Conclusion – A DIY PC with the best of both Worlds? Is Mac OS X an Alternative to Windows?

Until recently, a Mac was a closed hardware system and, for all intents and purposes, almost unchangeable. Upgrading hardware components was practically impossible, unless you count extra RAM as a major hardware upgrade. Ever since Apple’s product line has made its transition to Intel hardware, the differences to conventional PCs are all but nonexistent. Only a special BIOS (EFI) that includes its own bootloader and file system (HFS+) prevents PC users from installing Apple’s OS 10.4 (Tiger) or 10.5 (Leopard) on their home PC.

Hackers belonging to the OSX86 scene have been circulating so called DVD images that allow the installation of a patched version of OS X on standard PC hardware for some time now. A member of this community visited us and demonstrated the “Hack OS” using an original OS X version as a starting point. We wish to stress once more that our DIY Mac using specially selected and tested hardware serves exclusively experimental and educational purposes. In the end, a great deal of patience and meticulousness are required to get all of the hardware to work. Our configuration is just one example and is meant to give interested tinkerers some inspiration.

We must say that we are quite happy with the results, though. We achieved our goal of having Windows CP or Vista dual-boot on the same computer as Mac OS X – each on a separate hard drive, of course. Looking at our humble configuration, you can see that there is still quite a bit of room to expand and upgrade. What we have created here is a hybrid system for graphics and image editing as well as office tasks at an unrivalled price point. What this is not is a quick and easy solution for the casual tinkerer who wants to see results in 5 minutes. Including a legal copy of Mac OS X, we spent just under €700/£490.

Apple is pushing to expand its installation base and trying to enter the mass market. This is borne out by the number of iPods and iPhones sold each quarter. A similar trend is visible for the Apples Mac line of computers as well. Since Apple switched to Intel hardware, allowing users to dual-boot Windows on their computers as well, the Mac in general has experienced a surge in sales. Nonetheless, Apple’s mature and stable operating system – currently available in the freshly released version 10.5 “Leopard” – is only available on Apple hardware such as the Macbook (notebook) or the iMac and Mac Pro (desktop). Thus, the company’s growth strategy seems to be in conflict with its expansion efforts.

This situation may soon force Apple to make a decision about truly entering the market and facing the competition on equal footing, i.e. not only on a fully controlled hardware platform. In turn, this will bring other problems with it, such as how to ensure compatibility with all the hardware available for the x86 platform – not to mention stable drivers. For Microsoft, such a move may represent the first real competition in the operating system arena, especially since Windows Vista isn’t exactly flying off the shelves. Mac OS for the (non-Apple) PC could be a very attractive alternative in this scenario, although it would probably be limited to a small and select group of early adopters that shared their experiences with the rest of the world.

So does this mean that XP/Vista will soon be seeing some stiff competition from Mac OS? In the short term, it seems unlikely. After all, the majority of users “grew up” using some flavour of the Windows OS and are hesitant to make the switch – unless Apple changes its stance.

Could it be that Mac OS X by itself is sufficient for day-to-day office tasks? Business as usual, but without Vista or XP? Several of the editors here at Tom’s Hardware have no trouble imagining this – and have made the switch already. Of course, there is still the matter of the limited choice of applications and, especially, tools and utilities.