Yeah...I'm on the fence mentally sometimes. The new Mac Pro sounds so amazing...12 cores, tiny little package, Thunderbolt, blah blah blah. But like, the power supply died on my Hackintosh the other day. So I ordered another one and swapped it out in 10 minutes - with only a screwdriver. I just like having the flexibility of self-service, you know? I can replace any part I want, any time I want, in mere minutes with standard tools. I really like that.
I am loving my rMBP. But yeah, if a single thing ever craps out on it, it'll be a huge PITA to deal with. A friend of mine has an older MBP and one day his (thankfully still removable) battery somehow developed this major bulge to where it barely fits in the laptop and the whole thing sits wobbly. If anything similar happened to my rMBP's battery it would 86 the whole laptop.
I could actually switch out the internal RAM disk- except for OWC charges an unholy forture for any sized replacement bigger than what's already in it, so it's pretty much a moot upgrade idea unless I just need to toss some more cash at a tax write-off or something. (But not for any other practical reason.)
so what's the no-headache laptop equivalent of a Hackbook?
I've yet to see ONE that doesn't have hardware and software driver issues, sleep doesn't work, sound problems, yada yada.
prove me wrong with the model and its price.
Laptops are a different story. Personally, I've only ever really seriously considered desktops to be good Hackintoshes since you can control the hardware and pick and choose only the most compatible parts. With a laptop, you can't really control much about the internals, so it's reliant on luck of the draw to find one that works.
Also, to me one of the main advantages of a desktop Hackintosh vs. a Mac is the form factor; building a desktop, I can choose anything from a mini-size ITX build, to the largest full tower, and populate it with any configuration of parts I choose.
Many want a computer running OSX, but don't want an all-in-one, don't want a mini, and don't want a workstation when just a standard desktop will do. A Hackintosh has it in spades as far as form factor.
Laptops are pretty much a set form factor- so other than price, there's not as much incentive, plus you've got no cherry-picked component advantage.
That said, there are a few PC laptops that make pretty good Hacks. My HP 4530s has been running Lion and Mountain Lion flawlessly for well over a year. There are no driver issues (had to replace the Wifi/BT chip with one that was OSX compatible) sleep works, all the video out ports work, etc. etc.
From what I understand, the newer 4540s model works just as well (newer IvyBridge CPU to my Sandybridge.)
Of course it's not anywhere near as awesome a laptop as my rMBP, but then it cost me $360 not 5 times that amount. For the difference in price, it's pretty damned amazing. And I miss the hell out of having dual SSDs and easy access to RAM upgrades, more USB and i/O ports, etc.
Anyway, I still don't recommend Hackintosh laptops for anyone even slightly tech-challenged. It's worth it for me no question, but some people just have a hard time understanding that a PC running OSX is a different platform than an actual Mac, therefore you have to abide by the rules of the platform.