Macintosh vs. Hackintosh

It's almost time to buy a bunch of new hardware for my research group. We're increasingly doing things that require desktop machines with a lot of memory, so I need beefy machines.

In the one corner, we have the latest iMac 27" with 3.4GHz quad-core Intel i7. Fully optioned up (16GB of RAM, 2TB hard drive, 256GB SSD, three year AppleCare). We don't need the extra uber graphics. The standard graphics are fine. Price? $3418 list, $3143 with our Rice discount.

In the other corner, we have the latest Dell Alienware X51 with (the same?) 3.4GHz quad-core i7, 16GB of RAM, 2TB hard drive. 27" monitor (the latest Dell U2713HM), NVidia GeForce GTX 555, and three year warranty. No SSD, webcam, or speakers, but those are cheap to add aftermarket. Dell price, before I even call up a salescritter and negotiate? $2197.

This Alienware configuration also seems to be supported by the Hackintosh community, which is almost certainly how I'd want to run it. It's even cheaper than attempting to configure something close with a Mac Mini (which can't take as much RAM and has a much slower CPU). The downsides of the Alienware box are its lack of internal expansion room, its absence of Firewire (although it does have USB 3.0), and its external power supply.

Lastly, I wanted to see what I could do with truly generic PC builders. I went to CyberPowerPC.com (oh, the pain) and tried to configure something akin to the iMac above. They don't offer a comparable 27" monitor (2560x1600), but otherwise I ended up with a configuration costing $1238. Add in the same Dell monitor, and the total system price is around $2000.

The temptation is to buy a bunch of generic PCs from somebody who understands how to burn them in and make sure everything really works, with parts carefully chosen to maximize the odds that a Hackintosh will work, then make my people happy with shiny awesome 27" super monitors, which will also stick around past the next round of PC upgrades.

Thoughts?

It obviously doesn't address all your issues with the Mac mini, but it can take 16GB of RAM, even if Apple don't advertise (or presumably support) such an option.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Mac%20mini%20(Intel%20Core%20i7%202.7Ghz)%20DDR3%20-%20Mid%202011&Cat=RAM

I dabbled with a Hackintosh briefly on supposedly well supported Dell hardware (Latitude D series), before deciding the continued effort was all too much hassle and bought a MacBook.

I'd forgotten there wasn't a quad core mini

(just found the quad core "server" version)

I'm running a quad core i7 Mini with 16GB of RAM. No problems at all.

Don't forget to add in the cost of OS/X for the Hackintosh machines. It's already included in the price of the Apple box.

Isn't Hackintosh a violation of the OS X EULA?

(Pauses to watch the "Human CentiPad" episode of South Park.)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is.

I would have no moral objection to running OS X on a home machine, since I'm paying for the OS, so I'll run it wherever I damn well please. But if you're buying this for the school to use, I'd certainly get some go-ahead in writing from your legal department before outfitting an entire university lab with machines that violate Apple's EULA. I know the lawyers here would shit a brick if we did that kind of thing here.

All I can really add to the discussion is how much I absolutely DESPISE Alienware. My problems were from back before they were a part of Dell, but they pissed me off to the point of swearing to never buy anything from them again (I tried to convince my brother of the pains I had, he still went ahead and ordered from them and grudgingly admitted I was right). I could rant for a while on all the problems I had with them.

I never tried to build or buy anything where graphics weren't a priority, but my last purchase was from Velocity Micro. I haven't had any problems, other than a video card starting to overheat about 6 months from the end of my warranty. The return process was painless. Everything that Alienware wasn't, Velocity Micro was and vice versa.

Apple's current desktops are long overdue for updates. The current iMac is almost 1.5 years old, introduced May 2011.

I don't believe they planned to have such a long lapse in releases, especially since I know they decided to switch over to NVIDIA graphics across the board a very long time ago. The typical timeline for this decision would mean they would already long ago have release their updated machines. I suspect there must have been some issues with that move, since their mini and most notebooks are also behind. Then again, they're also long overdue for a display refresh and that could be responsible as well (it's probably why we don't have a current 17" MBP).

I posted a link to a fantastic "hackintosh" site a little while back in the video encoding thread. There are many reports of what works and doesn't work from a large number of posters, along with a number of tested systems in their recommended configuration lists.

(EDIT: Here it is: http://tonymacx86.com/)

Running the OS on non-Apple hardware is most definitely something Apple doesn't want you to do. Using such systems for anything other than "personal use" might be a big no-no. Certainly not something you'd want to publicize.

As Bruno said, the iMac is currently very out of date. Odds are, the processor is not the latest generation. RAM and SSD prices are out of date (and of course carry the usual OEM markup).

If your timeframe allows, I'd say wait. Apple is due to refresh the iMac any day now, likely sometime this month. Should being the SSD and RAM price down, along with newer CPU options to properly match the other vendors.

Hackintosh? I personally wouldn't. My experience with them in the past has always been a little wonky. It's fun to hack around with if it interests you, but I'd never depend on one. The low level driver hackery can and does lead to instability.

A few years ago, if you held Mac products up against generic PCs with equivalent specs, the prices were roughly the same. That's just not true any more, even with our generous university discount. A Mac mini "server" (quad core 2.0GHz i7) with minimum RAM, and 750GB HD + 250GB SSD would cost me $1573. Add $80 for a 3rd-party 16GB upgrade kit, and add another $800 for that swanky Dell monitor or $949 for the Apple 27" display. Total cost per seat, with the Dell monitor, $2453.

So, that would have me spending $400 more per seat versus the generic CyberPowerPC option, which has a radically faster CPU (3.4GHz vs. 2GHz, and with a bigger cache), never mind internal expansion options.

Yeah, the licensing thing is a drag. I'm more concerned about the pain-in-the-ass factor of maintaining Hackintoshes.

Don't forget to add the cost of the OS/X license in when comparing systems like that. That brings the difference a bit closer that it first appears.

Okay, time to revisit this thread now that Apple's new announcements are on deck.

Option #1: Ubuntu boxes from System76.com. Fully decked out, with a 3.4GHz Core i7 Quad, 32GB of RAM, 2x2TB hard drives plus a 240GB SSD, and a 24" display, and a 3 year warranty, the price comes out to $2389 per seat.

Option #2: Mac mini, maxxed out (2.6GHz Core i7 Quad, 2x1TB hard drives, 16GB RAM) is $1655 plus a monitor is going to be around $2000.

Option #3: The new 27" iMac, top of the line, starts at $1899 (academic price). It's unknown what the price will be once you get done bumping up the specs.

I'm strongly tempted to go with option #1, especially since some of my students favor Ubuntu for their desktops and have separate Mac laptops.

Thoughts?