Building a Hackintosh

[TheVeganAtheist]

Hi,
I'm currently learning to use Adobe After Effects, and Ive realized that my computer is struggling to deal with the editing. I currently use an iMac 27" i7 24 gb ram computer but my graphics card only has 512mb of ram, and I was thinking of upgrading. Anyone here have any experience with creating a Hackintosh? I don't like windows, so I want to stay in the OS X environment.

[Volenta]

I'm currently learning to use Adobe After Effects, and Ive realized that my computer is struggling to deal with the editing.

Have you also considered turning down the real-time rendering settings a bit, and just keep it high when rendering at the end of your editing process for exporting?

I currently use an iMac 27" i7 24 gb ram computer but my graphics card only has 512mb of ram, and I was thinking of upgrading.

It seems you already have great specs. Upgrading the GPU in a Mac is sadly enough not really possible, so I can understand that you're looking for a PC as an alternative (I'm currently considering the same thing with my iMac, although that's for other reasons as well). I'm not really that familiar with Hackintosh though and don't know the current status of the project, but I've generally perceived it as pretty troublesome stuff (but maybe it's better now?).

Also, remember that RAM isn't everything, especially with video rendering it's the processing speed that really counts.

Anyone here have any experience with creating a Hackintosh? I don't like windows, so I want to stay in the OS X environment.

If you're really considering Hackintosh, I would at least recommend keeping the hardware components the same as used in Macs as much as possible for better support (or at least know for certain that it works well under OS X).

[PrincessPeach]

You can put ubuntu on your mac for free ... I use adobe all the time it runs great

[Volenta]

You can put ubuntu on your mac for free ... I use adobe all the time it runs great

I'm a big Linux-fan, and I'm probably going to switch from OS X to Linux as my main OS pretty soon. But that being said, you have to be honest that Wine just isn't all that great—it sucks actually. And there sadly enough is no serious alternative for video-editing on the market for Linux. OS X just is the way to go for video editing.

[TheVeganAtheist]

When I was a teenager years ago I tried running linux, and it was not for me. Has it evolved much visually? I like OS X however, so i dont think I would switch.

[Volenta]

When I was a teenager years ago I tried running linux, and it was not for me. Has it evolved much visually?

I think it has if you're still thinking about the time when Gnome2 was big. There is a relatively recent distro that is focusing a lot on the visual aspect, namely elementaryOS with their Pantheon desktop environment (screenshot). But it's pretty limited out of the box; their audience is not the power user. Power users generally don't care that much about visuals, more about productivity and control. There are many desktop environments out there, some you'll like, others not so much. Here's a small list of some of the popular ones:
- Unity (default on Ubuntu)
- Cinnamon
- Gnome 3
- KDE
- Xfce
- LXDE
- MATE (fork of Gnome 2)
Of course most of these can be customized heavily to fit your own needs.

I like OS X however, so i dont think I would switch.

I can understand not switching if OS X is your OS now. It's mostly (technical) people who enjoy having an open ecosystem, freedom in their computing, who don't want to spend much money on things which have great free alternatives, etc. (this site sums things up rather nicely, although it's a bit outdated and I don't agree with everything) There are many different distros with different goals and audiences, there might be one that fits the bill.

But like I said, it might not be the best option if you're editing videos a lot on a professional level. You do have some video editors like Pitivi (or others) which might also be enough, but that's something you know better than I do.

***

By the way PrincessPeach, installing Ubuntu on his Mac isn't taking away the barrier he's encountering. But it could be an option for his potential next PC.

[TheVeganAtheist]

I sold my imac and am awaiting for all the parts to begin my new build. Ive borrowed a laptop. This is tough. Im using an old windows based laptop in front of my new 32" 4k LCD that I havent even turned on yet because Im awaiting a few more parts of the build. I cant wait to have it running again, so I can start working on a new video!

[PrincessPeach]

I sold my imac and am awaiting for all the parts to begin my new build. Ive borrowed a laptop. This is tough. Im using an old windows based laptop in front of my new 32" 4k LCD that I havent even turned on yet because Im awaiting a few more parts of the build. I cant wait to have it running again, so I can start working on a new video!

Actually the new UBUNTU looks just like OS X the developers mimiced a lot I have the side bar that I can download and put any app I want into it just like on the macs...

You will actually learn how to be a programmer with ubuntu seeing as you will have to manually install everything...


Sounds like UBUNTU will be the perfect add on to your newly obtained old windows computer, you can run both operating systems on the same computer plus ubuntu has free video editing software that you can install if you want and see what you like.

I put ubuntu on my laptop and the touch screen works(super cool) and it looks just like the OS X operating system but the bar with all the apps is on the left side instead of being on the bottom of the screen!

[Volenta]

I sold my imac and am awaiting for all the parts to begin my new build. Ive borrowed a laptop. This is tough. Im using an old windows based laptop in front of my new 32" 4k LCD that I havent even turned on yet because Im awaiting a few more parts of the build. I cant wait to have it running again, so I can start working on a new video!

Are you going to give Hackintosh a shot, or what's your plan?

Actually the new UBUNTU looks just like OS X the developers mimiced a lot I have the side bar that I can download and put any app I want into it just like on the macs...

I don't think they tried to mimic OS X at all. I wouldn't deny certain similarities, but those aren't the result of a mimicking process. Canonical works hard to deliver an unique desktop experience.

You will actually learn how to be a programmer with ubuntu seeing as you will have to manually install everything...

You don't have to manually install everything. Ubuntu out of the box comes with Software Center which contains lots of software applications that are available. Of course certain packages are only available through APT, and sometimes you'd even have to compile and 'make' it yourself, but such elementary tasks won't turn you into a programmer. You make it sound harder then it really is, you're basically just executing some commands...

it looks just like the OS X operating system but the bar with all the apps is on the left side instead of being on the bottom of the screen!

Maybe I'm wrong to interpret it like this, but why is it that you want it to look like OS X so badly? Then why not just use OS X?

[TheVeganAtheist]

I sold my imac and am awaiting for all the parts to begin my new build. Ive borrowed a laptop. This is tough. Im using an old windows based laptop in front of my new 32" 4k LCD that I havent even turned on yet because Im awaiting a few more parts of the build. I cant wait to have it running again, so I can start working on a new video!

Are you going to give Hackintosh a shot, or what's your plan?

I am. As of right this minute, Im running windows 8.1 because I cant install Yosemite. I want to dual boot operating systems, and Ive successfully installed Snow Leopard, but Im getting errors when I try to install Yosemite. Things are in a bit of limbo right this minute. I think my choice of motherboard has gotten me as far as I can. Tomorrow I will exchange the motherboard for a different one and hope I can successfully install Yosemite. I want to get the hackintosh setup so I can start creating new videos again.