Building a DIY Apple netbook

Waiting for Apple to finally release a netbook? Don't hold your breath.

All signs point to it being a long time before Cupertino delivers the small, light and cheap notebook that are so popular with the kids these days. In the mean time, simply go out and create your own.

Gizmodo has published a tutorial on how to create the ultimate, no compromises DIY Apple netbook. But on top of a Dell Mini 9, this netbook has everything, including Wi-Fi, sound, function keys, integrated mobile broadband card and a SD card reader for good measure. Boing Boing has posted a handy chart of what features work on which surrogate netbook hardware and the Dell Mini wins the day.

Be warned though, your're building a Hackintosh and it involves bending the rules of Apple's Mac OS X EULA to get to the promised land. At around $400 though, it does seem rather tempting.

Go get some before Apple releases the hounds (like they did to Wired when they published their Hackintosh/netbook tutorial).

Photo: Gizmodo