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Build Your Own Mac
DaytonCIM writes "TechTV has a great article by Kevin Rose on how to build your own Mac: 'When it comes to PCs, geeks usually make a decision between buying a prebuilt computer or building one, component by component. This isn't true when it comes to Macintoshes. You're stuck with whatever Apple has to offer, with only a few measly dollars differentiating the products from retailer to retailer.' It will be broadcast on The Screen Savers today."
I think this was the link
I made my own but found I kept dropping the transistors on the carpet and losing them.
I did what this article describes. In an effort to minimize my investment, I bought the components individually from ebay and online stores, put it all together, and had a custom PowerMac. The problem is that some of those components aren't brand new, and they may very well fail. Then you're left with a cheap-ass PowerMac that needs a new power supply. And one of the PCI slots is a little flakey. And...
It's easier to just buy a used PowerMac on ebay (or from a friend), which is what I ended up doing after I pieced together the parts individually. I still play around with that Frankenstein Mac, but it's not as useful as the used PowerMac.
However, if you invest in newer parts, I think you'll have better success than me. The stuff I bought was pretty old (and damn cheap).
This 480 hours of labor saves you all sorts of money, even after you have to spend $20 on tools and junk that you need to jimmy the stuff together.
For the price of the processor you can have a reasonable PC.
This is not a troll, just a note of what happens when hardware is made in small quantities, and is not actively updated as fast as the competition.
In the land of PC's, people that want the absolute best, or the absolute cheapest build their own.
In the land of Apple, if you want the best, buy it directly from Apple. Cheapest? Probably eBay.
Build my own mac?
...
I used to do that all the time, was easy...
2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese
I know a lot of MAC enthusiasts here will start commenting that "See you can build a mac just like you can a pc!" and I myself don't wish to start a flame war here but Building a MAC is no where near the ease of building a PC.
For a PC you need 2 main things the parts and 1 Screwdriver.
Building a MAC on the otherhand requires the parts, a Screwdriver, a Wire cutter, Dremel and cutting discs, 4" nylon wire ties, Electrical tape, Die, tap, and drill - (see the macoptz link on the article if you don't believe me)
The reason for this is because Apple - although they sell parts separately DOES NOT SELL THE MAC CASES BY THEMSELVES - so in order to make your powersuply and mac board work with a pc case requires all the time and effort of making a custom mod of your pc box. IMHO a very time consuming process unless you do that sort of thing on a regular basis and have all your stuff readily at hand.
I'm totally in favor of people trying this - just be forwarned that this is not a simple buy the parts slap the pieces together turn it on project - it's time consuming and requires a lot more tools and skill than needed for pc building.
Ave Molech Setting
TOP SECRET RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 sesame-seed hamburger bun
Half of an additional hamburger bun
1/4 pound ground beef
Dash salt
1 tablespoon Kraft Thousand Island dressing
1 teaspoon finely diced onion
1/2 cup chopped lettuce
1 slice American cheese
2 to 3 dill pickle slices
INSTRUCTIONS
1. With a serrated knife, cut the top off the extra bun half, leaving about a 3/4-inch-thick slice. This will be the middle bun in your sandwich.
2. Place the three bun halves on a hot pan or griddle, face down, and toast them to a light brown. Set aside, but keep the pan hot.
3. Divide the ground beef in half and press into two thin patties slightly larger than the bun.
4. Cook the patties in the hot pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Salt lightly.
5. Build the burger in the following stacking order from the bottom up:
bottom bun
half of dressing
half of onion
half of lettuce
American cheese
beef patty
middle bun
remainder of dressing
remainder of onion
remainder of lettuce
pickle slices
beef patty
top bun
How to Download YouTube Videos
As both a Mac and PC owner :
One of the main points (beside price) of building your own computer is to be able to choose your components, which you dont really have when it comes down to building a Mac since the supported hardware list is so small. _Drivers_ are the biggest hurdle to putting your own Mac together. Unless you want to run Yellow Dog Linux on it, but then it's not a Mac anymore, is it?
You cannot even use standard PC video cards on a Mac, since the Mac architecture expects extension cards to have OpenFirmware compliant firmware. Hence, nice Mac-specific NVidia AGP cards that wont fit anywhere else. Again, there are ways around that, but reliabiality suffers.
-- Home is where you eat your heart out.
Drop one transistor on carpet and it is lost. But drop a million and you say "look at all those damn transistors."
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
there is a weird thing with PPC processors these days. it has something to do with the IMB/Moto design and manufacturing thing. also the "processor" is not just a bare chip like a PC user may think. it's a whole processor card, including the backside cache bla bla bla. not that it really narrows the gap, but there is a lot more than a bare chip.
Moto makes the chips that Apple currently uses in machines, IBM makes a lot of the ones that are used for upgrades. there is some agreement over pricing and speed. the rumors have long said IBM can outclock Moto's chips, but are not allowed to sell them because they are held back because of contractual agreements. rumors, but interesting because it seems IBM will be making the new Apple super-chip in mid/late 2003 when the 970s roll out.
also of note, a $399 PC is a piece of junk compared to any Mac. i am talking about the physical components. everything from power supply to ram, it will not have gigabit ethernet, it will not have firewire with individual busses for each port. things like that where the prices of Macs add up.
Logic board: $200 Sonnet CPU: $700 Video card : $220 Memory: $200 hard drive: $150 pro keyboard/optical mouse: 99 Operating system: 129 ___________ Not including any shipping thats' 1730 $ for a SINGLE PROCESSOR MACHINE already without a case, power supply, cd/dvd drive, or even any cables or power cords. Or you can get a DUAL CPU system assembled with an air port card, extra memory, and operaing system from mac mall for $1690
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Somebody on Slashdot modding down Wil Wheaton, yeah right! :)
:)
Heh. I think it's a hobby for some people to take their mod points and burn them hitting me -1 five times in a row.
Hey, at least this time it's for a good reason.
also of note, a $399 PC is a piece of junk compared to any Mac
Your price reference is for the processor alone (my original intention). For that money one can purchase a high quality AMD processor and motherboard of your choice. When looking at total cost of the PC vs homemade Mac, you can get far nicer, all brand new, components for the PC. And it will be the latest generation.
Note that the motherboard referred to in the article was $199 and it was a refurbished unit. High quality or not, for that much scratch, I want new stuff.
Gigabit ethernet is useless for 99% of Mac users, other than for bragging rights. A Gigabit solution is just now getting to the point of being affordable. It is still useless if you are mainly concerned with internet usage.
The 970's, if they do come down the pipeline, sound really cool.
In reality, the Macintosh market is not one of customization, it is one of reliability and ease of use. Something the PC still can't do.