Custom-built "Hackintosh"

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Within the next week, I will be getting a custom built "Hackintosh" from a friend, which is capable of running Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Windows, or Linux.

## Specs ##
CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3rd Generation, 3.10 GHz;

RAM: Corsair 32 GB DDR3 1600;

GPU: Intel HD Graphics 2500;

128 GB Solid-State Drive;

Comes with a 28" monitor. The least impressive feature is the graphics processor, but I could always buy a better one, such as nvidia geforce (especially for gaming). This machine is a freakin' beast, and I probably will never use -- much less *need* -- that much RAM. But I'm sure it will be a great pleasure to have.

That's a lot of ram and not a lot of anything else... =P

Also 128 GB for three OS's?

Sounds like fun. The problem with booting multiple OSes for me was always that I was always running the wrong one. I like virtual machines better. But the Mac is hard to run in a VM.

Intel core i5-3450, 3.10 GHz...that's a lot of processing power...

I didn't say I was actually going to run all three OSs, but just that the machine is capable of running them. I'm probably only going to have Mac OS X on it, and use my current computer for Linux and (maybe, but not likely) Windows. 128 GB is enough, especially since it's a solid state drive (which are much better than regular HDDs and more expensive too).
Solid-state drive - Wikipedia

Not sure if you're familiar with the U.S. system of measurements, but a 28" monitor is huge. It's (approx.) equal to 71.1 centimeters.

I imagine you'll have another drive for storing data, right?

Whew, 32gb of ram? Just be careful when/if you do upgrade your GPU because based on some rough calculations, that much ram should draw almost 100W when in use which is almost what my Radeon Geforce 6870 draws. Make sure you have, at least, a 600W power supply in there before upgrading. That said, I understand that most games won't even use more than 8 gigs of the ram. Edit: forgot to say but, very cool setup!

Your advice has been noted. Thank you, and I will definitely be mindful of that.

Yea, SSDs are nice. Kinda thinking about getting one for myself. My only concern about the size is Windows, it uses a lot of space after what I know.

The use of " (inches? ) is the standard for monitors worldwide. Don't really know why, really think the metric system should be standard. But yeah, huge monitors are nice, especially for programming. No screen's ever big enough for programming ; )

Yes, Windows is a hog when it comes to disk space, among countless other inconvenient features, such as the necessity of defragmentation (compared with Linux and Mac).

I agree with this too. The US system of measurements is stupid and gives one the impression that it is made by illiterate people who lack any ability to count, even to 10.

So you're using this for coding, then? Bear in mind that bigger monitors are not necessarily the best for the job... especially if the resolution doesn't change!

1080p just looks worse and worse as it gets bigger.

If your code is all running down the left side of the screen, unless you're running multiple windows (do they still call 'em that on a mac?) that screen real-estate is wasted.

For running long lists of text, I actually prefer my older professional IPS 4:3 monitors running in tall/portrait mode.
(not my machine!)

The Intel HD2500 is surprisingly good for everything (except high-res modern gaming.) No worries, you can always get another card later for that.

Screen size is a matter of preferance IMO. But yea, you will want a bigger resolution than 1080p for big screens. Especially whe using an IDE like Visual Studio with lots of panels besides the actual test, screen size is very much needed.

But I do kinda like the idea of using a screen in portrait mode for plain text editors like Vim since it does not let me see a whole lot of code at once.

I think it would also be neat to be able to split the screen vertically, especially if you have a really wide screen. If there was a way to turn my one monitor into two monitors that would be awesome.

Easy as pie in Win7. WindowKey Left fills the left half of the screen with your active window, same for Win-Right. Very handy!

Ah, I see. But is that just tiling the windows? Or does it actually have one workspace for each side? Not sure if you're familiar with the concept of workspaces, but they are very popular among Mac and Linux users. In Mac you can set them under the Expose and Spaces menu, and in Linux they are usually set by default. I think they are only possible in Windows if you install a 3rd party application, unless what you said about the WindowKey Left/Right pertains to workspaces and not tiled windows.

It's not a separate workspace, it just moves and re-sizes the window. So yeah, you'd have to install a 3rd party application if you want workspaces.

I agree - don't think your HDD is big enough for OS's PLUS space you'll need for normal file storage. I'd look at around 500 gigs without knowing much else about your rig, but 320 gigs would be a low threshold for me.