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Comment by rblatz | Hacker News Reader

If it's a hobby machine go for it. They can be a lot of fun and a good way to learn more about OS X, but if it is a work machine I wouldn't recommend it. Things break all the time, updates will Bork your system. Sometimes the App Store won't work. Power use issues, it's just a lot of work.

If it's a work machine I recommend buying a base Mac mini, then adding an ssd as a second drive and maxing the ram yourself. You will get a screaming fast machine for anything that isn't too graphics intensive like hardcore gaming. And it will probably cost you about the same or less as building your own hackintosh.

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Just this, great for a hobby machine, but honestly it's next to impossible to use as something you have to relay on.

For me, it's just about updates and iMessage. I use iMessage a lot, and their security means it doesn't work on a hackintosh. Next are the updates. The issue here, is that graphics doesn't work, or the machine doesn't boot, etc. All fixable, but often you have to debug it once or twice.

Problem I had with the Mac Mini was I bought mine as the basic model, and its so slow to use, the hackintosh is better. However, nothing works as well as my MacBook for actual work.

Right now, personally, I'm waiting for the 5k iMac and when it can be used as an external monitor. I upgrade my computer every couple years, but my old Apple Cinema Display is 7 years old now, so I really need an iMac to be usable as a 2nd display. Hopefully september will bring that update.

Why not the Dell 5k monitor as your second display?

Yeah could do, but the problems with the hackintosh are a pain. I honestly can't wait to upgrade. My current CPU is the intel 3770k and the 4.0ghz iMac processor is around 30% faster at max usage.

I've moved most gaming to consoles, just not super interested in PC gaming and the iMac can still do most of it.

If Apple bring out a Mac Pro though with a gaming performance GPU I might consider that too, but thats never going to happen any time soon, lol.

Also finally I love the glassy reflective screens. Just so used to them these days and using anything but is just odd to me.

iMessage can work on a Hackintosh. Works on mine. It does take effort to make iMessage work though.

Well to get it working requires faking a product hardware I'd that is not in use. Issues with that or mistakes can cause you to be blocked from iMessage on all devices. So for me, not a hassle I want to put up with.

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