There’s been lots of chatter about the sub-$300 laptops, dubbed “netbooks” and their ability to run OS X. After reading through the How-To instructions on hacking OS X onto a Dell Mini, my initial thought was:
By Step 5, I’ve already paid for a used MacBook.
I picked up an 8GB Mini 9 for $250 from Dell a few weeks ago and after going through the process – I can confirm that’s the case.
Worst part is, in the end you don’t have a MacBook.
First off, I purchased the Mini without a optical drive (cause it’s 2009 & it’s a netbook). This means I need a Windows box for the installation. Which means, I need to turn on the the only Windows box in the house: a 6 year-old eMac with VirtualPC.
Hours later – after confirming all the hacky bits of software were transferred and configured correctly, I headed back to the Mini for the install.
Nope, 8GB isn’t enough room for even the basic OS X install.
So, I ordered a $120 32GB Runcore SSD upgrade (the Mini won’t boot off it’s SSD slot).
Then, install the hardware upgrade, re-attempt the OS install, do a funny reboot dance (twice for good measure) and….Success.
Time to migrate the account information from the PowerBook….well, what will fit in <32 GB.
A long, complex, ill-documented, technically fragile process and in the end – a Hackintosh….definitely not a Macintosh.
But hey, sometimes the first piece of pie is the hardest to get out. The second always goes much more easily.