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Comment by Matt Suppa on September 23, 2012 at 8:47pm

Ian, thanks for your help too. Doing the Snow Leopard updates now (but only up to 10.6.7 per your recommendation...

Comment by Matt Suppa on September 20, 2012 at 9:20am

Ian, thanks again for the insights and recommendations. If 10.6.7 is stable and easy to install, those are two things that I know will make it an enjoyable hacking experience (and result in a solid, usable computer for my wife's travel blog)...

Comment by Ian stephenson on September 19, 2012 at 1:56pm

The instructions you link to are pretty out of date. With the final version of netbookmaker you more or less install from the original CD. Check the MyDellMini website for more up to date instructions.

Comment by Ian stephenson on September 19, 2012 at 1:54pm

10.7 and 10.8 require 64bit support, and the Atom cpu just can't do it. 10.6 Snow Leopard runs great, and is a very usable machine for light work - I got myself one when they came out simply because they're far more mobile than the MacBook Pro I had as my main machine at the time.

Some people have managed to get 10.6.8 running but it requires jumping through a few extra hoops, and results are mixed. 10.6.7 is solid, and a pretty easy install. If you get the latest version of NetBookMaker it's actually easier than installing XP on them (I tried it once - never again!). The differences between 10.6.7 and 10.6.8 are so minimal that the lack of 10.6.8 is more frustrating in principle than in practise.

Comment by Matt Suppa on September 19, 2012 at 11:36am

Thanks, Ian! I thought it would be a fun experience to do with my son and also more useful as a netbook. I had high hopes for getting it to 10.8! Oh well, no Mountain Lion for me I guess, wrong chipset, eh? How about to 10.6.8? That ought to work no?

Comment by Ian stephenson on September 19, 2012 at 10:51am

Great for kids. They run OS X far better than they ever ran XP provided you can live with 10.6.7. Great range of colours too - my daughter has the pink one.