Hello all and thanks for any help in advance, it's much appreciated and needed.
Some background...I am by no means that proficient with computers. On the other hand, I did build a PC, probably over 10 years ago. The past couple weeks I've been reacquainting myself with current hardware. I have the general idea down and some of the not-so-general stuff as well. I guess I'm trying to say I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as the average poster here, but much more knowledgeable than the average person out there.
I wouldn't mind paying a modest premium for an Apple product and I know if you compare exact spec items that the prices can be not too drastically apart. However, they are when choice becomes a factor. I'm not looking for a laptop, so that's a biggie right there. There are no quad core minis. No headless desktop. I'd actually consider the iMac as I need a nice screen anyhow, but there are too many downsides and not enough flexibility or long term value. I'm actually considering the 2012 Mini, but it really kinda sucks to pay a premium for old tech that I still need to mod with drives, spend for externals, etc...
If the Hackintosh isn't viable for me though, I think I'll have to go the 2012 Mini or newer iMac route. If that's the case are there any external options that run as well as internal for SSD's/HDD's?
I've done some research on that, but am confused still. I found some numbers that at first made it sound like throughput wasn't that far off, but then real world numbers showed a significant difference. I think some of those numbers were a couple years old, so I'm wondering if things have changed at all? USB3 or Thunderbolt the way to go? There are new versions of both coming out? Some USB3's can't be boot drives? USB3 can't run trim? I'm also not thrilled with a boot drive being external as cords get bumped.
I need drive flexibility and probably a lot of storage as I'm doing photoshop and digital audio work. So separate drives for OS for ease of backup, maybe a separate scratch drive, etc...I'll probably start of simple, but it needs to be fast and flexible and I'm not sure this is possible externally?
Ok, if I go Hackintosh. I was excited at first because I'm reading about how much easier it's gotten. While I'm not totally clear on the basic procedure and really don't know about DMG's, Kexts, DSDT's, SSDT's, etc...The basic procedure doesn't seem much harder than a normal OS install. The issue seems to be all the other futzing around? Some questions...
-If people are using the same known and recommended hardware, why are there so many different issues between like users? Is some of this stuff truly that buggy and random?
-I was going to do a mITX build, but then became concerned that since there's only one PCIe slot that if I had an issue with the NIC or BT cards I'd not have an option to add a separate card if I got a GPU, which I initially wasn't going to, but then I heard about how IGP's are causing issues. Would you avoid mITX because of this if you were me?
-There are half size PCIe slots now too? I thought I saw something about smaller NIC and BT cards...maybe that would solve the issue. There are also small DC slots for some kind of micro power supplies?
-There are still no Mac's with Broadwell, so that means that Z97 isn't natively supported? Is native support that big of a deal and was Z87 more stable because of it?
-I saw reference to Apple not supporting older configurations after a few years. I understand comments that we can't be guaranteed of things on a Hackintosh when updating the OS, but this comment seemed to be aimed at real Mac's as well. Not sure what it could have meant?
-I keep reading threads about successful builds, but their idea of success seems different then mine. They have a list of things not working still.
-What usually works and doesn't? I don't want any surprises. I thought I knew the deal in general, then I come across posts about how DRM content doesn't work. Is that just for iTunes? If it's just iTunes, it probably won't be a deal-breaker as there are alternatives, but it's an example of something I never would have known about.
-The Hackintosh sites all seem to hate each other and the help seems limited with people questions often going ignored. What sites do you recommend? Anyone willing to hold my hand through this? Long shot, but thought I'd ask as you never know.
-Clover is more stable, but harder?
-How high of a chance that Apple does something that "breaks" a part of the system? I'd have a backup available, but if there happens to be an OS update that we can't use, the system is then stuck at the point? I'd have to switch to MS or buy an Apple at that point I suppose. Doesn't seem like it's happened yet, but I wonder if people have had to buy a new motherboard or something because some part just wouldn't work anymore?
Thanks for reading, if you got through it all.
I suppose even if it's just to get my own thoughts down, it's worthwhile.
Some background...I am by no means that proficient with computers. On the other hand, I did build a PC, probably over 10 years ago. The past couple weeks I've been reacquainting myself with current hardware. I have the general idea down and some of the not-so-general stuff as well. I guess I'm trying to say I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as the average poster here, but much more knowledgeable than the average person out there.
I wouldn't mind paying a modest premium for an Apple product and I know if you compare exact spec items that the prices can be not too drastically apart. However, they are when choice becomes a factor. I'm not looking for a laptop, so that's a biggie right there. There are no quad core minis. No headless desktop. I'd actually consider the iMac as I need a nice screen anyhow, but there are too many downsides and not enough flexibility or long term value. I'm actually considering the 2012 Mini, but it really kinda sucks to pay a premium for old tech that I still need to mod with drives, spend for externals, etc...
If the Hackintosh isn't viable for me though, I think I'll have to go the 2012 Mini or newer iMac route. If that's the case are there any external options that run as well as internal for SSD's/HDD's?
I've done some research on that, but am confused still. I found some numbers that at first made it sound like throughput wasn't that far off, but then real world numbers showed a significant difference. I think some of those numbers were a couple years old, so I'm wondering if things have changed at all? USB3 or Thunderbolt the way to go? There are new versions of both coming out? Some USB3's can't be boot drives? USB3 can't run trim? I'm also not thrilled with a boot drive being external as cords get bumped.
I need drive flexibility and probably a lot of storage as I'm doing photoshop and digital audio work. So separate drives for OS for ease of backup, maybe a separate scratch drive, etc...I'll probably start of simple, but it needs to be fast and flexible and I'm not sure this is possible externally?
Ok, if I go Hackintosh. I was excited at first because I'm reading about how much easier it's gotten. While I'm not totally clear on the basic procedure and really don't know about DMG's, Kexts, DSDT's, SSDT's, etc...The basic procedure doesn't seem much harder than a normal OS install. The issue seems to be all the other futzing around? Some questions...
-If people are using the same known and recommended hardware, why are there so many different issues between like users? Is some of this stuff truly that buggy and random?
-I was going to do a mITX build, but then became concerned that since there's only one PCIe slot that if I had an issue with the NIC or BT cards I'd not have an option to add a separate card if I got a GPU, which I initially wasn't going to, but then I heard about how IGP's are causing issues. Would you avoid mITX because of this if you were me?
-There are half size PCIe slots now too? I thought I saw something about smaller NIC and BT cards...maybe that would solve the issue. There are also small DC slots for some kind of micro power supplies?
-There are still no Mac's with Broadwell, so that means that Z97 isn't natively supported? Is native support that big of a deal and was Z87 more stable because of it?
-I saw reference to Apple not supporting older configurations after a few years. I understand comments that we can't be guaranteed of things on a Hackintosh when updating the OS, but this comment seemed to be aimed at real Mac's as well. Not sure what it could have meant?
-I keep reading threads about successful builds, but their idea of success seems different then mine. They have a list of things not working still.
-What usually works and doesn't? I don't want any surprises. I thought I knew the deal in general, then I come across posts about how DRM content doesn't work. Is that just for iTunes? If it's just iTunes, it probably won't be a deal-breaker as there are alternatives, but it's an example of something I never would have known about.
-The Hackintosh sites all seem to hate each other and the help seems limited with people questions often going ignored. What sites do you recommend? Anyone willing to hold my hand through this? Long shot, but thought I'd ask as you never know.
-Clover is more stable, but harder?
-How high of a chance that Apple does something that "breaks" a part of the system? I'd have a backup available, but if there happens to be an OS update that we can't use, the system is then stuck at the point? I'd have to switch to MS or buy an Apple at that point I suppose. Doesn't seem like it's happened yet, but I wonder if people have had to buy a new motherboard or something because some part just wouldn't work anymore?
Thanks for reading, if you got through it all.
I suppose even if it's just to get my own thoughts down, it's worthwhile.