Best Notebook For Leopard

ScottXK · #1 08-05-2009, 03:30 PM

I'm looking for a sub-£400 notebook which will run Leopard fully. I do like the new Dell 15" Inspiron's. I'm unsure if there are any support for the Intel® Cantiga GM45 Chipset & Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (I'm sure a QE/CI kext for the 4500MHD will be out soon). Also, the Inspiron's got a 'Intel High Definition Audio 2.0', which I expect will work. How good is support for 'Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Mini-Card'?

Do you think that the Dell Inspiron 15 will run OSX nicely, or are there better 15/17" (non apple) notebooks for > £400?

MonkeyDLuffy · #2 08-05-2009, 05:02 PM

There is no assurance that the 4500MHD will work "soon" or even later. Since GMA 4500 is not natively supported by Apple, hackers might have a difficult time doing it. However, some people managed to have native resolution using the x3100 kext/fb (modified) WITHOUT QI/CE. We're just hoping that Coldequation and the others can make it work. I would suggest that you purchase a notebook that has 965 chipset and x3100 IGP. If you get lucky and find notebooks that have dedicated video cards (preferably Nvidia) with your budget, go for it. Just make sure it has an intel chipset (northbrdige). With regards to your wireless, try getting the one that has a broadcom 4311 chipset or Atheros 5006 (not 5007). You can always have an option to change it by yourself (replacing MiniPCIe wireless). Good luck and happy hunting

ScottXK · #3 08-05-2009, 05:39 PM

Thanks. Any specific notebook models that are known to work nicely?

uman · #4 08-05-2009, 08:59 PM

What Monkey said is absolutely true (I'm actually coldequation on insanelymac-- I had to give up my old uman name there when they changed the board over to the new system).

Anyway, you'll be hard-pressed to find any new lappies with older graphics cards like theX3100, so I'd look in the direction of nvidia.

Re: wireless-- you can always add in a PCI-E card with a supported chipset, so I wouldn't stress too much about that. Also, mercurysquad is making great progress with his Project Camphor, which promises a clean architecture for supporting almost any wireless card, through porting of drivers onto his new substrate.

As far as specific models, check out the hardware compatibility list at: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/in....5.6/Portables

that should get you started.

CAUTION: Increasingly, the OSX86 scene is becoming desktop-oriented, as newer laptops have incompatible hardware. If you absolutely want a laptop, get a real Apple. They're cheaper now, especially for students, and you'll save yourselves lots of headaches. Now I know in the UK, there's still a price gap WRT to the US, but an Apple laptop does last a long time, and has a higher resale value.

(Any yes, I realize the irony of me recommending Apple, while typing on a HackBook!)

Gurruwiwi · #5 08-18-2009, 12:19 PM

Dell mini 9 and 10 know to be amazing to run Leo.

I want to buy one second had to do remote desktop while carrying the dell around.

There are numerous sites dedicated to them, I've even seen special quasi-unattended install distros and install images around.

With luck, I'll get one with a nice SSD drive

EDIT: Uman... you really alergic to Mac's !?

chinasky · #6 08-18-2009, 04:08 PM

if someone is interested I have a Lenovo 3000 n500

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-72876

Everything work fine (even hdmi port) but wireless (intel 5100,), ethernet (BCM5906M) and audio through hdmi.

Trying now to find a compatible wireless card (meanwhile using a usb dongle).

Teletoby · #7 10-03-2009, 02:31 PM

A driver for BCM5906M is about to be written... soon you'll get it. As wlan card i prefer BCM4312, i removed the inter until the iwi driver is done... the BCM4312 works without any aditional drivers

flip360 · #8 10-03-2009, 02:46 PM

hello there, i have a notebook thats working vannila, 64bit, besides the nvidia graphic and the wifi card that need patches or replacement as someone earlier stated. Its the ASUS K50IN SX004L

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...k.18971.0.html

cheers