what's inside a mac?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bust Out
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Bust Out

This may be a dumb question to some of you but I'm just wondering, what's
inside a mac? I started building windows computers a couple of years ago. I
didn't know jack about a computers internal components until I built my
first one from scratch. I think I've learned a lot just from trial and error
and I'm still learning something new all the time. I still have a few
motherboard manuals that have pages falling out from reading them so much :)

Anyway, I have never opened up a macintosh and I wonder what they are
composed of. Can I take any computer, load os-x on it and call it a mac? Or
do macs have proprietary hardware?

I know I can probably find the answers to these questions by doing a quick
search on google (which I'm going to do after I post this), but I'm really
interested in hearing personal opinions from people who have actually built
or repaired macs.
 
Bust Out said:
This may be a dumb question to some of you but I'm just wondering, what's
inside a mac? I started building windows computers a couple of years ago. I
didn't know jack about a computers internal components until I built my
first one from scratch. I think I've learned a lot just from trial and error
and I'm still learning something new all the time. I still have a few
motherboard manuals that have pages falling out from reading them so much :)

Anyway, I have never opened up a macintosh and I wonder what they are
composed of. Can I take any computer, load os-x on it and call it a mac? Or
do macs have proprietary hardware?

I know I can probably find the answers to these questions by doing a quick
search on google (which I'm going to do after I post this), but I'm really
interested in hearing personal opinions from people who have actually built
or repaired macs.
Click to expand...

Macs use proprietary Motherboards and Processors. You cannot load any Mac
OS onto X86 hardware.

The processors have in the past been made by Motorolla and IBM. The current
G4 and G5 processors are made by IBM.
G4s I think use standard PC133 RAM and Standard U-ATA Hard Drives. There
are Mac versions of Video cards based on popular chips by ATI and Nvidia
(and possibly others).

It is virtually impossible to build your own Mac. I have heard of a few
people building older style Macs out of used hardware but it is not easy.



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No, no, no! It's two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,
pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun :-)
 
Bust Out said:
Anyway, I have never opened up a macintosh and I wonder what they are
composed of. Can I take any computer, load os-x on it and call it a mac? Or
do macs have proprietary hardware?
Click to expand...

MACs are a different breed of computer. It's like comparing VHS and beta.
They have hardware that a PC person can recognize, like a motherboard, power
supply, 3.5" and 5.25" cages, and slots for memory and expansion cards. The
parts are specific to MACs only. Recent MACs will allow the use of standard
DDR memory (like PC2700) and they've been using SCSI and IDE hard drives for
a while. They have PCI and AGP slots, but in many cases they will only
allow the use of specific Apple-only cards. The ATI Radeon 9000 in a MAC is
not the same as an ATI Radeon 9000 in a PC. The operating system it uses is
designed to only run on a MAC. Technically OSX is BSD Unix just heavily
modified by Apple and compiled for the PowerPC (the CPU of most MACs).
Rumor has it that Apple has a version of Darwin (the code OSX is built on)
for x86 processors buried deep in a lab somewhere.
I know I can probably find the answers to these questions by doing a quick
search on google (which I'm going to do after I post this), but I'm really
interested in hearing personal opinions from people who have actually built
or repaired macs.
Click to expand...

I own a G4, and it's an interesting piece of machinery. It's very
accessible, pull one lever and the whole side panel opens up. Everything is
custom made to fit perfectly inside, even the IDE cables are neatly secured
along the bottom of the unit. The 1.25Ghz PowerPC processor is passively
cooled with just a large heat sink. Screws are easily accessible throughout
the unit, and the manual clearly explains how to pull apart most of the
case. The only minus on the design is that it is ungodly heavy. The case
feels like it's full of lead when I pick it up.

-SSZ
 
Gutz and ...and black stuff

<Nelson Muntz>

Bust Out said:
This may be a dumb question to some of you but I'm just wondering, what's
inside a mac? I started building windows computers a couple of years ago. I
didn't know jack about a computers internal components until I built my
first one from scratch. I think I've learned a lot just from trial and error
and I'm still learning something new all the time. I still have a few
motherboard manuals that have pages falling out from reading them so much :)

Anyway, I have never opened up a macintosh and I wonder what they are
composed of. Can I take any computer, load os-x on it and call it a mac? Or
do macs have proprietary hardware?

I know I can probably find the answers to these questions by doing a quick
search on google (which I'm going to do after I post this), but I'm really
interested in hearing personal opinions from people who have actually built
or repaired macs.
Click to expand...
 
John E. Carty said:
No, no, no! It's two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,
pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun :-)
Click to expand...
So that must be a G5 then (Big Mac), so whats a G4 got in it?

SteveH
 
Sorry , but I do not mess with macs since the ones at the University
comp lab provided no way to shut down a locked-up program except to
turn off and boot-up again .

Everyone there avoided them !!!

tim
 
This may be a dumb question to some of you but I'm just wondering, what's
inside a mac? I started building windows computers a couple of years ago. I
didn't know jack about a computers internal components until I built my
first one from scratch. I think I've learned a lot just from trial and error
and I'm still learning something new all the time. I still have a few
motherboard manuals that have pages falling out from reading them so much :)

Anyway, I have never opened up a macintosh and I wonder what they are
composed of. Can I take any computer, load os-x on it and call it a mac? Or
do macs have proprietary hardware?

I know I can probably find the answers to these questions by doing a quick
search on google (which I'm going to do after I post this), but I'm really
interested in hearing personal opinions from people who have actually built
or repaired macs.
Click to expand...

I haven't built, really used, or owned a Mac (I was near to buying a
vintagy one this summer, but passed).

On the subject, the way I see it is the core OS, and core system
hardware are Apple specific, and avaiable only from Apple, most of the
other bits are more or less not unlike PC parts, unlike PCs, which you
can get from anywhere, and build from anythin, as the OS companies and
the hardware manufacturers are separate companies.
 
do macs have proprietary hardware?
Mac's use CPU's from Motorola and OSX is designed to run on these chips. Windows works with x86 type chips from Intel, AMD and others. It would be nice if OSX would work on an x86 machine. It would add another avenue of competition for Microsoft, keeping them on their toes.

DougH
 
DougH said:
It would be nice if OSX would work on an x86 machine.
It would add another avenue of competition for Microsoft,
keeping them on their toes.
Click to expand...


Given the history of competition with Microsoft and
knowing Microsoft's billions in debt-free cash, who would
want to compete directly with Microsoft, especially using
Microsoft's own business plan?


*TimDaniels*
 
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