The Easy Way To Install Mountain Lion On a PC

Last month, we showed you how to install the developer preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion on your Hackintosh, by manually creating your own installer USB drive. However, there is now an easier way to install Mac OS X Mountain Lion, by using the newly updated myHack app.

Four Cheap Hackintosh Builds Worth Your Money

For most people, Hackintoshes are meant to be a cheaper alternative to buying a real Mac. However, Mac OS X doesn't work with just any hardware, so building your own Hackintosh on the cheap usually need some extra research. In the interest of saving you time (and money), I've compiled a list of the 4 best discount Hackintosh builds, all of which can run Mac OS X Lion flawlessly. Best of all, every one of these builds costs less than $500 to assemble.

Disable internet download warnings on Mac OS X

You've undoubtedly seen warnings like the one shown above on your Hackintosh before; every time you download anything from the internet, Mac OS X drops you this warning before you can open the file. Ostensibly, this is for your own security. However, if you don't need Mac OS X warning you about everything that you download, it's actually very to disable this "feature". This tip isn't Hackintosh-specific, so it'll work with real Macs too.

The Best 14-inch Hackintosh Notebook

Last week, we looked at the four best Hackintosh notebooks of 2012. Today, I've added the HP ProBook 4430s ($600-700) to the list. At this time, the ProBook 4430s is probably the best 14-inch laptop that you could buy for Hackintoshing. It's cheap and compact, and like most of the HP ProBook line, it's almost fully compatible with Mac OS X Lion.

The Best Hackintosh Laptops Of 2012 - For Lion

SEE ALSO: The Best Hackintosh Laptops of 2012 - For Mountain Lion

It's very difficult to find a laptop that can easily be turned into Hackintosh. As mentioned in our Hackintosh compatibility guide, most laptops aren't good Hackintoshes, because the compact design of laptops makes it very difficult to replace non-compatible parts.

With this in mind, I've compiled a list of Hackintosh-compatible laptops, all of which can run Mac OS X Lion without the need to replace any hardware. Some of these laptops were chosen because they were exceptionally compatible with Mac OS X, while others were chosen because they had a large Hackintosh community backing them. Most of the guides provided below are from tonymacx86, and have files attached to them. To view and download attached files on tonymacx86, you have to register an account on the website.

Enable Intel HD 3000 graphics on your Hackintosh

In the past, Mac OS X didn't support integrated graphics cards, so you couldn't use the integrated graphics on the motherboard of your Hackintosh. However, this changed in 2011, when Apple released the Mac Mini and a new line of Macbooks. Now, with Mac OS X Lion, any Hackintosh with Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics can get full graphics support in a relatively easy process.

How to install Mac OS X Mountain Lion [Developer Preview] on your Hackintosh

A few weeks back, Apple gave the world a sneak peak at Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion). If you downloaded a copy of Mountain Lion from Apple's developer program, it's actually not very hard to install it on your Hackintosh. The folks at tonymacx86 won't release a tool for Mountain Lion until later this year, but you can already make a Hackintosh-ready installer for Mountain Lion by yourself.

How to dual-boot your Hackintosh with separate hard disks (with Chimera/Chameleon bootloader)

Update (March 8, 2016): Using OS X 10.10 El Capitan? Check out our updated dual-booting guide on El Capitan instead.

Running Mac OS X on a Hackintosh is great, but most people still need to use Windows every now and them. That's where dual-booting comes in. Dual-booting is the process of installing both Mac OS X and Windows on your computer, so that you can choose between the two when your Hackintosh starts. If you want to dual-boot, the easiest way is to install Windows and Mac OS X on separate hard disks. This method is the most hassle-free.

Change the background of your login screen with Loginox

If you feel that the default login screen for your Hackintosh is too boring, you can easily replace the background image of the login screen by using Loginox (Free). Loginox is a free app that allows you to change the background and logo of the login screen in Mac OS X. This isn't a Hackintosh-specific tip; Loginox will work on any Mac running either Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion, and it can use any JPG or PNG image of your choice.

How to edit your own DSDT with DSDT Editor

DSDTs are configuration files that tell Mac OS X how to use your Hackintosh's motherboard, without the need for extra kexts and drivers. A DSDT will make it a lot easier to enable sleep mode on your Hackintosh, and it will also fix any bootup problems related to your CPU. The newest Gigabyte motherboards no longer require DSDT files. And older Gigabyte motherboards have DSDT files available in tonymacx86's DSDT database. However, if you own a non-Gigabyte motherboard, you usually have to make your own DSDT. Editing DSDTs is extremely complicated, but you can automate this editing process by applying a patch with DSDT Editor instead.