hackintosh out of a broken mac

conor.hogan.2

Has anyone built a hackintosh out of parts from a broken mac?

Because when laptops die (dramatic) it is usually just the hardrive or maybe some other part but not most parts and after paying 1000 euro or so for a macbook or whatever computer throwing it away or selling for parts seems wasteful.

I know that hackintoshs are against apples eula - but surely this thread shouldnt get locked.

Elessar

A hackintosh is generally regarded as a PC machine with OSX installed on it.

However for what you're describing I'd say a harddrive is a simple upgrade so I wouldn't consider the laptop dead. A dead laptop is really something with a serious problem. If that's the case and it's out of warranty then I'd just save for a new one :P

conor.hogan.2

oh ye sorry - obviously if it was just the hd then replace that and bobs your uncle.

But I meant if it is something beside a specific (apple-only specific) part that is gone then replacing it yourself hackintosh style is cheaper then sending it to apple out of warranty or buying a new one.

The reason I stated hackintosh is because it would in my case be put into a new case and would have a new screen and more ram etc and not wholely just be a fix macbook.

Sad Professor

Conor, what happened to your Mac? If it's the logic board that's gone, putting it into a new case won't do anything.

conor.hogan.2

oh nothing happened - yet - this laptop can only last so long and i cant afford to spend another 1000 euro on one.

I know if the logic board is gone im screwed - that would be the main "apple specific" part I was talking about.

But pretty much everything else is replaceable once they work well together.

I reckon using a macbook would be easier and cheaper than starting a hackintosh from starters as I would essentially be fixing and recasing a macbook.

meep

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

I reckon using a macbook would be easier and cheaper than starting a hackintosh from starters as I would essentially be fixing and recasing a macbook.

Hmm, would not be so sure about that. Building a new PC from scratch is pretty straightforward.

Macs, and especially laptops and iMacs are pretty compact pieces of engineering. Disassembling and reassembling one can be done of course and adding in some third-party hardware to the mix would make it all the more interesting.

However, I've an old 20" imac with a faulty screen. My idea was to disassemble it and put in in on old PowerMac 9600 case. However, after a good deal of rooting around inside the iMac and a few nasty electric shocks later, I gave up until I have at least a full free weekend. Not for the faint hearted!

P

conor.hogan.2

Oh I know yeah - I would be giving it at least a full weekend or longer depending how I get on.

Its not just the money part - altho if there is any parts to save it would really help to reuse instead of buying new parts.

It would be the challenge of doing it aswel - I could just buy a 300 euro crapbook (dell lenovo whatever) and buy some cheap ram and install and make ubuntu maclike or make widnows 7 more maclike or even dualboot but I don't particularly want to have to be constantly forcing the bleeding thing into doing basics things hence the mac.

Wibbs

Yea it's doable. Particularly if the internal gubbins are OK, but the case is borked. I've seen a couple of interesting ones. All desktops though. I know one guy who a few years ago now, took the guts out of a dead SE30 and stuck in the guts from a powerbook(180 I think) and got it to work pretty well. In slightly more modern stuff, I suppose you could get all the bits from say a 17's powerbook/macbook pro into one of the original coloured imacs with a bit of inventive packaging. To do it with a laptop case I suspect you'd have to custom build one. There is a guy IIRC who has made a wooden enclosure for his macbook guts. I've always fancied a go at something like the guts of a macbook pro into one of the older powerbook G3 pismo enclosures. Just for fun and a project. I always felt these were a nice funky design


There's a fair bit of space inside them compared to the form factor internally of a macbook pro. The screen aspect ratio would be the main issue I reckon. Then again I suspect if you really knew your stuff you could find the right size new lcd panel to fit that would also connect to the logic board. The keyboard and the trackpad from the donor mac would have to come along too. Doable I reckon though. I have a couple of those pismos, only one still working so.... *puts thinking cap on*

I'd love to hack together one of these with more modern internals

Cool little yoke, but I dunno how you could do it and keep the keyboard.

conor.hogan.2

I wouldnt be up to building my own case - well not in the time i would be willing to devote to it anyway.

basicaly i have the white macbook that has several cracks around the case - in fact if it goes how its going now i will have to recase it as i dont have time to send it back to apple for two weeks for them to fix it.

so either recase a working macbook or recase a working macbook with a new harddrive with new ram and possibly other parts depending on how arsed i am or what i see or need - plus it would extend the life of 1000 laptop to last twice as long as usual.