Mac OS question

scourgewarper

This is extremely noobish, but basically is a 'Mac' a specific machine or configuration of computer components that can run a 'Mac OS', or can I install a mac os on my pc which currently runs vista 64bit?

After watching countless artists advocate using a mac I want to try it out but i'm proper confused as to what a mac is lol, this coming from a man who's built from scratch many a pc. The wikipedia article doesn't mention anything so I assume it's such a fundamental bit of info they imply you know what a mac is. Could someone put me out of my misery...

Rick Stirling

A Mac is hardware from Apple. Generally it runs Mac OS, but for the last few years you install several operating systems on them.

I can boot my mac into Apple OSX, Windows 7, or into OSX and run windows 7 in a virtual machine as windowed or fullscreen. I run 3DSMax in a window in OSX.

Spinks

it might be possible for you to install OS X on your pc, depending on your hardware. google hackintosh and you should find some guides. it's against the license agreement though

notman

Mac is hardware, OSx is the software. Macs are basically Intel based PCs now, so it became reasonably easy to install OSx on a PC and 'experience' the Apple world.

That being said, it's not as simple as plopping OSx on a PC. Since Macs have very controlled hardware configurations, they don't have drivers for many varieties of hardware.
For instance, I have recently built a 'Hackintosh' using a Pentium 4 system. I can not for the life of me, get wireless network cards to work. Every Mac comes with wireless, so there aren't many 3rd party wireless card options (basically nill). So, in order to get wireless, you have to find very specific cards, and even that isn't a guarantee (I've tried 4 different cards so far).

Also, it's easier on an Intel system rather than AMD. Hacks exist, but it's one less headache just to start with an Intel CPU. Like Spinks mentioned, do a search for Hackintosh. If you need help, I can guide you a bit, but I'm no expert on it yet

For me, I'm using my system to try out the Mac experience, and if I find myself using it enough, I'll end up buying an actual Mac computer.

scourgewarper

I guess using a mac is similar to the advantages of making games/software for consoles then such as knowing the exact hardware config etc and therefore optimizing it for that. Also I read that viruses are almost non-existent on macs, is that true? Not a deal clincher but interesting if it is.

notman

OSx is a Unix based system (In all honesty, so far it feels like a polished version of Linux). Unix systems don't typically have viruses written for them, thus OSx is usually safe. Does that mean they can't get a virus? No, but it's not targeted like Windows is.

In addition, the reason they can claim such stability is because of their control over hardware. Although Microsoft is often criticized about their crashing issues, most are due to the many hardware configurations that Microsoft tries to adapt Windows for. That being said, Macs crash also, despite having their controlled software... just not as often.