David Flynn11 November 2009, 3:59 PM
Mac OS X 1.0.6.2 update brings a swift Snow Leopardy death to Hackintosh netbooks running Intel’s Atom processor.
Couldn’t wait for Apple to release a netbook, so you bought your own and hacked it to run OS X?
Then you’d better wait before updating the OS, as Apple’s latest Snow Leopard 10.6.2 no longer supports the Atom processor found in almost all netbooks.
Owners of Atom netbooks which have been modified to run OS X are reporting that the 10.6.2 update released yesterday puts the little laptop into a reboot loop.
Leaked ‘developer seed’ beta builds of 10.6.2 were spotty in their support for the Atom – some worked perfectly, others exhibited the same Hackintosh-attacking behaviour.
The original Snow Leopard 10.6 OS played nicely with Intel’s Atom processor, so some Apple watchers are seeing this shift as a sign that Apple is moving closer to releasing its own uber-portable device, although this remains tipped to be a touchscreen tablet along the lines of a super-sized iPod Touch rather than a netbook.
Of course, Apple
could also be planning a pint-sized ‘MacBook Mini’ to slot in beneath the 13.3 inch MacBook.
Or this could all just be a fit of Jobsian pique.