38 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your Tech Could Do

Apple hasn't yet issued a mini MacBook, but a tiny fashion-oriented laptop would seem even more stylish if it could run the sleek Mac OS X. Good news: Many of the newer netbooks can.

The upside is that you get a trendy OS X netbook that's perfect for Web browsing, light e-mail and other simple, portable tasks. The downside? Certain hardware features might not work, the installation process ranges from annoying to harrowing, and by making the switch you could possibly void your warranty. Plus, you're wading into legal and ethical issues.

Accepting Apple's end-user license agreement means that you agree to use OS X only on Mac hardware. You break that agreement as soon as you install Apple's software on a non-Apple netbook.

Additionally, many of the netbook installation methods discussed on the Internet rely on a pirated, hacked version of Apple's OS with updated hardware drivers. It's illegal to download OS X for this project -- so don't do it. Also, you should be uncomfortable with the potential for hidden surprises lurking within pirated software. What's to stop a nefarious hacker from inserting code to log your passwords?

Using the Apple disc and a little minor trickery, I was able to get my legally purchased copy of OS X to run on a Dell Mini 9 netbook whose original OS was Ubuntu Linux. The general process of getting OS X to run on a PC (explained in detail at Gizmodo) relies on a bootloader disc or USB drive. The bootloader primes the system to recognize the OS X installer, which runs from an external USB or DVD drive.

Depending on your specific netbook, the setup can be finicky. The Dell Mini 9 was the netbook on which I had the most success with the OS X-disc installation -- it does OK as long as it has 8GB of memory -- while most other netbooks would work only with the pirated download. Even after a successful installation, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, audio-in/-out, sleep and certain other features might not work properly. (You might want, or need, to replace certain netbook parts to enable those features.) For more details, see this hardware-compatibility issues chart.

All told, the process – and the uncertain results – are un-Mac-like. But the lure of forbidden fruit is hard to ignore.

A user-account password is important for security, but it's useless if your PC is lost or stolen; a thief could just install your hard drive in another PC instead of trying to boot it up under your name. To block access, add a password to the hard disk.

This process is simpler than encrypting the hard disk, but it can't match encryption's level of security. (Encryption scrambles data so that even if a thief gains access, he probably can't make sense of it.) Think of this action as adding another strong lock.

When prompted at boot, press the key to enter your PC's BIOS (often it's Esc or a function key). Your BIOS menus and names will vary, but the process will be similar. On the Phoenix Technologies BIOS found on many PCs, use the arrow keys to navigate to the Security tab. Press down to highlight HDD Password, and press Enter. Type in the password, being sure to remember it or store it in an encrypted password utility -- if you lose the password, recovering the data could cost a lot of money.

Follow the on-screen commands to exit and save your changes. Now whenever you start the PC, you'll see a prompt to enter the HDD Password first. If you want to remove the password later, return to the BIOS. Revisit the HDD Password setting, enter the current password, and leave the new-password field blank.