Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Flickr Find, MacBook Air
eeeMac runs OS X on an even smaller portable than the Air
Pretty hot. As slim as the MacBook Air is, Asus' unit is even smaller. And it's super cheap, too -- we haven't heard how much this little transformation cost, but considering the eeePC sells at retail for 1/3 of the Air's price, odds are that even tons of modding won't set you back as much as a kitted-out Air. Apple wouldn't be thrilled with it, but you have to admit, that's one good-looking little ultraportable.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bwbach said 7:09AM on 9-12-2008
How?
When?
Where?
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qwertzui said 7:18AM on 9-12-2008
here's a how to install: http://www.maceee.com/
no audio output and built in ethernet so far....
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crsh said 9:19AM on 9-12-2008
Yep, it's worth noting these are the current "to do"s, you can however use Bluetooth headsets to get around the sound output issue, and of course wifi works so LAN is a lesser (but still annoying) issue.
Props to the people working on this project, I too have OSX running on my Eee 1000h quite smoothly.
Tomahawk said 7:19AM on 9-12-2008
I want to get a Dell Mini 9 with OS X, please oh please could someone figure out how to do such an endeavor.
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Aron T said 10:12AM on 9-12-2008
I concur, give me a Dell mini 9 with OS X any day!
I'll probably still buy one just for Ubuntu, though. Maybe one day the dream will come alive!
Dave said 12:43PM on 9-12-2008
Count me in for that. This new Dell laptop looks sweet and would be awesome running OS X.
Anthony said 7:23AM on 9-12-2008
A guy at my work has done this also. Some of the drivers don't work or he has to use some goofy substitute app to get the wifi to work, but in all... it is pretty slick.
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Tony said 7:29AM on 9-12-2008
From the site... "Unfortunately, the 8 / 16 GB storage is simply too slow to run Mac OS X properly. It causes boot times in excess of seven minutes."
Ouch.
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Level 5 said 8:02AM on 9-12-2008
its too slow to run XP well either... that's the nature of a 4-8GB SSD with very little the the way of swap space.
Joshua Ochs said 12:13PM on 9-12-2008
Old and incorrect information that I've been pestering him to remove for ages. You just need a BIOS update and it boots fine.
(I have this loaded on my Eee 901 on an SD card of all things!)
Gewalt said 7:36AM on 9-12-2008
This is the type of device I've been waiting on pins and needles for his jobsliness to release. /sigh instead we got the craptasticly expensive MBA.
...someday I will be able to afford to buy my kids their own macs without pissing away their college funds...
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Mark said 7:58AM on 9-12-2008
Geez, of all people, even TUAW Editors don't get the fact that you can't just dump OSX onto any junk hardware and call it a "Pretty Hot" Mac? To compare this to the Air is laughable at best.
7 Minute boot time. Wheeee.
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James Madley said 8:36AM on 9-12-2008
They mean aesthetically "pretty hot".
PSM said 9:19AM on 9-12-2008
If anything that looks like an aesthetically ugly PC, that is only hot by virtue of running OS X. And if OS X doesn't run well, you might as well call it "Windows."
Joshua Ochs said 12:13PM on 9-12-2008
7 minute boot time is only if you don't update your BIOS. Once the BIOS is up to date it boots and runs extremely well (lack of sound aside).
Mark d said 8:29AM on 9-12-2008
Alternatively try the MSI Wind - buy a different wifi card on ebay for around $20 and you have a super cheap 10" mac laptop that runs at great speed (faster than any g4 powerbook), and almost everything works too (web cam, sd slot, ethernet, speakers, usb, etc). The only thing that doesnt work is mic in and headphone out (solvable with a usb sound card) and monitor out is a little dodgy. replacing the stock wifi card with a Dell 1490 is about a 5 minute job and its detected as an airport card.
(typing this from OS X 10.5.4 on an MSI Wind)
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Christina Warren said 9:37AM on 9-12-2008
Yeah, if I were going to go this route, I'd be on the Wind or the HP MiniNote or whatever they call it and not the eee. The eee is great, but it's swap and specs aren't good enough for OS X performance. Even XP is debatable.
oZ said 9:47AM on 9-12-2008
The HP 2133 is still the only one I want, but I don't want it until they get rid of that !@#$ing VIA C7.
crsh said 10:12AM on 9-12-2008
Depends which Eee; the SSD-based models like the 901 have the issue of a fast-but-tiny boot disk and a slow-but-adequate storage disk. The 1000H is different, it uses an 80 GB hard drive (just like the Wind), and it's plenty fast for OS X.
psychoflump said 9:21AM on 9-12-2008
I bought one of these after being disappointed with the Air. I had been hanging on to replace my powerbook G4. I've got Xubuntu running complete with Photoshop via Wine. Works brilliantly, I'm really surprised how easy it was to use from a Linux newbie point of view. Bottom line; if you want a tiny laptop it really isn't that bad doing without OS X.
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