It is pretty easy to install apple software on a PC. That would be a big blow to the hackintosh community, but if the custom chips are similar to the Montevina core, it could probably still be done, altho it may take a little longer to program.

I´m an ACT (apple certified technician) and I have also worked with most other platforms, sun, gibson and mainframes. What I can say about this change from the montevina chipset, is that Apple really had no choice but to keep pace and give its customers what they demanded and mostly, keep their promise of continued innovation and platform growth. THAT was achieved, i´m sure Apple realized at the time that the "hackintoshes" would be a side effect that apple could perfectly withstand. What they probably didn´t expect, was that the prompt adoption and how stubornly some people tried by all means to make OS X work on their uncompatible PC hardware. Thus confirming the operating system´s superiority over any released version of Windows or Linux together. There is one OS out there that might rival OS X´s stability and reliability... Sun´s Solaris. Shame it´s industrial/scientific oriented. Most people suceeded in installing OS X and even managed hardware modifications in order to fuly suport OS X in it´s 64 bit version. There is one thing PC/hackintosh users will never experience and therefore they´re lacking the real Mac experience, that is Apple Hardware optimization. Apple not only writes it´s own operating system, it also writes drivers that make the same hardware work at it´s maximum capabilities. Even special firmware modifications are made at Apple´s specification. Your Dell´s X3100 video card might never perform like a consumer grade macbook´s 3100 video card. Simply because there are a lot of tweaks that can be done at a manufacturer level. A chip is nothing without its firmware, nore its drivers. And Apple happens to be damn good at modifing firmware and software to get the most of it, something "the other guys" just ain´t so good at.

To finally prove myself I was in deed right, I went and bought the cheapest semipro laptop i could find. I wanted it to be as OS X compatible as I could find. Acer Aspire 57XX was the closest thing to a 2.0 ghz-2GB ram-macbook I could find. I removed the miniPCI wireless and replaced it with an Airport miniPCI from a real macbook donor. With this I had everything as close to a macbook as possible, except the network gigabit card, I used a macbook air ethernet USB adapter instead. I installed one of the many "OS X´s" floating around the web and after a minor audio driver adjustment, I had the Aspire running OS X flawlessly. Stable as a rock, something no version of Windows could ever dream of. Hell, the thing almost felt like a mac, even the trackpad was mapping different. It´s scarry how much a PC changes when it runs a superior OS. I went ahead and ran World of Warcraft and it did run decently, almost like a Powerbook G4 1.5 Ghz with 512 ram. Then we ran Cinema 4D graphic tests and rendered a 2 megapixel image to test the processor speed and overall behavior of the machine. I was glad that the exact same expecs Macbook with exact same processor speed (2.0 ghz core 2 duo), 2GB kingston ram, and 160GB HD, beat the Aspire by 49 seconds! The Aspire had the exact same X3100 video card, the same 965 intel chipset, the same Kingston ram memory and the same Fujitsu 5400 rpm HD... And the same OS X version with all the updates available at the time. Why was the Aspire slower? Was it the power supply? No. Was it the CD R/W ??? No! Was it the battery? Of course not. What about the I/O manager? Well, there´s the rub.

Even though PCs "can" run OS X, they will never run it like a Mac. It works like a hardware emulator with poor performance. Macbooks are supposed to be the lower end Macs, and if a PC can´t even give me a macbook experience , then it´s worthless. (macbooks are $1099.oo Aspire 57XX were $1,299.oo)

The Aspire was reconfigured back to its original state and returned to Best Buy in exchange for a PS3... awesome choice! Any residual software was permanently deleted as this hack was performed under the educational purpose plea.

Treat yourself to the best, get a Mac.

Danny

If they went POWER7 they'd at least realize that IBM had a great thing going there, proper multi-threading per core instead of Intel trying to do some cheap workaround for it.

As far as delaying Hackintosh ports, it doesn't seem likely at all, unless Apple goes about and makes everyone give up their Intel systems, they still have to support them in future releases just as they supported the G3, G4 and G5 through the ages.

For the shameless Apple guy, I'll treat myself to the best and keep doing what I do while you keep doing what you do. Shameless advertising doesn't do much to sway people when your said experience isn't universal to the masses.

I would like to see Apple cramming a power7 inside a macbook pro for under 3000 smakers. I really do. What are they gonna cool those things with, Industrial grade chillers? Server oriented processors will make expensive machines like the (now bankrupt) SGI machines. Besides they'll need a nuclear power plant to feed the power7... unless they fix their temp-volt problems (or they come up with a stripped down consumer version). I wish i could sound more positive, but judging from the expecs of the power6 processor, previous to power7, there's no light at the end of that tunnel.

I have the strange feeling that i am the only geek around here that actually pays for its software. Yeah, i'll keep doing my thing... you go ahead and you keep doing what you do, eventually we'll cross the same path and the universe will regain it's balance.

Computers and humans, both made of the same basic component... star dust.

Danny

I don't ever recall saying anything about a portable version. The G5 Towers were quite a feat by them and if I'm getting server grade performance (they're using workstation boards in the Mac Pro anyway) then it's worth the premium.

You probably are the only one to pay full price at least. I either get evaluation editions of everything from the companies or I use educational discounts to purchase for about 10% of the retail price.

I'd rather we not cross the same path, these "get a mac you'll love me for life" things are really a waste of time.