There is the unending debate on which is the better system, Windows vs Mac. To each his own, both operating systems have their own pros and cons. But why choose when you can have both?
Iontech provided us with a pre-built “œHackintosh” system. For those of you who don’t know, Hackintosh is a coined term for running Mac OSX on a Non-Apple system. Why not just buy a Mac? Let’s face it, not everyone can afford a Mac and if you want to experience using a Mac OSX, read on.
I don’t have a tutorial on how to install Mac OSX on this machine because when we got the system, both Windows 7 and OSX were already installed. Building a Hackintosh is made easier though now that Apple uses Intel processors. What made the MaQboard more apt for “œHackintosh” is that it’s especially made for running OSX.
Here’s what you’ll get when you buy a MaQboard
- MaQboard MQ-323 ““ H
- Intel Xeon 3.4Ghz (Single Core) Processor
The MaQboard has 2 RAM slots; although it supports DDR3 RAM, one slot is DDR2 which can hold back the performance of a DDR3 memory stick if you put both together. It’ll be wiser to just put a single stick of 4GB RAM in it. It also has a PCI-e x16 slot for your latest GPU. The Hackintosh community is pretty big now that you can get support for every component you’ll put in your system.
For reference or if you want to build the same one as what we have, here’s the system that was sent to us:
- MaQboard MQ-323 ““ H w/ Intel Xeon 3.4ghz (Php8,000)
- Kingston 4GB DDR3 (Php1,150)
- Asus GT220 1GB GPU (Php2,250)
- Western Digital 1TB (Php4,999)
- Asus DRW-24B3ST ODD (Php1,000)
When building a Hackintosh, it is very important to research first on which components are compatible.
The MaQboard has most of the basic ports included.
- PS/2 ports for Keyboard/Mouse
- HDMI and VGA ports for display
- 4x USB 2.0 ports and a Parallel port
- Ethernet port
- Audio ports
OSX Snow Leopard boots quickly with this setup and everything runs smoothly. I was running Macintosh in a Windows-built machine. The bootloader also has the option to choose if you want to boot using the Windows 7 partition.
The system is snappy and apps open quickly. It immediately identified my Razer keyboard and mouse without the need for their drivers. I was able to play movies, view photos, everything that you can do on a Mac, because it IS a Mac just on a different system. Too bad the MaQboard manufacturer’s website has little to no activity so when you encounter problems with it, pray that other Hackintosh users have it as well.
I’ve read on Hackintosh forums that there seems to be no problem with programs like Adobe CS5’s suite, Microsoft Office, iLife, etc. The Hackintosh community is more than willing to help if you ever encounter any problems.
So if you ever want your own Mac system but don’t have the dough to get those expensive iMacs, why not go with cheaper alternatives like the MaQboard?