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Thread: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

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    Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Hi There!

    I currently have an HP Windows 7 laptop. but i am getting tired of it and planning on buying a Macbook as my next laptop.

    But how do i "make" my laptop feel & look like an Apple Mac. everything from the desktop shortcuts on the bottom of the main screen, one-click apps startup, one-button startup & shutdown, how the windows close or shrink and multi-screen desktops. (if possible)

    as a separate question...what is the Windows equivalent of a Macbook Pro?

    any advice please...?

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Quote Originally Posted by gino_76ph View Post
    as a separate question...what is the Windows equivalent of a Macbook Pro?
    Huh?

    Windows equivalent of a Macbook Pro with Mac OS X is a Macbook Pro with Windows installed.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    There are so many Windows PC's its hard to say, what are you after? what do you want to do on the machine? do you care about looks more than the actual hardware?

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    What i want:

    1. quick-boot/shutdown
    2. SSD-type hard drive
    3. future-proof with Thunderbolt I/O
    4. slim, sleek & sexy and silver
    5. lightweight

  7. #5
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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    The Lenovo U300S is pretty decent, no thunderbolt though.



    Comes in silver and orange, much, much cooler than a MPB and has 2 fans, has an SSD, Spill proof keyboard, awesome warranty, also very very light.

    Also has the best keyboards, read any review and you will see that Lenovo laptops have the best keyboards around

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Rocketdock, Rainmeter and all the rest of it I guess.

    I wouldn't bother though. Buying a Mac is tacky enough, pretending you've got one when your laptop has an HP logo on it is horrific.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    I want to try something else other than an HP or Dell.

    I'm alos looking for the one that has a cool multitouch trackpad like the Macbook Pro.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    TBH when people say they want a Mac, nothing will dissuade them other than owning one for a while.
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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Yup, if you want a mac, get a mac.

    If you want a premium laptop that's faster and nicer for the same price, try a Dell XPS 15z. Then just change the windows options to mirror the things you want (windows 7 does all the things you mentioned so far). Thunderbolt is a propitiatory mac thing no? So if that's a requirement, you need a mac. We have USB3 on PC at the moment.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    You could use a Windows 7 skin that makes it run and look like a Mac, right down to the dock at the bottom :

    http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/22/mac-theme-for-windows-7/

    Either that or buy a Mac and install Windows on it so it can dual boot between the different OS. There are ways to create a Hackintosh but it violates the EULA and could lead to prosecution by Apple (The way they have been suing everyone this year, not really worth it), basically you are not allowed to install Mac OS on any machine other than Mac

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Quote Originally Posted by gino_76ph View Post
    I want to try something else other than an HP or Dell.

    I'm alos looking for the one that has a cool multitouch trackpad like the Macbook Pro.
    Pretty much every laptop has a multi touch trackpad, If it were me i would go for something like the Thinkpad X1, T420s or T420

    Thats the laptops im considering for my next upgrade. I agree with Giving Hell and HP a miss

    https://www.lenovo.com/products/us/l...d/x-series/x1/

    Give the demo a watch, shows what pretty much all thinkpads do/have

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    If i can get away with NOt buying a Macbook (Pro) then i will due to financial reasons. if i can get away with having a better laptop with a Macbook pro then again why not.

    I just want to know how can i "streamline" my laptop PC to look, feel & function like a Mac.

    like for instance:

    1. partitioning a hard drive - the Mac uses a slider to easily partition. with Windows its a bit fiddly and too techy. is there an easier and faster way to partition a hard drive?

    2. the bottom taskbar on the main homescreen - with a Mac it can be crowded with loads of them shortcuts. with Windows i noticed you're only limited to some. how can i make the taskbar like that of a Mac i.e. the look of a Mac taskbar, the ability to put lots of shortcuts, etc.? basically not much clutter.

    3. widgets and apps - i heard that when you install widgets it just adds more clutter thus slowing the RAM and whole system down unlike a Mac. is this true? and where can i download Windows widgets that doesn't look cluttery and doesn't uses memory/slows down the system?

    4. dual boot - can i use Mac OS X to dual boot my Windows laptop? would that "confuse" my device?

    5. Mission Control - this is one of Mac's wonders. it's like tab browsing but only diffrent homescreens. very easy and smooth to do on a Mac. can a Windows laptop do that?

    6. one-button thing - i want my programmes and softwares to start-up very quickly and only with a one-button mouse click. how do i do that with Windows?

    7. start-up & shutdown? - how can i make my Windows laptop boot-up quick in under say 10 seconds like a Mac? and shutdown very quickly? (without having to go to the Windows icon)

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Quote Originally Posted by gino_76ph View Post
    3. widgets and apps - i heard that when you install widgets it just adds more clutter thus slowing the RAM and whole system down unlike a Mac. is this true? and where can i download Windows widgets that doesn't look cluttery and doesn't uses memory/slows down the system?

    If it's running, then it's slowing the system down. Wouldn't surprise me if it's another Mac lie, but you can't run software without using up resources, even if they're called 'widgets'.

    4. dual boot - can i use Mac OS X to dual boot my Windows laptop? would that "confuse" my device?

    Come again? You can use Bootcamp to dual boot Windows and Mac on an Apple computer, or you can dual boot Windows and Hackintosh on a PC. Except it probably won't work and you'll be harpooned by a moderator, so the less said about that the better.

    6. one-button thing - i want my programmes and softwares to start-up very quickly and only with a one-button mouse click. how do i do that with Windows?

    It's called quick launch in XP and Vista, and comes as standard on the taskbar in Windows 7. Or Rocketdock if you find the Windows task bar offensive for some reason.

    7. start-up & shutdown? - how can i make my Windows laptop boot-up quick in under say 10 seconds like a Mac? and shutdown very quickly? (without having to go to the Windows icon)

    You can't. And will a Mac really do that, or do they just say it will. If you're that bothered, get yourself a ludicrously quick SSD, sleep instead of shutting down, and if finding the shutdown button really irks you that much write a .bat script with the command shutdown -s -t 0 and put it on the taskbar for instant access.
    Have you actually tried out a Mac in the shops or something? Your questions seem a little peculiar.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    No you wont get harpooned by a mod over Hackintosh! I would suggest though that you have a read of the Hackintosh website as it is a very specific thing you are asking. Most users weigh up pro's and cons between PC & Mac and go for one or the other. You are wanting to do a hybrid type thing and there is only so much knowledge we can put forward on this subject.

    However, when you buy an Apple OS it is in the End User License that you wont use that OS on any machine other than a Mac basically. So if you go ahead and do it you could end up being prosecuted by Apple.

    As for it working or not, it can be tricky. The Macs have a specific bios for recognising parts, even if you can get the same part for a Windows based machine at a cheaper price you couldnt put it in a Mac, just wont work. So you could create a hackintosh, but success could vary, certain things have a very good chance of not being recognised and therfore not work or have any chance of working.

    You can actually set your mouse to single click to open files in Windows. In XP and earlier versions of Windows you did have that option in Mouse in Control Panel. Unfortunately that has now gone (or its been moved and I cant find it, never had the need to use it), however, you can do a work around to set it up :

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...e-disable.html

    You are allowed to dual boot with Windows on a Mac, weird I know that it is allowed the other way. Its just down to Apples End User Licences on their software. You can get Microsoft Office for example for Mac, pretty expensive piece of software which you can get either online from the Apple site or in an Apple store. Its literally all down to Apple with their software and how it is used.

    If you are wanting Windows to boot quicker replace your Hard disc with an SSD. Easiest way to explain this is that a SSD is like an array of memory chips (similar in the way memory cards in mobile phones work). Booting from a standard Hard Drive takes longer as an arm in the mechanics has to move over the disc, find the required files then read the files and load stuff up that way. With a SSD there are no mechanical parts so the data can be accessed and processed quicker.

    A lot of these questions you have, granted we can answer them. But there is a world of info out there. You can do virtually anything you want with your PC. Mod it to the exact way you want it. The single click site I have linked took a few minutes on Google to find. I'm not saying that the community dont want to help, its just that you are being given answers and then presenting yet more questions.

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Quote Originally Posted by Ferral View Post
    You can get Microsoft Office for example for Mac, pretty expensive piece of software which you can get either online from the Apple site or in an Apple store.
    When I bought Office for Mac it cost me less than for Windows. (Student versions £35 (2011) v £40(2010))

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    Re: Make your PC look & feel like a Macbook

    Yeah but the full standard version not the student edition costs a considerable amount more.

    I was also making a point about Microsoft doing software for Mac but Apple not allowing their software on anything but Mac. Was just an example in the point I was making. For a student and family pack direct from Apple which is 3 licenses costs £110 (About the same for the Windows version), for a single license of Home & Business version it costs £190. So in all fairness it depends on the version you actually get. If you buy it from Apple those are the prices on their site. If you shop around though you can get each version a little cheaper. I should imagine that students would be able to get a subsidised version from the university they are studying at and get a single license cheaper still.

    http://store.apple.com/uk/search?find=microsoft+office

    Either way thats by the by. The OP has asked about Mac OS on PC hardware or setting up Windows to run like Mac.

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