Does anyone know if you can buy a Mac motherboard, preferably one that is made for Intel, and build your own Mac. I have been building PC's for a few years, and would like to build a Mac!!!
So sorry, but it is completly impractical to think about "building" a Mac. Even if you can get the necessary parts, you will be shocked at the cost. A mainboard (logic board in Mac-speak) for example can cost in excess of $500 compared with the $150 - 250 for a "state of the art" peecee mainboard from a leading manufacturer. You can check out parts at:
http://applepalace.com/scripts/default.asp
As David indicates, it's not practical. No one but Apple makes Mac parts (at least those parts that makes a Mac a Mac), and Apple doesn't sell them separately. You can sometimes find parts available on the open market, but they're expensive and often not the most current.
So if you want a Mac, it will be by far the most cost-effective to just buy one from Apple.
I don't understand why Apple doesn't sell logic boards separately. I think lots people that currently use Windows computers would consider doing this. I have lots of spare parts. All I would need is the logic board to build one. Other people instead of upgrading their PC, could consider converting to an Apple machine. Once again, I think Apple is making a grave mistake, by not selling parts, and also having the price so high on parts. Without the iPods, I think Apple would have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I think the people at Apple should open their eyes a bit, and see the light.
I'm guessing the answers are 0, Maybe, and
No. Probably the only hardware you could use
would be the hard drive, and then only if
you have a spare SATA lying around. And
proper cooling in the case? That's going
to cost you a few bucks as well.
As for why Apple doesn't sell parts, I
can answer that one simply from my own
professional experence. Our product is
largely a software system but we sell
turnkey systems -- basically an embedded
OS plus the software.
Why? Support costs. If you allow people
to run your software on anything, they'll
try to run it on a 286 running Windows
1.0 ... and then call you when it doesn't
work. That phone call costs the customer
nothing but time [which, if they are running
a 286, they have plenty of], but answering it
costs you money. Scale that up to thousands,
millions of users and it's a huge support cost.
Not to mention compatibility testing required
so that the average customer has an even
chance of the product even working.
So, to keep it simple, to guarantee that the
product works for the customer without driving
yourself bankrupt, you reduce the number of
possible configurations and supply those
configurations yourself.
Because Apple sells computers, not parts. Dell, Sony, Gateway and HP don't sell logic boards either. Why in the world would Apple want all the massive support headaches that would come with selling logic boards to people who would use gosh-only-knows-what parts to assemble a system and then come screaming to Apple when it didn't all work properly?
If you want to build your own system, build a PC. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac.
there are ways to install the apple operating system on an intel computer.... they are not necessarily legal / easy to do.... so I would follow the other people's advice above
If you want to build your own system, build a PC. If
you want a Mac, buy a Mac.
