I thought i would talk to you a bit about Hackintosh.

What is hackintosh?

Basically, it is a hack to run Mac OSX on windows PC hardware.
Ok, but what’s the point?

If you never used a Mac, it is maybe difficult to see the point and most people may not have the need for it. If you use your computer to browse internet, watch movies, play games, you are better off sticking with windows. But if you use your computer to do graphics, music and so on, you want a stable OS. Every programs have some sort of bug, even the best , but only the program you are working on crash, not the system.

If you go on apple’s website and look at the prices, you gonna break bad! It is the top notch and you have to pay the price to get one.
It can easily get to 4-5K for a properly loaded Macpro.
And minimum 2 ground for a macbookpro (MBP). But to be honest, in the laptop category, MBP is the way to go. Running OSX on windows laptop is great but to get the full advantages of mission control, the MBP’s multi touch trackpad is a must! I have tried load of different trackpads and it is by miles the most advanced! swipe sideways to change desktop, up/down for expose, close windows, change apps etc… No other laptop will give you that possibilities! I insist on that point because after i sold my MBP to get my server, i bought an old Macbook to keep mobility and miss it soooo much!
If you already have a laptop, check sites like tonymacx86.com to check hardware compatibility. But if you don’t have one yet and plan to buy one to run hackintosh, forget about it! You are much better off getting a proper MBP. If you don’t have the budget, look on ebay for second hand. With a bit of patience, you can get one for an ok budget.

Now, the real deal.
MBP is an amazing machine but still, quite limited in power. If you do rendering/heavy processing, then you gonna look for more power. Multicore as now being well embraced and most demanding programs handles it well.
If you have the cash, go for macpro. But if you have a limited budget, you can build your own hardware (pc) and run mac OSX. You have to be careful about getting the right gear thou. The most important is the motherboard/chipset/processor then graphic card, sound card etc. You have to check compatibility on tonymacx86.com and plan your build. It will save you a lot of time.

I was looking for heavy rendering capability so been looking at dual processor motherboards. It gets a bit tricky… Hp workstations caught my attention and found a good deal on ebay for a Z800. Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz (8cores and up to 16 cores in HT, very useful for rendering), 24Go of ram (best performance with 32Go. Rule of thumbs, 2Go/core), 2x250Go 10000rpm and  Nvidia quadro 1800fx.
Now, it could do with a little upgrade but at the time, that was sweet : )
The tricky thing with it was to get the DSDT right (BIOS) and find the right “drivers”. Without it, not chance to get it started! There is two different way to do so. Tonymac have build tools that in most cases works (check Unibeast). If you follow instruction and check the forum, it should be alright!
For the Z800, things got a bit more complicated and took me almost a week to get it right! Had to edit the DSTD manually but learned a lot in the process : )

But beware, don’t get yourself in a project like that if you are not certain of your computer skills.