Hackintoshing used to be a complicated process, but since Hackintosh expert tonymacx86 came around it’s gotten a lot easier. [..] While I had Whitson around to help me out, if you have some knowledge of how to build a computer this is likely something you can do. I am still surprised that the process was so easy and that the machine is so fast for so little money. Now it seems silly to ever buy a Mac desktop again.
Via Lifehacker: How to Build a Hackintosh Mini for a Less Expensive, Faster Mac.
Another post that is par for the course in irresponsible LifeHacker blogging.
I’ve looked into Hackintoshing a Mac together a few times and to be quite honest, unless you are a complete Zealot like @Adisor19, the price of the materials are only ever cheaper if you build a Mac Pro comparable device and have some of the parts yourself. To be quite honest, if you are trying to save money, I still think that getting genuine Apple hardware and Applecare service will save you more money and especially time in the long run. I recently helped a family member replace a failed hard drive. Although the procedure is quite simple and relatively cheap, if they had gotten AppleCare, the drive would be swapped out for free and in a very timely manner.
In another case, my brother bought a new 13″ MacBook Pro to compliment the family’s aging Black MacBook since he is on the road quite a bit. In one trip to the Apple Store, he picked up a new machine and his entire profile swapped over from the old machine to the new one as a free extra.
These are the non quantifiable extras that we have come to expect from buying genuine Apple gear, most of us buy Mac’s because they “just work”. In truth, HACKING your own Mac together simply to save some money is the wrong reason to do it, the very next update that Apple makes to OS X could possibly take you machine offline for weeks. Hackintoshing should only ever been seen as a project where you can flex some your Apple Mental Muscle. If your only production machine is hacked up Netbook, a Vostrotosh, or even a dedicated video editing beige box, then you are really putting it on the line. If ever I’m your customer and you tell me that my job is being run on one of these machines then you will lose my business. Building a Hackintosh can be a whole lot of fun but tread carefully when thinking you can do it to save money.
