OSX86 Laptop Recommendations

[thorpedonj]

Hello fellow OSX86 users! I am in need of your help! I am contemplating to purchase a new laptop in the near future to run OSX, but I need to be sure that I purchase something that fits my needs and wants.

I have spent many hours already research and looking online for the best osx86 compatible laptop (excluding apple of course), and seem to find that some work and some don't. Some need patching for hardware, etc. I'd like to find one that is a "vanilla" based, where very little patching is required, if that is possible.

Anyhow, one of my dilemmas is the software I run. I do a lot of 3d modeling, and use OpenGL with Autodesk Maya and similar products, therefore 3d acceleration is a must to have! Along with true OpenGL support.

In short, this is the specs I am looking for:

1. 15.4 inch laptop (wide screen if possible)
2. Intel Core 2 Duo with a couple megs of cache (3- 4 mb)
3. nVidia graphics with OpenGL 2.0 or higher support - pci express if possible too. Oh, shared video memory doesn't matter to be, but dedicated memory would be better.
4. 2 GB (expandable to 4 GB)
5. 200 to 250+ hard drive Serial ATA.
6. Working Wireless & Ethernet
7. USB 2.0 & firewire support.
8. ExpressCard support for modern cards.
9. Resolution 1280x800 to 1680x1050 resolution. As long as it's widescreen, i'm fine.
10. I'd like to have good power management, and working audio as well.

Well, I hope I am not asking too much! Based on my reading of the forums, it is not easy to find anything along these lines (except buying a macbook pro) which I can't afford right now...

Feel free to send me your recommendations, I will gladly welcome them!

[naquaada]

I did a similar search and found some IBM Lenovo notebook, but I didn't need to buy one yet. You can try the search of [/URL][URL="http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.notebooksbilliger.de% 2Fadvanced_search.php%3Fsid%3D934d5015d37a9977c180 f7e763c143ff&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8"]notebooksbilliger.de (http://www.notebooksbilliger.de/advanced_search.php?sid=934d5015d37a9977c180f7e763 c143ff). It's German, but the listed system specs are nearly language-independent.

[thorpedonj]

Naquadda,

Thanks for the link. I will use it. It is so hard to decide which laptop to get, it's crazy!
I'm tempted just to find a used Macbook, avoid all the installation issues. Then again,
to run osx on a notebook to show others would be quite something to see their reactions... :-)

I truly think (this is my opinion, mind you - nothing else) that most Mac users use their Macs as a way to superiority to others (PC users) when in reality, all they have is a nice fancy unix box, running on PC architecture. The only difference is the software. I'd want to run OSX on a PC to prove my point to others. But that's my opinion.

But the reason why I want a laptop with OSX is not to show off to, but to run applications! I want to run more than just Windows! I want all 3 major operating sytems on one machine that's portable. And run any application ever written! No limitations and no boundaries!

I have done some research and have kinda found the following:

Dell Inspirion 1525 - It seems to work right out of the box! However this is not sold anymore by dell! Would the new Inspirion 15 work with 10.5.6? It looks quite nice.

The only drawback I have is the Intel GMA chipset. I don;t know if it would be good enough to run Maya and major 3d applications. I'm sure any major video app would be fine, it's PCI express!

I'll keep you posted on my findings. There's no rush on this. I want to make a good decision. Anyhow, thanks for your help.

thorpedonj

ps. What thinkpad model were you looking at? Just curious...

[Anodyne]

I'm bumping this thread because it's pretty much my dilemma as well. I'm looking to get a 15" laptop for my wife to use. I'm really just looking for something that works easily out of the box like the original poster said. It doesn't have to have a lot of graphics power, though.

Suggestions on a laptop currently available that just works?

[vladrxpx]

hello,

sorry to disappoint some of you for not answering your questions with my post, because i too would like to ask if anybody already uses/bought a laptop on which osx86 could be installed without too much patching...

It doesn't have to be too expensive, my intention is to use it for adobe programs, so graphic spec doesn't have to be too good.