Run Mac OS X Leopard on a PC Without Endless Hacks

By | January 27th, 2008 comments icon (3) Comments


mac osx leopardIt’s funny. Most people consider the Apple transition to Intel processors to be a major turning point for the company, since that change made it easier for people to run Windows on a Mac. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I made the change. Now, there’s a movement afoot to get a normal, run of the mill PC running Apple’s very own Mac OS X Leopard.

In the past, this process has been made possible but has involved a good bit of hacking and, though you could run the OS, you often had to settle with missing features (sound) or inconveniences (booting from the DVD). Well, if the folks at LifeHacker are correct – and I suspect they are – you can now run Mac OS X Leopard on a PC with little or no hacking required.

There are some caveats you’ll probably want to know about before you jump right into this project. If you’ve got a factory PC – like a Dell or HP – you may not have success with this method. This Hackintosh install is really intended for a custom-build that features certain processors and graphics cards. Also, you can plan on making some BIOS modifications and having to search the inter-webs to find the “special” OS X DVD. If none of these things has put a damper on your desire to build your own Mac, then head over to the LifeHacker article and see if you’re ready to take the plunge.





Filed in: Software

  • millpub

    Complexity of hacks aside, I always question how much interest there is in such projects outside of the hardcore geek community. I suspect for most people, a big part of the appeal of Mac OS is the shiny Apple hardware in which it is ensconced.

  • Jet

    True – and the fact that it is WAY expensive is another reason people treat Apple with so much respect – think about it: how many apple products can you buy for under 200 bucks? an ipod cable? a cheap ipod (this would be a stretch)!

  • ricky

    I run a small business that is heavily depended on a large amount of software.
    Some of these apps are mac exclusive, some are pc exclusive.
    The end result is having quite a few more computers than I would hope for.
    Total of 3 PCs and 3 Macs just for myself; a single user.
    My two associates have similar setups.
    It’s not good at all.
    VMWare Fusion has filled the gap on the Mac side (it runs windows on macs).
    We really need a similar solution for the PC.
    Main/heavy applications will still stay on dedicated machines, however all the secondary ones could be run on existing PCs, in most cases.
    We can’t be the only ones with this problem, though I do realize that we’re a small part of the market with such demands.