Hacintosh 101: Technically speaking, a Dell Inspiron Mini can be a Mac Netbook.
I’m a Mac lover, but when I needed an inexpensive netbook computer for web surfing, IM, email and coffee shop meandering, the Dell Mini notebook was an easy choice: It’s lightweight, inexpensive and easy to upgrade.
With a bit of effort, it also runs Mac OSX effortlessly.
That is why I spent this weekend installing the Mac OS on my Dell Mini. It required a few hundred dollars and a few hours of time, but it was a worthwhile investment on both accounts.
The Prep
Prior to installing Mac OSX on a Dell Inspiron Mini, I needed to do two things: upgrade the RAM to 2gb ($38.00); and upgrade the SSD hard drive to 32Gb ($74.00). Thereafter, I wasa ready to install a retail version of OSX ($112.49). Both of these hardware updates were easy to install. I just removed a panel on the bottom of the PC with two screws and replaced both chips. I saved the old Flash hard drive after removing it — This makes it easy to return to the previous operating system (if the need arises)without doing a full reinstall.
There are several guides on the Internet on how to install Mac OS X onto a Dell Mac Mini 9. Most of these guides involve the creation of a USB installation drive. I was able to install OSX without difficulty using a Samsung Super-Writemaster USB DVD ROM ($65) drive. If you want the installation process to be easy, I recommend using this drive since the reliability of other drives vary for this installation.
The best instructions I could find for the install were located at Gizmodo. Basically, all you need to do is download the Dell Mini Boot Disk image (DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso.zip) and duplicate the image on CD (using the disk utility, not copying the files to a blank CD). Then you can startup from the CD you create and run the install DVD. There are only a handful of steps, but they need to be followed precisely.
The Process
Converting your Dell Mini to a Hackintosh portable is a 10-step process:
- Restart the Dell Mini with the “0″ key pressed. Select the DVD drive for startup with the Dell Mini Boot disk. To boot from the DVD drive, in the command line you’ll need to select device “9f”.
- After successful startup, insert the OSX install disk and run the OSX 10.5.6 installer. It will take close to an hour for the install. When the install is complete, you’ll probably see an error message — ignore it.
- Restart the Dell Mini again using the Dell Mini Boot Disk. However, this time, you’ll want to boot from the Flash drive (device”80″) with the boot command “-f”. This will load OSX on the mini. Some features such as sound and network will be disabled for this step — ignore it.
- After successful startup, run the DellEFI application on the Dell Mini Boot disk. This will load all the drivers you need for normal function.
- Restart. Version 10.5.6 is installed. Time to upgrade!
- Download an updated copy of the DellEFI application for use with OSX 10.5.7. Extract the application and leave it on your desktop.
- Run the OSX update application. This may take awhile. There are many updates included along with 10.5.7.
- When the install is complete, restart the Mini — but press “0″ and reboot in safe mode using the boot command “-x”
- Run your new version of DellEFI.
- Restart. You’ve got a copy of the coolest operating system, running on one of the most compact netbooks. Enjoy!
The Result
I’m happy with the result. Most other Hacintosh owners seem happy too. The only complaints I’ve been seeing (and share) is that Dell Mini’s keyboard is too small — and the apostrophe key on it to be poorly placed. True on both accounts, but these concerns are unrelated to the operating system. These issues make it difficult to use a Dell Mini as your sole computer — but don’t prevent it from being a great, compact travel netbook.
It’s no MacBook Air — but that’s the point. It’s more compact, more durable and a great netbook to have available until Apple offers something better later this year (rumored).
Video Instruction
Let the creators of this video walk you through preparing and installing OSX for your Dell Mini 9 Netbook.
Interested in a 9″ Dell Inspiron Mini with Mac OsX already installed? Let me know. I have an extra (the same one photographed above). It comes with the original hard drive (just incase you ever want to restore the original Dell OS) and a custom case from Timbuk2. Your cost? $300.