I noticed is some wifi cards double as Bluetooth cards. So I wouldn't know if I need that or a wifi only card.

I found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-ProBook-Notebo ... s=hp+4530s

I had hoped for a faster processor, but I doubt I can find it. Good thing this hobby is a hobby, otherwise the time and energy spent wouldn't be worth it. It would be more efficient to by one. This is interesting to me.

For sure, if I was being paid to do this, it would have been better to just buy a Mac. But I did this just to play and experiment, and having never used a Mac before, I thought it might be a good way to learn about the internals a bit along the way. So it is all worth it for me.

The i3 is quite a capable chip, and I think 90% of the public is buying computers with more speed than they need. There are special cases, like video editing, photography, and to some extent software development, but for basic computing tasks the i3 is overkill.

Of course, you could always upgrade the CPU if you want later...

And if you have to, replacing the wireless card is hardly more difficult than upgrading RAM.

 

[alovingmommyof3]

I better quit looking or I will have too many too choose from.

Here are two more. Only one definitely has the right card. (The more expensive one)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 4-15248UTD

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... -15225%20B

I don't want to buy one unless there is a good chance that most everything will work. What I wonder is what may not end up working. Trying to sell the laptop will be a pain, and I already have a windows based laptop. I don't need an extra.

 

[bagnolet]

If it's too difficult for you to change the wifi module, you should buy the second one. The price difference is less than $300 and you get a superb slip case and a Mac compatible mouse.

 

[RehabMan]

I better quit looking or I will have too many too choose from.

Here are two more. Only one definitely has the right card. (The more expensive one)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 4-15248UTD

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... -15225%20B

I don't want to buy one unless there is a good chance that most everything will work. What I wonder is what may not end up working. Trying to sell the laptop will be a pain, and I already have a windows based laptop. I don't need an extra.

Try the following searches (use your favorite search engine... I used bing.com):
site:tonymacx86.com A7K05UT
-or-
site:tonymacx86.com LJ475UT

And you will find plenty of results showing people getting these laptops to work...

 

[alovingmommyof3]

If it's too difficult for you to change the wifi module, you should buy the second one. The price difference is less than $300 and you get a superb slip case and a Mac compatible mouse.

I had thought about getting the cheaper one and upgrading the processor. That doesn't seem to be the most cost effective option. If it turns out to be cost effective to do that and upgrade the memory, it could work.

I don't mind changing out parts, but the processor on the second one is better. I am a huge multitakser on a computer and tend to need a decent amount of processing power and memory. I am guessing 4 gigs won't be enough. Most computers I use tend to become overworked by all that I try to do. I currently am using Windows 7, AMD Athlon II X2 220 2.8 GHz with 4 gigs of RAM and I bog it down.

I once heard the mac os uses fewer resources than windows. Is this true?