I just heard about "Hackintoshes" yesterday.

I'm VERY curious, help me understand by answering some of my noob questions please.

A hackintosh is basically a pc (either pre-built or self-built) that has apple motherboards or some other hardware that is compatibile and allows you to run Mac OS. Correct?

So if that's true, in theory I can build that 8,000 Mac Pro for much cheaper (and perhaps more powerful) with equal or similiar enough parts? How much is it the same as a Mac Pro?

And I can run Mac software such as Logic, Garage band and etc. on this? Bootcamp?

Is this illegal? lol serious question.
I'd figure that hardware compatibility is probably what causes the most issues?
The OS is hacked (as the name implies), therefore; there's no automatic upgardes/patches from apple correct?


So..what's beautiful about this is that you have access to Windows AND Mac software (bootcamp), much cheaper, and the ability to upgrade and customize your hardware like normal pc's!

Anything else? Thanks for any comments or more information

First stop

Code:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL

And I can run Mac software such as Logic, Garage band and etc. on this? Bootcamp?

Somewhere in insanelymac labyrinth someone build a Pro Tools Rig (I believe his name is VooD). My system can run Final Cut Studio 2 and Adobe Suite.
Bootcamp??? What you need it for?

The OS is hacked (as the name implies), therefore; there's no automatic upgardes/patches from apple correct?

If you manage to build machine that can run Vanilla Kernel, updates from Apple Software Updates menu work flawlessly (except some report about their audio, sleep, wireless not working - but there's a work around about this).

So..what's beautiful about this is that you have access to Windows AND Mac software (bootcamp), much cheaper, and the ability to upgrade and customize your hardware like normal pc's!

Correct!!! still confuse though with bootcamp thing
But not like normal PC absolute. Not all VGA supported, not mentioned Onboard audio, Wireless LAN, etc. Check at link I gave you

So if you want to build your OSX Hack machine from scratch look at the link above, find that say "Vanilla Working". After that be patience enough to do a lot of reading.

I want bootcamp because of the access and flexibility to BOTH softwares just in case, but true Mac OSX will dominate mostly

AFAIK, in Mac OS X you want to access bootcamp by rebooting your machine. In Hackintosh you can always do that by dual boot. While Mac OS X need to update your bootcamp drivers to meet latest requirement of windows in Hackintosh machine you don't need that because, well, it;s windows machine

Also in Mac OS X you have solution like Parallels Desktop, VM Ware or freeware Virtual Box to run both OS X and Windows simultaneously.

Is this as complicated as it sounds? Is it worth it?