09 March 2011

Mini Mac vs Hackintosh

In the computing arena, Apple is very coy about providing the full technical specification of its products. For that reason an attempt has been made to faithfully reproduce a Mini Mac 'compatible' or Hackintosh as it is known within the computer industry.

At the time of writing this post a mini mac in Australia from a retailer cost AU$900.

The specifications of mini mas are as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, DL DVD Nvidia GF320M, Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6).

In addition to this one needs a keyboard and mouse with monitor. The prices of these items are as follows:
Wired Keyboard: $69, Wired Mouse: $69, 27" LED Monitor: $1,000.




To compare this to a personal computer system built in similar if not better functionality (performance) than that of the mini mac only differing in the physical packaging of the small form factor.

Intel Core2 Duo CPU: $133, Motherboard: $60, 2GB DDR3 RAM: $30, 500GB HDD: $40, Slim DVD: $55, AGP6200 Video:$52, Mini iTX case: $100, Snow Leopard OS: $30.

Wired Keyboard and mouse package (MS-600): $20, 27" LED Monitor: $488.

The total cost of the Mac is $2039 versus $1008 for a compatible system.

The mac is approximately twice the price to the consumer than the compatible alternative.

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