Building your own MAC may be illegal, but’s it’s also much cheaper.

via D’Vice

It’s no secret that Apple’s are the cool PC to have. But as is usually the case, what follows the coolness factor is a premium to be placed more on joining the club, rather than what the club can do for you. And the How-To Geek has once again proven that with Macs, it’s no different. According to recent testing, the HTG compared a 24” iMac with an identical “Hackintosh,” which consisted of similar parts purchased from the PC side of the isle. The result was a staggering $1100 premium that MAC users play for the privilege if having that glowing white Apple logo on their PC.

Breaking down the parts list, the How-To Geek used an Intel Core Duo E8400 processor, Gigbyte motherboard, Western Digital Caviar 500GB hard drive, an Acer 24” LCD screen, and 4GB of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM. In addition, DVD burner, ergonomic keyboard, mouse, and an Antek black tower. Then, they used an EFIX stick to install a store bought copy of OSX Leopard. The result, the cost was LESS THAN HALF the cost of Cupertino’s stylish iMac.

But is it a fair comparison? The fact is, that the iMac is an all in one unit, whereas the Hackintosh is a traditional computer setup. But that definitely wouldn’t account for another $1100 in costs to build.
But whether it’s fair or not, Apple switchers don’t seem to care. But it doesn’t answer the question as to why “Mac” is always dressed down in their commercials. He can’t afford nicer clothes since all his money is going to pay for Steve’s black mock turtlenecks and Levi’s!

Hat Tip – HowToGeek

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5 Comments on “Building your own MAC may be illegal, but’s it’s also much cheaper.”

Joe Says:

First off how many people build their own computer? Very few. Why when one can go to Apple, Dell, etc and get one ready made. Also I didn’t see a figure for labor - hours spent buying and assembling the parts. Granted the labor cost shouldn’t be near $1100 but labor does add a couple hundred dollars to the cost. Also you left off the technical support number for your basement built thing and the length of time for the warranty. As far as dressing down, I doubt the PC in the ad built his own box nor do many people want to. So what is your point?

What's the frequency, Kenneth? Says:

That “storebought copy of Leopard” is a storebought UPGRADE. Since all Macs come with the OS, what you’re buying is an UPGRADE. Windows has a cheap upgrade price and a more expensive purchase price too. “Apples and Oranges,” as they say.

Also, go buy those parts at, say Walmart (retail) and compare. Oh, you CAN’T….yeah, well, you’re buying a PC retail. Again…Apples and Oranges.

Cool PC? No...Operating PC Says:

I didn’t switch to macintosh because I would get more ladies. It simply works better. True, they should lower the cost of it, but the money you spend goes towards the neat package that fits on your desk and operates for better than 2 years. I can’t name you a person I know that doesn’t curse their old PC that “used to be so much faster.”

Hackguy Says:

As usual the Mactards make the flakiest of arguments for their holier than thou company that they probably bow down to every day. Apple is a hardware ripoff - you’d have to be an absolute economic moron not to see. There are huge disadvantages of an all-in-one design. Check out replacement prices for Apple motherboards and monitors for iMacs that are 2 or 3 years old! They are 5-10 more than their PC equivalents. Bottom line is smart people run both OS’s. Best of both worlds. Keep your Windows machine mostly offline and the Mac for online stuff. Avoid almost all problems.

Saturday’s Gadget Gallery » Coolest Gadgets Says:

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