Yet Another "Ultimate Hackintosh" Contender?

This is the first that I'll admit I was one of those people who turned (very, very) green with envy and then (very, very) bitter after learning that the Google Cr-48 pilot program was possible only for people living in the US. Not that I was born with super human powers to make sure, had I been living in the US at the time of the project launching, that the odds of my name being picked out by Google people came close to 100% positive.

Fast forward to some time after the said privileged people received their Google cloud computing devices. The minute I saw the 12-incher on youtube vids - some with (very, very) crappy video quality, some good enough, and some ready to blow up my measly 1Mb DSL connection at home, they're that super HD quality - I thought of what any self-respecting hackintosher (or hackintosher-wannabe) in this planent would undoubtedly think of:

Caffeine

applicationsformac.blogspot.com

Even though I'm no longer wildly in love with my MSI Wind U100, as a geek, I just couldn't let it sit there in the living room with only 10.6.4 when 10.6.5 is already out. So in short, after updating my HP Mini MacBook Pro 311 and making sure things are as sweet as a nut, I took the effort and time off in between catching up with my readings for my Sorbonne subjects (it's an on-line program, so basically I'm doing two M.A. programs right now, one from the University of the Philippines Diliman and one from Université de Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle). Now my two hackintoshes are once again equally bleeding edge when it came to updates.

What I thought was sing-song with the MSI Wind actually proved to be not so enticing after a few days with 10.6.5. The main issue:

Office:mac 11 Update 14.0.1

Maybe this update has been available for quite a while now but I only saw or rather chose to notice it today. Motivation to finish up reading on "D5O26 - Analyse des interactions - Cours 2" is running low and my wavering attention was finally snatched away from the academe by the Microsoft Office Updater.

Forbidden

Today I bought my Mini MacBook Pro with me to the office. Or rather, I smuggled it inside the company premises inside a nondescript envelope and thankfully the security guard at the door didn't suspect anything. FYI, we're not allowed to bring in laptops and DSLR cameras. For other gadget necessities like cellphones and iPods, we get a gatepass for them every start of the year.

iPhoto '11 Sluggish On the HP Mini 311

Since upgrading to iLife '11, I've been seeing more beach balls than I'm accustomed to in my whole HP Mini 311 hackintosh journey.

Torn

I just saw this posted at a local PC buy and sell forum which is quite reputable here in the Philippines. At last the new MacBook Airs are beginning to get mainstream; meaning we now get to have other price options than the standard Php 51,9990 tag price endorsed by Apple premium sellers. And who won't be happy to see that the base config 11" MacBook Air can be had at Php 45,700 which though exorbitant compared to PC ultraportable contemporaries, is still more consumer-friendly than the aforementioned Apple suggested retail price.

But then, look at 13" MacBook Pro's price tag: Php 56,000 instead of the normal Php 61,990. It has 4GB RAM and well, it's a MacBook Pro.

Busy Weekend

Last night, I just got stuck in the worst traffic jam in the history of my life! I was on a bus, on my way home and excited to get to my Mini 311 but the entire universe seemed to conspire against me and I came home at past 8:00 PM instead of 6:00 PM. And that's after walking a good kilometer or so and passing by the root of this disaster: an electrical post suspended at a 45 degree angle from the ground. It fell down for some reason and only 1/3 of the road was still clear for passing through. I joined the walking throng of men, women, children who got fed up with waiting and decided it was better trying to gain the next town on foot for fear of spending the entire night in their cars, jeepneys, buses and what not.

Toshiba 8GB USB Flashdrive = Software Restore USB à la MBA

So last time I told you about my (on-going) disappointment with my work PC about its stupid audio driver issue with Windows 7 - remember that I bought that A4Tech headset? Uh-huh. Guess what?

Makes Me Miss My Hackintosh

I'm supposed to have a voice chat with a new Japanese friend - my aunt tutors her in English but she studies French as her major in a university in Japan (I don't know which uni just as yet). So I got me a generic A4Tech headset, an HS-7P so says the packaging, for around $8. Not bad. I thought I could use the opportunity to brush up on my spoken French as well - it's weird that my confidence in speaking the language comes out only on DALF exams and I don't have the luxury of waiting for the exam periods nor the money to shell out for registration. 

I am saving for a real Mac. And who knows maybe this stint (of teaching a japonaise some French) could earn me some moolah to add to my funds?

And so I was pretty excited this morning but all that vanished in the instant Skype call test didn't return my cat-crooning vocal exercise because it turned out that my mic wasn't working.

Off I went to check Device Manager (Uh-huh, I'm doing this on my work PC, model employee, aren't I?) only to find this shoved at my face:

Battery, Oh Battery !

Ok, so my D-group's discussion topic's title was "Martha, Oh Martha!" and I'm guilty of copying that. But I didn't mean no harm and with the recent plagiarism fandango with the Supreme Court, my hands are clear of the accusation. If I even have a correct notion of plagiarism.

But enough of that and let's move on to a more scrupulous (to use this favorite adjective of Filipino ex-military-turned-politicians, there are quite a ton of them) matter with my make-do MacBook.

You see, I've installed Coconut Battery and here's where things run pell-mell:

According to the screenshot above, my HP Mini 311's battery has deteriorated. Normal, you'd say since it's what's expected of a machine that's soon to turn one before this year ends. I know that and that's not what I find intriguing.

After the Lengthy (and Expensive) Journey

The image above reads as: EeePC 701, EeePC 900A, MSI Wind U100, HP Mini 1001TU, and last (I certainly do hope it is the last) HP Mini 311-1002TU.