Have you heard about the FrankenMac?

Rob Griffiths of Macworld.com thought a PC was a PC and decided to build
one that runs OS X.

<http://www.macworld.com/article/133028/2008/04/building_mac_clone.html>

It's pretty much on par with a Mac Pro, sometimes a little better
sometimes not quite as good... but it's less than half the price.

Of course, before he ends up, he has a word for would be hackers. Hey,
he works for MacWorld. If he wants to get samples of future products, he
better not say you can hack the equivalent of a Mac Pro for less than
half the price.

So, he advises that upgrades might prove problematic. I suppose this is
true. Of course, this is not one of Apple's problem when they build
computers.

And it takes time. Some twenty hours, he says. Four to put the computer
together, 16 to get OS X to work. Of course, this is not one of Apple's
problem.

And, of couse, OS X is not Linux, you have to somehow buy OS X. (BTW,
any idea on how Psystar plans to get some err... let's say 10000 copies
of OS X a week from Apple?)

The hardware being standard PC, just as Apple's, it's not a problem. But
the casing, the casing, oh, Lord! You have to remove screws, it swings
open on plastic hinges, wiring is all over the place, and it has a dull
spot on its finish!!!

Certainly, he and I didn't buy from the same Antec company. Mine has no
dull spot. Had it had one, I would have brought it back and I'm sure it
would have been exchanged right on the spot. Antec is a serious company.
It opens by unsnapping the front cover and sliding the sides forwards:
no screws and no hinges. Indeed, wires are all over the place because
there are no special compartments to make accessing the hardware more
difficult and prevent good airflow. Accessing memory is no more a
problem than if it was sliding out. Dammit, it's right there on the
board! Oh, I forgot, I never had to use sandpaper to remove cutting
edges and never cut myself. It's true that mine is a cheaper model: he
paid $120, I paid half as much.

So, my advice remains the same. Of course, you may hack yourself a Mac,
but it's a lot of pain and you may never be able to update. *Or*, you
may build yourself the very same PC, and use Linux. Of course, Spaces
will be called "virtual desktops". Of course, you have only 12 instead
of 16, but I have only 2 enabled.

Mandrake works very well, updates are checked every day automatically
and it's safe. Say, for exemple, Apple doesn't like your face and you go
to Apple's site, they might very well screw up your internet connection.
But a Linux user knows the bare basics. If this happens, where have they
written to? Yes, the /tmp directory! Clean it, and you're through.

That's when things go *really, really, really* bad. You've got to face
knowledgeable crackers. So, when you want a good Mac clone with as
little pain as possible, I suggest a plain PC and Mandrake Linux. That's
unless you really don't want to call Places... I mean Spaces, virtual
desktops.