i feel really demanding tonight. i've been off the grid for the past couple weeks with graduation/finals, so i feel somewhat vindicated in my quest for getting my questions answered. so here's another:
i'm kind of toying with the idea of getting a netbook. i'd like to get one with 2gb ram capacity, hd audio, decent cpu, and the ability to dual-boot windows 7 64bit and osx. also looking for a 6-cell battery if an option
what i need to know is what a decent netbook cpu is currently, which manufacturer to go with, and which computer could run as a hackintosh. i remember a dell mini 10 was able to at one point, but i'm not sure if that's still the case.
and yes, i know google is my friend, but i like you guys better ;)
@eyjafjallajökull: The dell mini 10v is still hackintoshable, but the ability to dual boot using boot camp is lost in OSX because it was a feature for only certain intel processors. I've heard you can dual boot the mini 10v but it probably requires a level of hackery beyond the relatively easy hackintosh.
I'm still looking for a newer netbook that can be hackintoshed because I love the new dell mini 10 and I also want the 1005PE but not if it's just windows.
@eyjafjallajökull: You won't find what you want in a netbook. I think you are going to have to set your sights a little higher.
One of the requirements set by Microsoft for a netbook is to have an Atom processor. They are all the same.
Why do you want 64 bit windows if you are only going to have 2 gigs of RAM? I can't think of any benefit, and you will probably come up with compatibility issues.
If you could say what screen size you wanted, that would be a bit more helpful.
@eyjafjallajökull: look up the HP dm3. for it's stats and you can duplicate it with whatever brand you want. I have it and run Windows 7 Home premium 64-bit. I just switched it to the latest Ubuntu distro (since I already have 2 other windows laptops).
It's snappy, clean, powerful. You don't notice it's not a full fledged laptop except for its size. Problem with the dm3 specifically is that it gets hot, but I still manage about 8 hours on a charge. Sometimes a lot less if I'm really pushing it. But if just surfing the net, typing documents, etc and I have it on power save, I have gotten it up to just under 9 hours.
Technically it's not a netbook, but it's just a step above. So look at its guts and you'll get a good idea what's out there.
@korrupt9187: 64bit might be a pipe-dream. basically any screen size except 9in. i've had an acer (i forget which model) for the past year or so, and i'm looking to upgrade to something a little slimmer and more versatile.
@eyjafjallajökull: 64-bit Windows is a touch pointless on a netbook. You'll never have the RAM to make any proper use of it. Go with 32-bit instead. Most netbooks released in the last year or two will fulfil your RAM and CPU requirements (since it's a netbook you're not going to get anything huge in terms of CPU). I don't really know what you mean by HD audio but be aware that most will struggle with HD video, some of this can be solved with software though. The big caveat on what you can buy is your OSX requirement. That really limits you to what's compatible.
The EASIEST as others have pointed out is the Dell Mini 10v. It's pretty much a no fuss easy hackintosh where everything will work out of the gate. However it's getting a bit dated now as there's numerous new netbooks released since. Plus it's been discontinued so you either have to get the Nickleodean version (which I'm not quite sure what else that entails) or dig around a bit. The 10v I hackintoshed myself and have it dual booting Win7/OSX with no problems. As Future Retro points out making a dual boot is a touch more involved than the normal hackintosh but is quite easy if you follow the instructions. It gets a bit trickier if you can't access a Mac to make the OSX boot disk though.
If you can access a Mac then just follow this guide: [www.mydellmini.com]
If you can't then you'll have to use the above guide in combination with this one: [osx.mechdrew.com]
Which is what I ended up doing. It gets a bit tricky around phase 6 as the first few steps don't really need to be done (in fact you can't really do them at all). Just sort of continue on at that point and it should work itself out though. For either method you'll need at least one large USB stick (8GB+) for the Snow Leopard install. You CAN also use an SD card (what I used for the SL install) in the 10v's SD card slot. If you need to do the combination method (for lack of a Mac) then you'll need a smaller USB for the bootloader (I think you only need a 512MB stick, I ended up using a 4GB because it was what I had lying around), another large USB (or SD card) for the Windows install OR an external USB disc drive.
I believe if you're using the method which uses the USB bootloader method you could also use the SL retail disc (though I can't attest to this as it's not the way I did it) which would mean you'd only need the discs, an external drive and a small USB.
If you're looking for something else though you could try the Mini 1010 however it's very hard to find with 2GB stock RAM and it's almost impossible to upgrade if it's just got the 1GB (it uses some weird daughterboard rather than having a normal RAM slot). It's also tricksier to hack, there's a guide written by a fellow Gizmodian here though: [www.mydellmini.com]
Or you can hedge your bets that they'll get the Mini 1012's graphics fully compatible at some point and decide to wait it out. Or there's a list of other compatible netbooks here: [wiki.osx86project.org]
Either way the most hassle free and best option for a hackintosh is still the Mini 10v. It has the 6-cell, the 2GB of RAM (though upgrading it requires a full disassembly of the netbook) and will run OSX/Win7 like a charm.
EDIT: The [www.mydellmini.com] forums are a great hackintosh resource although they mostly deal in Dells.
@Odin: thanks for the info, that's exactly what i was looking for! i suppose i didn't really know what to ask for, so i threw a few things out there and hoped someone would know what i really wanted.
my old roommate had a netbook that was compatible with hd headphones? i'll likely have to ask him about that ...
i'm thinking i'll take a look at the mini 1010 and see if i can pick up a 2gb configuration. or i might wait a few months to see if the 1012 pans out. either way, thanks again for the info ☺
i'm kind of toying with the idea of getting a netbook. i'd like to get one with 2gb ram capacity, hd audio, decent cpu, and the ability to dual-boot windows 7 64bit and osx. also looking for a 6-cell battery if an option
what i need to know is what a decent netbook cpu is currently, which manufacturer to go with, and which computer could run as a hackintosh. i remember a dell mini 10 was able to at one point, but i'm not sure if that's still the case.
and yes, i know google is my friend, but i like you guys better ;)
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
I'm still looking for a newer netbook that can be hackintoshed because I love the new dell mini 10 and I also want the 1005PE but not if it's just windows.
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
One of the requirements set by Microsoft for a netbook is to have an Atom processor. They are all the same.
Why do you want 64 bit windows if you are only going to have 2 gigs of RAM? I can't think of any benefit, and you will probably come up with compatibility issues.
If you could say what screen size you wanted, that would be a bit more helpful.
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
It's snappy, clean, powerful. You don't notice it's not a full fledged laptop except for its size. Problem with the dm3 specifically is that it gets hot, but I still manage about 8 hours on a charge. Sometimes a lot less if I'm really pushing it. But if just surfing the net, typing documents, etc and I have it on power save, I have gotten it up to just under 9 hours.
Technically it's not a netbook, but it's just a step above. So look at its guts and you'll get a good idea what's out there.
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
The EASIEST as others have pointed out is the Dell Mini 10v. It's pretty much a no fuss easy hackintosh where everything will work out of the gate. However it's getting a bit dated now as there's numerous new netbooks released since. Plus it's been discontinued so you either have to get the Nickleodean version (which I'm not quite sure what else that entails) or dig around a bit. The 10v I hackintoshed myself and have it dual booting Win7/OSX with no problems. As Future Retro points out making a dual boot is a touch more involved than the normal hackintosh but is quite easy if you follow the instructions. It gets a bit trickier if you can't access a Mac to make the OSX boot disk though.
If you can access a Mac then just follow this guide:
[www.mydellmini.com]
If you can't then you'll have to use the above guide in combination with this one:
[osx.mechdrew.com]
Which is what I ended up doing. It gets a bit tricky around phase 6 as the first few steps don't really need to be done (in fact you can't really do them at all). Just sort of continue on at that point and it should work itself out though. For either method you'll need at least one large USB stick (8GB+) for the Snow Leopard install. You CAN also use an SD card (what I used for the SL install) in the 10v's SD card slot. If you need to do the combination method (for lack of a Mac) then you'll need a smaller USB for the bootloader (I think you only need a 512MB stick, I ended up using a 4GB because it was what I had lying around), another large USB (or SD card) for the Windows install OR an external USB disc drive.
I believe if you're using the method which uses the USB bootloader method you could also use the SL retail disc (though I can't attest to this as it's not the way I did it) which would mean you'd only need the discs, an external drive and a small USB.
If you're looking for something else though you could try the Mini 1010 however it's very hard to find with 2GB stock RAM and it's almost impossible to upgrade if it's just got the 1GB (it uses some weird daughterboard rather than having a normal RAM slot). It's also tricksier to hack, there's a guide written by a fellow Gizmodian here though:
[www.mydellmini.com]
Or you can hedge your bets that they'll get the Mini 1012's graphics fully compatible at some point and decide to wait it out. Or there's a list of other compatible netbooks here:
[wiki.osx86project.org]
Either way the most hassle free and best option for a hackintosh is still the Mini 10v. It has the 6-cell, the 2GB of RAM (though upgrading it requires a full disassembly of the netbook) and will run OSX/Win7 like a charm.
EDIT: The [www.mydellmini.com] forums are a great hackintosh resource although they mostly deal in Dells.
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
my old roommate had a netbook that was compatible with hd headphones? i'll likely have to ask him about that ...
i'm thinking i'll take a look at the mini 1010 and see if i can pick up a 2gb configuration. or i might wait a few months to see if the 1012 pans out. either way, thanks again for the info ☺
#whitenoise (Edit comment)
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