Posted by tonymacx86 on Thursday, August 19, 2010 Labels: installer, Mac, OS X, Snow Leopard Introducing KextBeast! MacMan and I made this quick little package to help us test various drivers, and we thought it would help you all as well. Acapella app. Posted by tonymacx86 on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 Labels: laptop, Lion, Mac, OS X, Sandy Bridge, Snow Leopard People who know me know that I always recommend Apple laptops. All that nickelodeon. I am convinced that they are the best laptops on the planet and worth every penny.
People who know me know that I always recommend Apple laptops. I am convinced that they are the best laptops on the planet and worth every penny. However, a few weeks back, I picked up the HP Probook 4530s to review and monkey around with. This particular model has gathered a lot of steam on the forum, and considering the price ($475) and relative compatibility it seemed like a cool little project.Compared to building a custom desktop computer, hackintoshing a laptop is a dramatic undertaking, and can be a very painful process. It's not like building a computer from parts, choosing which compatible components you want or need. Only certain very specific models work well. Things like power management become more important because of the battery and using the lid to sleep the computer. For networking, having functional wifi is way more important than ethernet. And the keyboard and trackpad can be a nightmare.
With the launch of Mac OS X Lion, Intel's onboard HD 3000 graphics, integrated into all Sandy Bridge mobile CPUs, became fully compatible. The only thing necessary to achieve full acceleration is a MacBook Pro 8,1 system definition. Therefore many more laptops now have functional Intel graphics, and are viable hackintosh candidates.
AmazonNewegg 15.6' LED Notebook 1366x768 native resolution 2.1 GHz Intel Core i3-2310M Dual-Core Processor 4 GB DDR3 RAM 320 GB Hard Drive DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe |

The main reason people buy PC laptops to hackintosh is because of the perceived cost savings. On the surface the lowest end Probook is an incredible deal. Unfortunately, once sacrifices are made in multiple areas, the user ends up with a substandard product both in quality and experience. If you can live with the limitations, the Probook is a viable alternative. Although I have had fun with the HP Probook project, I still don't recommend buying any laptop for Mac OS X besides a real Mac. You can usually find a considerably discounted Mac on Apple.com in the refurbished section. Amazon and Newegg also have great prices on older Mac models at the time of refreshes.
Special thanks to the community of HP Probook 4530s users, especially bkribbs, Electronshaper, BigDonkey, Dewitts and masso912. We've opened up a special subforum dedicated to the HP Probook 4530s complete with full installation guides and tools. It's incredible to see such dedication to a specialized project like this. Check it out!
Let us know what other laptop models have worked for you!
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