Latest Mac OS X Still Not Liking Intel Atom

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Nope, still not working.

So the saga continues. While tinkering around with a developer build of the next version of Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6.2, modders found that netbooks running an Intel Atom processor were unable to boot Apple's latest OS version.

Of course, the only way for anyone to discover this change was if someone was trying to run Mac OS X on a PC-based netbook. Nevertheless, this lead to much speculation that Apple is actively trying to lock out the netbook hackintosh crowd.

Then word came that a newer build of 10.6.2 brought back Atom support, making the modding community feel good and safe again. Sadly, it turns out that newer build was a fake and that the very latest developer seed still doesn't have Atom support – at least not on known hackintosh configurations.

So for now, it seems that hackintosh netbook owners will be living in uncertainty.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • pbrigido
    Surprise surprise...
    Reply
  • christop
    no need for osx
    Reply
  • tayb
    This might make it annoying for people trying to update from 10.6.1 to 10.6.2 but I hardly think it will be an issue with people doing clean installs. If Atom support was there in 10.6.1 it seems like there will be "patched" 10.6.2 version with Atom support up on the torrent sites within days of release.
    Reply
  • JimmiG
    Yeah, it seems every time a company tries to prevent something, people break through and do it anyway. Someone will figure out a way to run it on the Atom CPU, and it won't take long. Why bother though when Win7 is more polished, more stable, faster and supports more software?
    Reply
  • megamanx00
    Just use Linux. Seriously it's not like you're gonna play games or run CS4 on a netbook. If all you're gonna do is watch youtube, surf the net, and maybe do some office apps you're better off with Linux.
    Reply
  • who care who want a crapple operation system anyway its just linux with some mods. but you can get most of those mods thru downloads anyway
    Reply
  • doc70
    Looks like Apple will do anything to keep their POS OS locked only on their H/W. Couldn't care less...
    Serously, why would one want to degrade their netbook with OS X? Even WinXP is better, not to mention Win 7... And if you want to go lite, then Ubuntu.
    I "like" how Marcus uses the word 'hackintosh' repeatedly, as if their owners were some low-life hackers; listen, buddy, if I buy a piece of hardware and a piece of software to put on it, then I can do whatever I want with it, capisci? So don't try to step on our toes when it's not called for!
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    doc70Looks like Apple will do anything to keep their POS OS locked only on their H/W. Couldn't care less...Serously, why would one want to degrade their netbook with OS X? Even WinXP is better, not to mention Win 7... And if you want to go lite, then Ubuntu. I "like" how Marcus uses the word 'hackintosh' repeatedly, as if their owners were some low-life hackers; listen, buddy, if I buy a piece of hardware and a piece of software to put on it, then I can do whatever I want with it, capisci? So don't try to step on our toes when it's not called for!It's called a hackintosh.
    Some people may want OSX on their netbook, and that's their choice.
    Reply
  • bfstev
    doc70Looks like Apple will do anything to keep their POS OS locked only on their H/W. Couldn't care less...Serously, why would one want to degrade their netbook with OS X? Even WinXP is better, not to mention Win 7... And if you want to go lite, then Ubuntu. I "like" how Marcus uses the word 'hackintosh' repeatedly, as if their owners were some low-life hackers; listen, buddy, if I buy a piece of hardware and a piece of software to put on it, then I can do whatever I want with it, capisci? So don't try to step on our toes when it's not called for!hackintosh is just the accepted name for this type of setup using non-apple hardware. He's not insulting your mother or anything, he's simply calling a horse a horse.

    This news is hardly surprising. Did they think the apple engineers would care to support additional hardware they wont see a profit from? Who do they think they are, microsoft?
    Reply
  • DeadCat
    who said mac OS X was better than windows!
    Thank you Win7!
    Reply