What's Wrong With His Hackintosh

mscherrah

mscherrah

Active member
Hi All!
This is my first post, and I am sorry, because this seems to be a stupid question, but we cannot figure it out. I just got my GH1 and a friend of mine has a Canon T1i. We wanted to compare the shots, so we shot the same thing, and went to his computer to check them out (He has a Hackintosh 3.0 gHz, 1TB H-drive, 8 gb RAM) The computer would recognize the camera, iMovie would pull the photos off of the card, but that was it. Every time we tried to pull the video off of the card, it would crash the program we were using. We tried Final Cut Pro 6.0.6, and iMovie 09. Being a little nervous about not being able to use this camera with my computer (i run a Macbook Pro 3.2 gHz, 250 gb H-drive 4gb RAM) To my surprise, as soon as I opened FCP, and went to log and transfer, the clips were there. Why does it crash his programs? Is it because he has a hackintosh, or is it his settings?

Thanks!
Matt
 
What's Wrong With His Hackintosh
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That's what's wrong. It may look and smell like a mac, but you'll discover that moment when you peak under the dress and find something is rotten in Denmark. Stick to apple hardware and you'll avoid those workflow hassles.
 
Isaac, Thank you. I was afraid that was going to be the problem. Is there anything he can do to get it to work? (other than buying a mac)
 
Hackintosh = No customer support. He'll just have to fiddle around to try and get it to work. That's the price you pay for it. There's no user manual or geek squad for that.
 
I use a hackintosh exclusively, and have never had a problem. You could try reinstalling the operating system or fcs and see if that solves anything.

I know it's not that helpful, but I thought it might be useful to know that it does work for other people.
 
Try running console and see if it gives you an explanation as to why the program crashed.

Then try repairing disk permissions, reinstalling FCP, etc.
 
i really wish people would stop discrediting hackintosh's that have never been on one. otherwise, i really wish i could be of help. i'm running premiere on my hackintosh. funny enough, you know, i've never had a problem....weird.
 
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Thanks, everyone! These answers are helpful. I am going to tell him to try these suggestions, and I will keep you all updated.

Thanks!
Matt
 
You wasted your first post on that? Ok? Welcome.

The only thing more annoying than fanboy drivel is anti-fanboist (not necessarily anti-fanboy) drivel which itself is a form of fanboyism, only one which instead of advocating a particular product and attempting to make a compelling argument, instead simply bashes a particular product.

As for Apple hardware I don't really see the issue...you're paying for build quality and industrial design. Why buy Zacuto or Red Rock instead of a cheaper brand that does the same thing? You may think they're overpriced but just ask someone who's used the hardware...they'll tell you that while they may get you the exact same image in the end, getting there with something that's well designed, light, well built, easy to use, and with excellent customer service, is a much better experience.
 
Ben_B said:
You wasted your first post on that? Ok? Welcome.

The only thing more annoying than fanboy drivel is anti-fanboist (not necessarily anti-fanboy) drivel which itself is a form of fanboyism, only one which instead of advocating a particular product and attempting to make a compelling argument, instead simply bashes a particular product.

As for Apple hardware I don't really see the issue...you're paying for build quality and industrial design. Why buy Zacuto or Red Rock instead of a cheaper brand that does the same thing? You may think they're overpriced but just ask someone who's used the hardware...they'll tell you that while they may get you the exact same image in the end, getting there with something that's well designed, light, well built, easy to use, and with excellent customer service, is a much better experience.
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i want to actually debate in a civil manner about this without killing this thread. so i'll give it a shot. i'm a graphic designer at a company that uses Macs all day long. when i'm at home i design through a hackintosh just because i'm used to the keyboard layout. i use win7 for everything else. macs and pc's are 100% no different under the hood anymore. they use intel processors and intel motherboards. so when you say "build quality" is better, it's not. just isn't that way anymore. because mac's don't distribute out to other vendors to sell their OS, they jack the prices way up for hardware. when mac's made their own processors it was a different story. your analogy doesn't apply to pc vs mac. everything now comes down to who thinks what operating system suits them more. there is no fan boyism on my end. i guess if you're into pc's like being able to actually customize each and everything inside your machine, then you'd probably think differently. so consider me a hobbyist with more options than having to chose a computer in a catalogue that's over priced...and that includes dell.
 
I was referring mainly to the build quality of the hardware itself not the specs. Show me where else you can get an aluminum laptop made with the unibody process that is that solid, etc, or anything with industrial design that nice (and yes this does affect usability not just looks, for example little details in the hardware design like the MacPro's hard drive bays, etc, that other companies can't really match.) When Dell comes out with an ultra thin laptop like the Adamo or something even coming close to mimicking Apple's build quality and attention to hardware detail they end up being as if not more expensive and usually with worse specs. (Adamo vs Air, etc.)

Yes I realize building your own PC is cheapest best solution, but again, you don't get good ID when you do that and in our profession a lot of people's time (to build own PC and hackintosh it) is worth a whole lot more than the the few hundred dollar difference between buying a Mac and PC hardware.

Also you're not building your own laptops usually :)

I'm very into computers, I do a lot of work in IT actually. In any case I like being able to carry around a computer that can run any OS I want, doesn't fall apart, etc. I'm on the same crappy White Macbook for several years now.

I had a Dell Latitude laptop that I treated the same way as this Macbook and by the end of three years it was technically no longer the same computer as every part had been replaced...I was on my second LCD, second set of plastic, third motherboard, second keyboard, third hard drive, second set of RAM, second charger (couldn't tell you about batteries, this was part of my high school so we swapped out batteries a lot, there were big charging units)...the list goes on, and I didn't even use it as my primary machine. All this from using it for homework, web surfing, and not much else. Taking it back and forth to school each day, shutdown, in a backpack with dedicated, padded, laptop section.

With my Macbook I am on my third hard drive (for awhile I had a crappy backpack that the thing would sometimes slide out of...off tables) and I added some more RAM. The plastic is slightly damaged in a few places. That's it. And this isn't even one of the better machines Apple has ever made in terms of durability...in fact it's probably one of the worst.

And let me tell you, I use the crap out of that machine, way more than I ever used my Dell for, and I am a lot more rough with it. It goes with me everywhere and gets used for everything from taking notes in class to backing up P2 data onto external HDDs hooked to a generator in the middle of a field on the side of a mountain in the middle of a wet night.

Also just a quick point, Apple never made their own processors, they were made by IBM and to a lesser extent Motorola. Before that they were made by someone else but I forget who.
 
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I'm not going to go shopping for you, but alienware, acer and msi would easily pull that off. but really it's not about which computer is better. it's about they are 100% equal in specs and how one is considerably cheaper. you can tell me dozens of stories about how this did that and failed you on doing this. it would be the same for me. we're completely biased based on our experiences. i traded a dell for a mac once, guess what? the mac died 2months later. i can't believe you'll sit there and say nothing will match their hardware design on macbook pro's. just go to newegg and search the cases. building your pc isn't about saving a "few hundred" which, you would save quite more than that. it's about how you the user has full control over what you get at a fraction of the cost. when was the last time someone built a mac? why is that? dell is a piece of shi* machine. they use cheap parts. they're losing more business than any other company on the market.



Ben_B said:
Yes I realize building your own PC is cheapest best solution, but again, you don't get good ID when you do that and in our profession a lot of people's time (to build own PC and hackintosh it) is worth a whole lot more than the the few hundred dollar difference between buying a Mac and PC hardware.
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uhm, what? this makes no sense to me. sorry but what am i missing here? are you saying it takes more time to build our own computer than to actually purchase one? ID? Independent Development?

please, do the math man, it's not a few hundred dollars. you can't just throw out arbitrary numbers based off of not actually building your own setup. if you're a laptop man, then it's probably best you went with whatever machine you thinks going to hold up in the long run, whether it's mac, dell, msi or acer or any other brand out there. but it's all based on experience on why you chose to use a machine. same as to why people chose a honda over a gm or a toyota over a ford. vice versa.

quick point, it was a 3 team development. apple had just as much to do with building the processors as Ibm and motorola. now, they don't have anything.
 
er, thanks for the welcome

er, thanks for the welcome

Ben_B said:
You wasted your first post on that? Ok? Welcome.

The only thing more annoying than fanboy drivel is anti-fanboist (not necessarily anti-fanboy) drivel which itself is a form of fanboyism, only one which instead of advocating a particular product and attempting to make a compelling argument, instead simply bashes a particular product.

As for Apple hardware I don't really see the issue...you're paying for build quality and industrial design. Why buy Zacuto or Red Rock instead of a cheaper brand that does the same thing? You may think they're overpriced but just ask someone who's used the hardware...they'll tell you that while they may get you the exact same image in the end, getting there with something that's well designed, light, well built, easy to use, and with excellent customer service, is a much better experience.
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thanks for the welcome, you seem like a very nice person with no social issues whatsoever

missed the ';o)' did we?
i looked for a general introductions area but couldn't find one

i am a software engineer with over 10 years experience in the IT industry
i have a problem with ill-informed statements when it comes to computer hardware or software; sorry if i came across as a fan-boyist-fascist etc
 
ID, industrial design.

As for the hundreds of dollars things I'd like to stick with comparing prebuilt hardware for a number of reasons, the laptop thing, as well as the general truth that all prebuilt hardware is priced highly because they have to assemble everything in big factories overseas, ship it here, sell it to you with sales people, fund a whole company, deliver profit to the shareholders, etc. All prebuilt hardware is expensive, and with all specs being equal, I see Apple as the only company that's actually doing something to earn that markup...and yes their markup is higher than other companies. However, comparing a mac's hardware to other prebuilt companies' with identical specs (that don't have the same industrial design, build quality, etc) it's only a few hundred dollars...and that I'm willing to pay to get something nicer than anything I could build myself. To top it all off Apple utilizes technology that I want to use, like Firewire 800, that (while you can build it into your machines you're building yourself) you can't usually find on prebuilt machines. Apple is a hardware company, and they're charging what the market will pay for their products, and they're cleaning up. And yes it is a matter of personal preference, but it goes beyond personal preference for OS (although that's a big part of it, and yes I am fully aware of Hackintosh...I'm thinking of getting a netbook for dumping cards in the field), and there are a myriad of reasons why one could have a personal preference for Apple's hardware.

For me it comes down to attention to detail; magnetic latching on the laptops, multitouch track pads (especially it's progenitor, two-fingered scrolling, which they've had forever), backlit keyboards, the harddrive bays in the Mac Pro, the sturdy and beautiful construction, mag-safe power adapters, the lovely and great to use Apple Pro Keyboard (and would someone explain to me why USB ports are not standard on all PC keyboards...they finally have them on a lot of them...Apple's been putting ports on their keyboards since at least the early 90s), the way the screen hinge works on the laptops (again some PC makers are doing this now as well but not for a loooong time, not when I bought my Macbook), they spacing on the keyboard on the laptops (I freaking love those laptop keyboards, nobody else to my knowledge builds one like that), cameras in the bezel before anyone else did (again now increasingly common on PCs but standard on every mac laptop and the iMac since 2006), feet on the bottom of the laptop that don't wear down or break off (oh yeah on my old dell I went through about 10 packs of those), everything being put together with screws with not a lot of snapping (easier disassembly for swapping parts, etc...again I've had and seen PC laptops where the sides were popping out when the snaps failed) etc. That's what it all comes down to for me...attention to detail in the hardware design...I guess I just happen to like all the details.

The reason I would choose a Honda over a GM or a Toyota over a Ford is mainly based on build quality. I don't care if your GM has more horsepower for cheaper, when I go inside the thing it's all plasticy and gross and the seats aren't comfortable and the dashboard is ugly and I can't reach the buttons and it has more space devoted to cup-holders than there are seats in the car and then it breaks down all the time anyway... I don't need that :)
 
fishops said:
Maybe, but that isn't very helpful.

How are you reading the card? If you're trying to read the footage off the camera, try a separate USB card reader instead.
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Though that is the inherent problem. You are making a system do what it technically shouldn't do. You are forcing it to be something it's not.

There could be thousands of things gone funky. Bad install on the OS. Bad install on FCP. Bad drivers. Wrong drivers. Conflicting drivers.

I have a hackintosh MSI Wind netbook. I love it. It took three days to work out all [read: most] of the kinks. It still doesn't have 100% functionality. It's minor things, but it still has issues.

For instance, the sleep wouldn't work for weeks, then I researched, found a sound driver, installed it, and suddenly sleep worked. For no apparent reason. Hackintoshes are a touchy beast. Sure, it might work, but when something goes wrong, it could be any number of things.

So while he didn't give a firm answer (you can't by the way), he is right.
 
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