Hackintosh part 10

When I completed the build and testing of my hackintosh I still had plans for some future updates to the hardware. 2Gb of Ram is fine for general use but gets used up fast if you start running windows in a virtual machine as well as Mail, Firefox, Graphic Converter and several other apps. I’ve now added another 2Gb of PC800 Kingston ram of the same spec as the original, and it’s working fine. System Profiler reports four banks of 1Gb PC800 ram and no problems. I can now allocate 1Gb of Ram to a virtual machine without slowing down the rest of the system.

UK iPhone no longer available

Ahead of next month’s all but confirmed 3g iPhone launch, stocks of the current version have now run out in the UK. O2’s web site is showing the image above even though there has been no official announcement of when the replacement will arrive. Speaking of which, there are more images online today claiming to show the next generation. Engadget has them so take a look and make your own mind up. With a (rumoured) month to go until the launch, do Apple have to spend any money on advertising this device?

iPhones and eBooks

eBooks have been around for several years now, and in many respects are seriously behind other forms of media. While music is making the painful transition from DRM to open formats other media such as films and books are still subject to restricted use. This often makes it awkward if not impossible to view these files on your mobile device of choice.

Until last year I used a Palm TX PDA running the palm eReader software. I could buy a fair range of pdb format ebooks from ereader.com, or use the free dropbook for Mac and eReader Pro for Palm to convert and read text files myself. I have a large collection of mainly SF and Fantasy paperbacks that I have read over the past 20 years, and set about finding electronic versions of them to read again. It’s an issue that always gets a lot of attention, but if you have purchased media in one format is it fair to have to buy it again in another? I don’t think it is, especially given the price of some of the eBooks currently available. I’ll get to iPhone options for ebooks a bit later after a look at eBook pricing.

Are Psystar for real?

The debate on Psystar and their ‘Opencomputer’ platform of pre built hackintosh’s continues. A couple of days ago Cnet published a review after they managed to get their hands on one of the mythical machines. Today there’s another article discussing the legal implications of what Psystar are doing, and the struggle ahead of them if Apple decides to take legal action. Good luck in that fight, I would say starting a legal battle with a company that has 19.4 Billion Dollars in cash is suicidal. I’m almost hoping Apple do decide to take action if only to see how the EULA hold up. Companies have been restricting our use of the items we buy for some time now, so maybe it’s about time someone challenged that.

Reviewers are gradually coming around to the idea that Psystar may be legitimate, though I would still wait to hear of a reasonable number of computers shipped before buying one. I’m sitting on the fence here, as the OS X updates page at Psystar is still empty. Lets see what happens when the imminent 10.5.3 is released.

iPhone for $199?

Looks like American iPhone buyers will be in for a treat when the ‘everyone thinks it’s due in June’ 3G iPhone launches. The latest gossip is that AT&T will heavily subsidise the device on a two year plan, bringing the price of an 8Gb 3G version down to $199. The story started at Fortune, so head over there to get all the details.

Other claimed details of the next gen iPhone include it being 2.5mm thinner than the current version, and will have a GPS chip for navigation and other location-based services. While this all sound good, I’m thinking there’s not much chance of us brits getting the 3G iPhone for the equivalent £99.

Read

Imac update: Good Value?

Apple has today updated the spec of it’s iMac range of all in one computers. As usual, UK buyers are not getting as good a deal as our US neighbours. Here’s the updated specifications with US prices, US Prices in pounds using the current exchange rate and UK prices.

• 20 inch screen, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB memory, 250GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD2400XT 128MB $1199 £602.53 £799
• 20 inch screen, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 320GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD2600PRO 256MB $1499 £753.29 £949
• 24 inch screen, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 320GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, ATI Radeon HD2600PRO 256MB $1799 £904.05 £1149
• 4 inch screen, 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 500GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS 512MB $2199 £1,105.06 £1389

As you can see from the price comparison, the difference in US and UK pricing ranges from just under £200 at the bottom of the range to £280 at the top. Even in these days of economic uncertainty that seems like a lot, especially on the lowest model. Since Apple give a worldwide warranty with all their products, the best advice for anyone visiting the States is to buy your Apple products there, or get a travelling friend to buy for you. As long as the voltage difference isn’t a problem (I know it isn’t on the laptops, you just need a UK plug adapter) you’re saving a nice wedge.

Hackintosh disaster recovery part 2

In part one I looked at the steps I took to get my hackintosh working again after accidentally overwriting the boot information. The computer has been working fine for over three weeks since, and I haven’t found any side effects with software or hardware. My latest efforts have been focused on making bootable backups for use in the event of an unbootable hackintosh.

NYC demands fix for WiFi issues

This story made me chuckle. The New York City Department of Education have suspended delivery of all Macs until WiFi connectivity issues have been resolved. Current suggestions are that the fix will be included in the 10.5.3 update. From the article at AppleInsider, Apple has ‘apologized for the delay both in an email to faculty obtained by AppleInsider, and in a notice on the Apple product catalog on the Dell Managed Systems website’.That’s a lot more than us joe public’s have received so far for a problem that has existed since Leopard first shipped.

The second part is the most ironic given the history of public digs between Apple and Dell. All Apple wireless systems are currently held by Dell Managed Services, who have the DoE contract to handle computer procurement. So Apple has a problem with it’s laptops and Dell won’t release them until it’s fixed. Priceless.

Hackintosh goes mainstream?

With the recent news that Psystar are offering Mac OS compatible computers with Leopard pre-installed it appears the mainstream Mac press have taken notice. Macworld published an article yesterday detailing Rob Griffiths experiences of building and testing a hackintosh. Not much in the way of information on the install process, but there are some benchmarking results using Cinebench, Quake 3 and Xbench.

Its a good read until the conclusion, which I strongly disagree with. Listing the ‘many pitfalls’ as including ‘follow poorly-translated instructions to get everything put together’ makes me wonder what instructions Rob was using. There are some clear and well written guides online, especially at InsanelyMac. Having to shop around for the best components is something PC builders and users have done for years to get the right system, so it’s not a hackintosh weakness. And as for the case not being as attractive as a Mac Pro, is that really why people buy Mac Pro’s?

Read at Macworld

New Apple product rumours gain pace

It’s that time of year when anticipation of the Apple WWDC starts to grow. We already know that iPhone firmware V2 will be released in June, and now the much rumoured aluminium refresh of the Macbook has had its credibility boosted. MacRumors.com has some images found on a .Mac web page that show an aluminium Macbook as well as a redesigned Macbook pro. The Macbook looks much more expensive than the current range, so how will Apple separate the two price points in terms of spec? The graphics chip alone doesn’t seem like a big enough difference to justify the price jump so what other treats are in store for the Macbook Pro?