[tehwalrus]

I've never had a "real" reason to use OS X over anything else, only convenience (numerical programming in Python, works pretty much everywhere, slightly easier on Linux in fact) - Thus, if I were in this situation I'd hack together a cheap Linux box (of which I have...three lying around the flat now, including old laptops) and work on that for a few months while waiting for a new release (more likely, saving up for the new release.)

That said, if I had to work on OS X, hackintosh would probably have appealed to me (if I was spending my own money on the hardware and needed a good GPU.) Thanks for thoroughly disabusing me of this preference!