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greenmedic88 on 02 April 2009
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Technically you can install OSX on any PC although

a) it does require a bit of software hacking, which for the most part has already been done by others, available as an ISO image

b) not 100% legal even if you are using a purchased/licensed copy of OSX

The main problem with making an OSX86/Hackintosh is driver support. Unless you have the programming chops to customize drivers yourself, you're at the whims of those with greater skills than your own to do the updates and make things work smoothly.

This is actually one of the main reasons for using OSX in the first place; driver conflicts are virtually non-existent relative to the PC/Windows world.

So for most, it's a case of running OSX on a PC "just because."


Also, there are some companies that currently sell PCs running OSX for far less than comparable Macs. Unfortunately, these too charge a premium for their "customized" systems and when comparing price to spec ratios, a regular PC running Windows is still going to be cheaper and or use faster components.

And while this choice does provide OEM user support, I'd be surprised if it extended to driver support for any PC card/device you wanted to install in your PC/Mac, negating the primary advantage of the PC platform (as not all hardware may work until drivers can be written) as well as the primary advantage of the Mac platform where everything that's Mac compatible WILL work with your Mac.


Ultimately, it makes little sense anyway since most people making or buying Hackintoshes are either students who are buying student priced software (greatly discounted, but not always given away for under $100), or in most cases, using another person's license or cracked/stolen software. In other words, users that don't actually matter since they're not paying customers.

And if you're a 100% legit user for a legit business, it means having to buy two different sets of software for running two different operating systems. Buying Adobe CS4, for instance either gives you a Mac license or a PC license, not a dual platform install license.