What is your background that draws you to Hackintoshing?

[WonkeyDonkey]

I ran Windows XP and Server 2003 previously. I loved both systems in a way but I found myself spending far too long on maintenance and digging around the registry to clear up crap left by poor programs and installs.

I always liked the Mac interface a lot better and it didn't take long to get used to it so decided to go for a hackintosh. I have parts here for 3 of them but only use one as my production machine.

Sadly, not sure how long my hackintosh journey will continue since I hate what they have done in Lion. I remain firmly on Snow Leopard, but support for that will have to die at some point. Not sure what I will do then....

 

[krautzman]

I started out my life in computing in the 80's on various systems. Apple II's , Sinclair , Comodore 64's & 128's , Amiga's , IBM PC clones. Tweaking the electronics and softwares was a hobby of mine & my friends , making my own modems from scratch with parts , connecting to bulletin boards , cracking and copying games and software.
Went to Electronic Engineering night school for 2 years in my late teens. I built guitar amplifiers , sound mixers , amateur radio rigs and linear amps , fixing tv's and other junk , wound my own transformers as well. Then i left computing for several years. Came back to computers round 94 i think. Always built my own pc's and pushed them to their limits physically over the years. Guess i just like the tweaking and fudging things to work better.

So nearly 2 years ago my partner , who is a graphic designer was starting her own business and she really needed a faster Mac than her old one. But of course the price of a real mac pro with the specs she needed it to have was outrageous. I was trying to push her towards a Windows machine , but she likes the Mac experience too much.
So i started looking into the possibility of building a Mac Pro clone / Hackintosh for her. Knowing that with Apple using Intel parts it should be reasonably easy to get it up n running. Researching things eventually lead to TonyMac and the rest is history.
I'm a lazy sod these days , so I ended up just making a decent donation for a CustomBeast setup. Everything ran like a dream and still does to this day.

Now I'm looking to build myself a new system which will be multiboot OS , just hanging out for the new Mac Pro's to be released officially so i can finalize a few components.

So i guess i fit into the I am a GEEK catagory lol

Cheers Guys and Gals

Love the Hackintosh community

 

[theshiv]

My late 2006 black MacBook was on it's last leg, so I needed a new computer. I needed a fair amount of storage, and the transfer rate between an external hard drive wasn't fast enough for me. MacPro was overkill, and too expensive for me, and an iMac wouldn't really solve my storage needs. When I learned that I could build a machine that would compete with a high end MacPro for a fraction of the price - sold!

Not in the IT field, but do love computers and challenging myself. Next up is going to be a HTPC (with Windoze for having an on-board TV tuner) and a home server. It's an addiction.

 

[0N31D34]

I am your basic Microsoft hating militant Linux user and I got into the hackintosh scene around the same time I ditched Windows for Ubuntu (like 2007). I was happy with Linux until Gnome Shell and Unity were introduced. Apparently the Gnome devs didn't learn anything from the disaster that was the initial release of KDE4. I became fed up with Linux and switched full time to the OSX side and haven't looked back. Let's be honest though, what the majority of Linux users REALLY want is OSX. I'm not afraid to admit that. But, I am a cheap stingy bastard and I refuse to pay the amount of money that Apple wants for their hardware when my $700 Hackintosh smoke checks some of the newer very expensive Core i5 Macs.

 

[0N31D34]

Not in the IT field, but do love computers and challenging myself. Next up is going to be a HTPC (with Windoze for having an on-board TV tuner) and a home server. It's an addiction.

My recommendation is to build an inexpensive Linux based MythTV server. the Myth frontend can be run on any OS and any computer on your network. You can even stream MythTV to XMBC, Boxxee or Plex. I wouldn't recommend going the Windows route though for an HTPC

 

[maragon5]

Last year I found a Dual Processor 2.7 Ghz G5 Powermac laying in the garbage at my job. Video card , hd's and dvd drive were missing but everything else was intact. I was amazed by the water cooling setup, and although i was never able to bring it back to life, I did end up learning about hackintoshing when I needed another mac to troubleshoot.

I fell in love with Snow Leopard after I converted my i7 water-cooled rig, as most of you can probably relate I then switched over my old dell vostro 1700 laptop. My office pc needed an upgrade so I recently built myself a more powerful ivy bridge air cooled setup for the office to replace the vostro 420 (which I had also converted earlier).

And now the new thunderbolt mobos look so sweet may just have to ebay my 3 month old mobo and order one of those

4 Hackintoshes, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, an AppleTV and an Airport Extreme and I'm now realizing that I may have an addiction. Holy crap , tell me there's others out there that can relate!?

 

[theshiv]

I do it just to say that I did/can and brag about it! I always like a challenge.

 

[moodogg7]

What draws me to Hackintosh???
Since 04 when Apple announced that Apple will be switching from Motorola/TI- Power PC to the Intel x86chip. I knew it would not be long before people would be building a hack.. To me, it seemed too hard at first… Then it got easier and easier to the point, where all you had to do, is prepare a USB drive… and use a streamlined kext installer like multi-beast… In fall of 2010 I thought I would do it with the P55 chipset… but I wasn’t willing and couldn’t afford a new mobo at the time…. My video card and mobo were incompatible at the time as well (but I had the right processor and ram) and I didn’t know much about easy kext or multi-beast, though.
So far I have committed a vast amount of time effort and some money on my sandy bridge project (hardware and Mac Apps)…. I may actually get a MacBook Air…. And maybe in 1.5 years I will upgrade to Ivey Bridge… It looks like I may be in this for the long haul.
On the flip side, I think that Apple is becoming a little monopolistic…. I have always resented the fact that on paper, you can build the same tower for a fraction of the price Apple will charge. I’m sure their argument to me may sound something like (it just works) and the OS was tailored for that specific hardware. One might even argue that they did all the work in regards to the development of the OS X and they have the right to charge whatever they want until a legitimate competitor in the UNIX or LINUX OS world step up and make a similar product, thus creating real competition. We all know there is always MS and Linux.
My attraction to the Hackintosh is the sheer joy of getting it to work on a platform that apple did not design the OS to run on… As a computer nerd and hardware junkie, I also want to be able to build my own system… and not rely on one company to do it all for me.

thanks for all your hard work Tonymac and crew... its been a joy

 

[lequibao]

I like challenges! And i was curious to try Mac OS, specially with the apps for video and audio edition.
Oh, and i was looking for more interaction with my iPad too!
I want a mac, but, in my opinion, the price is too high (here in brazil). No need for more computers in my house, so i installed lion first in my PC for fun, after this, in my notebook and today is my default system on day to day use

 

[alans17]

I wanted a Mac-based home server with lots of room for drive expansion, but I can't afford a Mac Pro and I don't need a Xeon processor.