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Apr 12, 2001
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Unauthorized Mac clone manufacturer Psystar remains embroiled in legal battle with Apple after initiating sales of their first Mac clone back in April 2008. ZDNet Asia summarizes the case today which remains in the discovery process:
Psystar emerged a year ago as a small independent system builder, the likes of which can be found in any medium-sized town in the United States. What provoked the interest and ire of the Mac community was Psystar's decision to ship so-called "white box" systems with Mac OS preinstalled alongside systems with Windows Vista and Linux, in defiance of Apple's licensing policies for that operating system.
The legal battle hasn't kept Psystar from continuing to sell their Mac OS X compatible machines and even introduce new models including rackmount servers.

With all the recent attention on the netbook market, one curious reader asked Psystar if they had plans to introduce a Mac OS X "netbook" in the future. Pystar's response confirmed that did have a mobile Mac computer in development. This unannounced product may simply be an extension of their laptop initiative that has previously been revealed. Any sort of miniaturized laptop, however, could be very appealing to a certain segment of the Apple's installed base.

Since Apple has neglected this market, running Mac OS X on existing netbooks has become a popular hobby. BoingBoing charts which netbooks can run OS X (though not without some difficulties). Apple has been rumored to be working on their own version of a netbook possibly with the inclusion of a touch screen.

Article Link: Psystar Working on Mac OS X Netbook?
 
Boy do I like competition. :) Let's see what comes out of this. I'm also curious to see what's been going on with the litigation re: the desktops...
 
I doubt they will make anything that compares to the solution Apple comes up with, but this will for sure give users the chance to get an OS X netbook without going through the hackintosh of say a Dell Mini.
 
I doubt they will make anything that compares to the solution Apple comes up with, but this will for sure give users the chance to get an OS X netbook without going through the hackintosh of say a Dell Mini.

Well, sure, but I'll take one for half the price anyday of the week, especially if Apple's new "netbook" comes with Mobile OS X.
 
I doubt they will make anything that compares to the solution Apple comes up with, but this will for sure give users the chance to get an OS X netbook without going through the hackintosh of say a Dell Mini.

The problem is exactly that: Apple did not come with any solution. The netbook market is a segment Apple is not interested in, or at least that's what they have said many times. I wouldn't buy a Psystar for over 1000 dollars because I am not sure of how good they are, plus I have real Mac options, more expensive, but better.
But a 300-400 dollars netbook, with no option from Apple, could be the answer mac users have been waiting for: there are many people that think the MBA is not small enough and it's very expensive.
 
But a 300-400 dollars netbook, with no option from Apple, could be the answer mac users have been waiting for: there are many people that think the MBA is not small enough and it's very expensive.

Yep. I'd probably try a $400 Psystar Mac OS X netbook.

arn
 
Get your Psystar junk while you can, folks. They aren't long for this world.

If its true goodbye air hello netbook! Theres no reason I need that much power and I would at least 1,500 profit.

I'll buy your Air off you, in that case. ;)
 
Get your Psystar junk while you can, folks. They aren't long for this world.
I'd personally would love to see a Psystar netbook and would be happy to try one out. Hell, I'd like a Mac Mini Psystar clone as well. I hope these people stick around for a long time. I love my Air, my PB, and my MP, but I'm ready to see something else.
 
Just so there's no confusion, I've always been against Psystar (they're thieves) and all that they stand for, from the very beginning, and the rest of these fly-by-night clone makers.

Hey, I'm totally up front about this ish. ;)
 
Why, why, why would anyone think they need Psy$tar?

Gizmodo has a detailed article on how to install Leopard on the Dell Mini 9 using the retail copy of OS X 10.5.x using a USB flash drive. Any person of about average intelligence, who can read English and follow instructions should be able to install Leopard on the Dell netbook.

mini9_hackintosh_1.jpg


Anyone of about average intelligence who knows how to use Google should be able to find the article.
 
Umm, if you really want an OS X netbook just get a Dell Mini 9. Providing you have either a Windows or OS X machine available and a big memory stick it's almost trivial to get OS X up and running. Everything works perfectly and it'll even happily do system updates without glitching (so far anyway). Considering they go for about £150 and up at the moment it really is hard to go wrong.

I got one about a month and a half ago to use as a portable purely for writing but my wife's knicked it! It's very quick (boots faster than my 17" MBP), has more than enough power for everything you'd want to do on a screen that small and decent battery life (around 3 hours of web surfing, you tube etc). My only real downside is that the keyboard is a little cramped and the screen res is a little too small for my own personal tastes but I'm not sure I'd want to go higher on a 9" screen.
 
Gizmodo has a detailed article on how to install Leopard on the Dell Mini 9 using the retail copy of OS X 10.5.x using a USB flash drive.

However, then the issue becomes longevity. I have been following the osx86 community for a while and would absolutely love to have an osx netbook myself. However, when I buy something I like to know that I will be able to use it for years. Since every osx update is notorious for breaking hackintosh installations and the community is always focused on getting osx to run on the newest system out there, if you are not a developer yourself you will effectively lose support for the machine relatively quickly.

That said, if Apple does not release a netbookish product by the end of the summer, I'm throwing that all to the wind and getting an S10 or something similar.
 
... Since every osx update is notorious for breaking hackintosh installations and the community is always focused on getting osx to run on the newest system out there, if you are not a developer yourself you will effectively lose support for the machine relatively quickly. ...

You think Psystar is going to hold your hand or spoon feed you if you need to update their machine? With their earlier Hackintosh machines Psystar was telling people to check with online forums for OSX support and help with updates.

There's a DellMini OSX forum and many other places on the Web where you can go for help. And updates aren't as difficult as many seem to think. You certainly don't need to have the skill levels of a "developer"...
 
Just so there's no confusion, I've always been against Psystar (they're thieves) and all that they stand for, from the very beginning, and the rest of these fly-by-night clone makers.

Hey, I'm totally up front about this ish. ;)

You cannot be a thief if you pay for the product.

Sorry - EULA's are bunk. All they do is seek to prevent someone who legally purchased a product from using it as they need.
 
Lets get this right, Psystar isnt making a Mac Netbook, they're going to make a netbook which happens to run OS X, its going to be complete rubbish, dont they think Apple already thought of this?

Look how many people buy Psystar at the moment, and how many people are willing to pay full price from Apple, Psystar probably has less than 0.01% of Apples customer base so i don't this this idea is going to take off.
 
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