A handful of Chinese companies have been pumping out cheap knockoffs of the Macbook Air for at least a year or two. These notebooks tend to be thin, light, and feature keyboards and touchpads that look an awful lot like those on a certain pricey machine from Apple. But they also tend to be loaded up with Windows or Linux and bogged down by a relatively slow Intel Atom processor rather than the speedy Core 2o Duo CPU found in a Macbook Air.

Still, with the Air starting at $1499, it’s easy to see the appeal of these cheap lookalikes, which are often available in China and a handful of other locales for the equivalent of $400 or less. Now Shanzai.com is featuring the first-person account of someone who went the extra step and turned his knockoff into a real (kinda) Macbook by installing OS X.

The MacBook Air clone in question came from a store in the Philippines. It features a 13 inch display, Intel Atom N280 CPU, and GMA 950 graphics as well as a 3 cell, 3500mAh battery. Out of the box the WiFi card wouldn’t work with OS X Snow Leopard, but it was relatively easy to swap out the wireless card for a compatible model.

The end result is a $400 machine that’s pretty much a fully functional Mac. Of course, that’s not counting the price of OS X, which Apple doesn’t officially sanction installing on third party hardware. And the touchpad doesn’t work exactly that same was as a typical MacBook touchpad since there’s no support for two-finger gestures. You can see the laptop in action in the video after the break.

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When Apple released OS X 10.6.2 last week, the company offer Mac users a number of bug fixes and security updates. Apple also broke support for Intel Atom processors. It’s not clear whether this was intentional or just a side effect of the fact that Apple doesn’t currently have any devices that use the CPU and therefore no reason to test the chipset’s compatibility with OS updates. What is clear is that netbook users that were running OS X on so-called hackintoshes found that upgrading to OS X 10.6.2 basically caused their computers to go into an endless reboot loop.

The easiest way around this was to simply not update to OS X 10.6.2. Some users also figured out how to roll back to an earlier version of the OS X kernel, keeping some of the benefits of OS X 10.6.2 without destroying Atom support.

Now there’s another way. A Russian hacker developed a kernel patch that lets users update safely to 10.6.2.

Bear in mind, this trick is not supported by Apple or your PC manufacturer. So you have nobody to blame if you brick your system. But the same is pretty much true for installing OS X on an Intel Atom powered netbook in the first place, so if you’re still reading this you probably didn’t need my warning.

via TUAW and Insanely Mac

As you may have heard, OS X 10.6.2 kills Atom powered netbooks dead. It’s not clear whether this was an intentional move by Apple to keep people from installing the operating system on netboks, or if it’s just a side effect of the fact that Apple has absolutely no reason to support the Atom chipset since the company doesn’t have a single product using the Atom processor.

If you were one of the folks that decided to try upgrading your hackintosh netbook from OS X 10.6.1 to 10.6.2 anyway, you’ve probably noticed that your computer now gets stuck in a feedback loop when you try to boot it. But don’t worry. There is a way out of this mess. Basically, you can roll back the kernel to the 10.6.1 kernel and keep many of the other updates featured in OS X 10.6.2 by following a series of steps posted at the MyDellMini forum.

If you haven’t upgraded yet, you might just want to wait a few weeks instead of trying to do a partial (non-kernel) upgrade, since the developer of the NetbookInstaller application that makes loading OS X onto netbooks easier says that he expects a kernel fix in a few weeks that will allow patient OS X netbook enthusiasts to move forward with the latest version of OS X Snow Leopard.

Apple pushed out OS X 10.6.2 today, and while the latest Snow Leopard update fixes a whole slew of bugs, it introduces one major problem for netbook hackintosh builders: It doesn’t seem to work with the Intel Atom processor.

It’s not clear whether Apple would have intentionally broken Atom support in this release to discourage people from installing the operating system on netbooks. But Atom compatibility is clearly not a high priority for Apple since the company doesn’t make any products that use the processor.

There had been some reports over the past week or so that pre-release builds of OS X 10.6.2 did or didn’t work with Atom. But it looks like the final build that was released today falls into the not-working category.

It’s very possible, (perhaps even inevitable) that sooner or later a hacker will figure out some way to modify the OS to support Atom powered netbooks. But for right now, if you have OS X installed on your netbook, you’ll probably want to hold off on downloading the update.

Update: In case you were wondering what kind of errors you would get if you did try installing OS X 10.6.2 on a netbook, MyDellMini forum member Crisu reports that the computer fails to boot and then tries rebooting… over and over again. Sounds like fun, no? via OS X Daily

Update 2: And now you can see the endless reboot cycle for yourself thanks to molder. The video is embedded after the break.

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Here are a few interesting tidbits found on the web today:

OS X 10.6.2 probably will work on Atom-powered netbooks

The other day the blogosphere was aflutter with the news that OS X 10.6.2 seemed to kill support for the Intel Atom processor, which would mean that virtually every netbook on the market would be unable to run the upcoming version of Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system. Well, it turns out that the latest developer build brings back Atom support, so the crisis appears to be averted… or maybe it never really existed. Either way, this is good news.

via Gizmodo

Laptop Magazine celebrates the Eee PC’s 2nd birthday

I probably would have missed this one if Laptop Magazine didn’t remind me, but it was just over two years ago that Asus introduce the Eee PC 701, which was the first consumer-oriented netbook. I picked one up on day one and have never looked back.

At the time nobody was calling it a netbook. It was just a little computer with a 7 inch screen and a sub-$400 price tag. Two years later there are literally hundreds of tiny computers with 7 to 12 inch displays and low price tags that are in many ways direct descendants.

Those crazy kids at Laptop Magazine decided to throw a birthday party, complete with cake and party hates, just like they did last year.

And just for nostalgia’s sake, I’ll post my original unboxing video of the Eee PC 701 after the break. It’s the first unboxing video I ever posted to YouTube, and it also features the first cameo appearance from Laney the cat.

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Update: It looks like this was a false alarm. A new developer build of OS X 10.6.2 brings back support for Atom processors.

Over the past two years pretty much every major PC maker with the exception of Apple has released a netbook. Most of them use Intel Atom processors. And you know what? It turns out it’s actually not that difficult to install Apple’s OS X operating system on most of those Atom-powered netbooks. The folks at Boing Boing even maintain a chart showing which netbooks are most compatible with the operating system.

But it looks like that could be about to change, because there are reports that OS X 10.6.2 will feature a number of changes in the way the operating system interacts with the CPU — and one effect is that the new version of OS X will not work with machines using Intel Atom processors.

It’s not clear whether this is an intentional move by Apple to discourage people from installing OS X on netbooks or if it’s just a side effect related to other changes. OS X 10.6.2 isn’t officially available yet, but it’s in the hands of some developers already, and according to StellaRolla, netbook hackintoshers may want to stick with version 10.6.1 when the update is available. If you’re using OS X Leopard 10.5.8, there’s  a goo change you’ll want to hold off on updating to 10.5.9 when that update is out, as it’s likely to have problems as well.

Of course, the OSx86 community is full of hackers with bright ideas, so this may just be a temporary roadbump for hackintosh netbook enthusiasts. But it’s too early to say for sure.

via Engadget and OS X Daily

Want an 11.6 inch mini-laptop with high performance graphics, and the ability to run OS X? It looks like the HP Mini 311 fits the bill.

HP sells this laptop for $399 and up with Windows. But the brave, the daring, the EULA-disregarding OS X hackers of the world have discovered that you can coax the Mac operating system to run on the HP Mini 311, leaving you with a thin and light OS X-powered laptop with an Intel Atom processor, an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and NVDIA GeForce 9400M graphics.

The HP Mini 311 has only been available for a few weeks, and the OS X hacking is still a work in progress. The high resolution display and graphics are supported and Bluetooth, the card reader, Ethernet, and webcam all work. But sound, WiFi, and sleep/resume functions are another story.

via MyMacbookMini

It’s no secret that Mac OS X runs reasonably well on a number of Intel Atom powered netbooks with GMA 950 graphics. But finding a good set of instructions for installing the operating system is key. The folks at MyMacbookMini are putting together a series of guides for installing OS X on HP branded netbooks. Right now there are two guides online for the HP Mini 1000, one for installing OS X 10.5 Leopard and the other for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. It’s worth pointing out that suspend/resume functions aren’t supported in the Snow Leopard guide yet.

MyMacbookMini is a new site from the folks that brought us MyHPMini, a popular forum and blog for all things HP Mini-related.

In order to install OS X on a netbook you’ll need a full OS X installation disc or disc image, which I’m going to assume you paid for. But you should still know that Apple doesn’t look too kindly on installing its operating system on unsupported hardware… like netbooks from HP.

While the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v may not be as easy to install OS X on as the Inspiron Mini 9, the newer model ges pretty decent scores in Boing Boing Gadgets’ OS X compatibility chart. So if you’re looking for a $350 mini-laptop to turn into a Macbook Mini, this netbook will do about as good as any. Of course, you can’t really just walk into a store and pick up an Inspiron Mini 10v with OS X preloaded. You’ll have to install it yourself.

But that hasn’t stopped one Best Buy from sticking a Mini 10v with OS X installed on display in a retail store, next to a tag that clearly states the computer runs Windows XP. Whether this is the work  of a rogue Best Buy employee or the result of someone returning a hacked netbook that accidentally got turned into a floor sample is unclear. But it’s pretty funny either way.

via Gizmodo

I like to think the Liliputing Product Database is one of the best resources for anyone looking to compare the specs of dozens of netbooks. But if you’re a member of the subset of netbook users who purchase little laptops running Windows or Linux in the hopes of wiping the operating system and installing OS X, the Boing Boing Gadgets OS X netbook compatibility chart is remarkably helpful.

The chart lets you know which features work on which netbooks. For example, when you install OS X on some laptops, you’ll have audio and video support, but no WiFi. On others, the opposite is the case.

This week Boing Boing updated the chart with a few new netbook models. The long and short of it is that you’ll probably have the best luck with a Dell Inspiron Mini 9, Dell Vostro A90, Asus Eee PC 1000H, or HP Mini 1000. Unfortunately, all of these models are either discontinued or in the process of being phased out in favor of newer models. On the bright side, that means you can find a number of deals on these netbooks if you’re willing to pick up a refurbished model or a used laptop from eBay.

Today Gizmodo put together a handy supplement to the Boing Boing chart, which has a few more details about some of the most OS X-friendly netbooks, along with pricing information and links to OS X installation guides.

Have you tried installing OS X on a netbook? Which one? And what has your experience been like? Let us know in the comments.