How easy is it to hackintosh?

[TheDude]

I am building a studio. For this studio, I need a studio rig.

I was thinking about upgrading to another macbook pro, but the largest they have are 15 inch now and their GPU's kinda suck, right?

I need to first figure out what the best option is for me. Would it be best to get a macbook pro to do production suite stuff?

Tech specs are currently
2.3Ghz quad i7 - turbo boost up to 3.5? My current MBP is a 2.8 GHz Intel core duo
Intel Iris Pro Graphics???
Geforce 750M GT 2GB GPU
16 GB of 1600MHz DDR3L


This for 2600 bux.

Now, can someone explain to me what I could get in a windows book of similar price?
And also what I could get in a desktop for 1500?


I will have enough money saved in 4 months. What am I looking at getting for the same price at that time?

 

[TheDude]

oh and the title..

If i get a windows desktop, i must hackintosh it to run protools, reason, ableton, DP, finale and plugins.

 

[Titoezz]

Studio eh? ok here we go;

Straight up Macintosh, for 2600 you could go with:

iMac 27":

• 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB ( u can expand later on for way cheaper than Apple price)
• 256GB Flash Storage / or a 1TB Fusion if you don't have external storage(which you should have)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
• $2,549

Macbook Pro 15" Retina:

• 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
• 512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2GB GDDR5
• $2,599

or:

• 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
• 256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
• Intel Iris Pro Graphics
• $2,499

Might sound weird, and you might want to wait a month or so if you like the idea, but,

Mac Mini:

• 2.6GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
• 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB (upgrade to 16GB yourself)
• 256GB Solid State Drive
• Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)
• $2,098

If with studio you mean a soundstudio either of these would be a great choice in the Apple genre. I've gone ahead and specced most of them out to the max as you set a $2600 limit in your OP, according to what you think you're actually planning to do with the rig a less maxed out spec might also be enough.

The iMac is by far the fastest in CPU/GPU/RAM performance, the Macbooks have PCI storage and the Mac Mini is a beautiful setup and by far the cheapest. They all have their pro's and con's. Really depends on what you prefer for now and in the future.

If you want my personal opinion to what would fit best for a soundstudio i'd pick the iMac, having a way more expandable computer, a gorgeous 27" display to see loads of tracks at once as well as plugin screens and be able to work with them all together with up to 32GB of RAM really helps out a lot. Only downside is that it isn't as portable, but in a studio it's probably tied up to multiple cables anyway.

 

[NickHouston]

@Titoezz

I was just looking at Macs for school and the cheapest, decently specced Macbook is nearly $3000.

Here's how they get to that price:

Apparently apple has renamed Solid State Drives to "Flash Storage" to up the price about 250%. For me, I need atleast 1TB of built in memory and since they don't have a normal SSD option they force you to overspend.

The "Retina Display" is just a high-res monitor. They renamed it to drive up the price and sadly I'll only be getting the 13 inch model because of this.

As far as I can tell, there is no built-in CD drive. They sell their own CD drives for nearly $100.

Also, they drive up the price of RAM VERY much so even 16GB costs you about $200 more than the 8GB standard.

They make you also pay for your own warranty/insurance. This costs about $300 and I don't think it even covers loss or accidental physical damage (for TD this means urinating on his Macbook). Apple care is a rip off but necessary for any Apple device because of how expensive, and fragile, the stuff is.

I'm guessing this is why he wants to build a Hackintosh. which IMO is the best option if you're getting a desktop and need the Mac OS. You can pick the same exact parts(or better), eliminate the 300% markup for the Apple brand, and still be able to run Mac-only programs that are vital to what he needs this for.

 

[Titoezz]

Lol Nick, instead of beating me down why don't you give Chris some info about a hackintosh?
If you want someone to not buy a certain product you shouldn't beat it down, you should come up with a better product for him.

Now, redo that post and write down some actual information Chris can do something with, if he didn't like Apple he would've sold his Macbook years ago. Make him switch, u can do it..

 

[Kreubs]

@Joonikko could build you a really nice hackintoshable rig for $1500, a really nice one. Like in a $1500 rig you could have 16 of ram @ 1600 mhz, or you could start with 8 gb @ 1866 mhz memory. You could also get a gpu that totally wastes a 750m, maybe a 770 or a 780.

All in all, go with hackintosh, if built correctly, it will work with just a little effort. Better a little effort and a better rig than a 25% markup for an out-of-the-box "experience".

Edit: on second thought, this being for a studio, you would need to worry about licensing, right? In that case, you may get stuck with Apple's ridiculous wallet ra3p prices. Otherwise, hackintosh.

 

[DamageINC]

@Kreubs - Joono didn't post in there. Did you get the name wrong?

 

[WaLLy]

This is all you need: http://www.tonymacx86.com/section/295-customac.html

That forum has beast Hackintoshes and tutorials on how to get it done. All in all, hackintoshing has gotten easier over the years.

My current 3yr old rig supports Mavericks very well. And although I've done it in the past it takes a bit to learn how to do it again. It gets easier the more times/fails you have.

If you're gonna get a desktop, then I recommend Hackintoshing. For a laptop, no flipping way! MacBook Pro all the way!

 

[NickHouston]

Lol Nick, instead of beating me down why don't you give Chris some info about a hackintosh?
If you want someone to not buy a certain product you shouldn't beat it down, you should come up with a better product for him.

Now, redo that post and write down some actual information Chris can do something with, if he didn't like Apple he would've sold his Macbook years ago. Make him switch, u can do it..

That was not attacking you, that was explaining why I believe he would want a Hackintosh over a Mac.

I will not redo anything. Now stop being all butthurt.

 

[DamageINC]

Yeah, i didn't understand Tito's comment either.

 

[Kreubs]

@Kreubs - Joono didn't post in there. Did you get the name wrong?

I wasn't replying to him, I was tagging him so he would see it faster.

 

[Joonikko]

http://www.tonymacx86.com/411-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-february-2014.html

Since it's going to be in a studio, I would prioritize silence quite heavily
Picking up a silent case like the FD Define R4, going with full SSD storage (or not, depending how much storage you need), silent fans and a good CPU cooler will help in the studio environment.

@Titoezz
Apparently apple has renamed Solid State Drives to "Flash Storage" to up the price about 250%. For me, I need atleast 1TB of built in memory and since they don't have a normal SSD option they force you to overspend.

Please go look up prices for PCI-E based SSD's (and the cheap OCZ ones aren't even full PCI-E drives). Also normal 2.5" SATA drives don't fit into their enclosures nor are fast enough, so they wen't with PCI-E drives.

Edit: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XTg6

 

[TheDude]

The biggest factor in specs for mixing is processor speed.

Thanks for all the posts so far, they are quite helpful.

To clarify,

I would only settle for a desktop if it was much cheaper with comparable or better hardware. I am only willing to pay so much for the laptop because it is a laptop and mobile. I will most likely be using a TV for the big screen in the studio. Graphics performance is not an issue at that level.

I want to play gaymes doe.

I will look into the hackintosh page you guys posted.

Thanks again!

 

[Kreubs]

Actually, your GPU performace matters a lot. GPU's do so much more than graphics; they are masters at parallel execution. The gpu can be used to do a lot of the brute force needed for encoding. CUDA/OpenCL are huge in audio and video encoding. Skimping on the gpu would be taking an arm and a leg away from your rig.