Cheating on your Mac

One of my favorite gadgets is my hackintoshed Dell Mini 9 netbook, the only problem with it is the awful Dell logo on the lid.

As it turns out, there's a vibrant modder community that has taken the problem into their own hands.

A fellow DM9 enthusiast and hackintosh afficionado "tycho" writes about the trend to hide the fact that you're running non-Apple hardware:

I know you've been writing a lot about the technical and legal and market angles on the Dell Mini hackintosh trend but I think there's an interesting spin: how people love the hackintosh but hate the non-Apple Brand.

There is a huge demand for custom Apple stickers for covering the Dell logo on OS X netbooks. People are going so far as to buy the clear plastic apple from MacBook Pro lids to do custom Apple mods. They get them to light up like a Mac does by cutting the Mini 9 lid and allowing the LED backlight shine through.

I think there's an article in there about brand loyalty and the fact that mac lovers are willing to "cheat" on Apple while at the same time wanting to retain the "cool" aspect of rocking Apple products in public. Especially "Apple" products that most people have no idea about like the Hackintosh netbooks....

It's more of a psychology of the Apple brand and the those who will go to extreme lengths to stay in the mac camp, even as they are forced to venture outside the Mac hardware tent to have the products that they want.

I think would be an interesting commentary on the side effects of cross platform branding.

Tons of companies offer vinyl lid decals and my personal favorite is Unique Skins, which is about my speed. I don't have the patience and time to do some of the crazy light-up and LCD Apple logo mods, but I still love them nonetheless.

Are you be embarassed to use a Dell in public?