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Clone OpenStar Hackintosh osx86 user review/feedback thread

dophineh

dophineh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 29, 2009
72
0
California
This thread has been in the works for a long time now, so this means that I finally got around to it! :D

Let me first start by saying, that overall, I am probably 90% satisfied with this computer (so far), and while that's not 100%, it's still very positive, 4.5 stars of 5.

I purchased an OpenStar 3.2GHZ Quad, 8gb DDR Hackintosh osx86 from ebay. Paid $1099 for it (not including shipping). This included some very decent hardware, 8gb of DDR800 ram, 512mb of Vram by way of a NVIDIA 9800 GT, also 1 TB of disk memory. It also was advertised as shipping with a hard copy of OSX 10.5.

The good:
Super fast fast fast.
Fan runs quietly and CPU doesn't heat up the room. (like some die hard mac fanbois guaranteed me it would :p )
Software updater works (unlike the Psystar clone system).

The neutral:
Internet sharing via Ethernet-in and airport wireless-out does not work (I used to use my g5 for my wireless in my room).
First computer I received from the seller did not work which caused me to go :eek::eek::eek: but, I received exceptional customer service from him, and in the end I had to mail back the not working computer (at my expense) and he shipped me new working machine.

The bad:
Computer did not ship with a hard copy of Leopard as advertised, it only had leopard installed on the harddrive which made me go :mad:
I complained and he refunded me $99 on ebay. So the total price I paid was around $1100. 1099 (orig price) + 40 (orig shipping) + 40 (shipping 1st comp back) - $99 refund = $1080. An equivalent mac pro would have cost god knows how much, and frankly, right now, I can't afford that.

The worst:
My computer doesn't always start up. It will stall out before the Apple spinning hardware test. Must be a driver issue, but either way, my solution is to (a) never shut down, or (b) power cycle and try again. It's annoying and worriesome, but so far, it hasn't been a deal breaker.

Okay, so this is a good start, I will post more information and feel free to ask questions. I would love to see other posts from users/owners, I know they exist out there. Let's all come together and learn how to maintain these quirky FAST cheap machines. :apple:

I'm going to really be disappointed in all of you from Horseville i.e. fanboi naysayers, if you talk out yo azz without having any actual clone experience under your belt. For the record this is like my 15th apple computer, and my 2nd mac clone. My first mac clone was a UMAX Supermac C600, which i bought when i was 13 for the same reason that I bought this one: it was cheaper. :D:apple:

Cheers!
 
dophineh said:
The neutral:
I received exceptional customer service from him, and in the end I had to mail back the not working computer (at my expense) and he shipped me new working machine.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

You had to pay to ship back a DOA system? And you're _neutral_ about that?
 
dophineh said:
The worst:
My computer doesn't always start up. It will stall out before the Apple spinning hardware test. Must be a driver issue, but either way, my solution is to (a) never shut down, or (b) power cycle and try again. It's annoying and worriesome, but so far, it hasn't been a deal breaker.
Click to expand...

LOL. Sign me up. :eek:
 
dophineh said:
I'm going to really be disappointed in all of you from Horseville i.e. fanboi naysayers, if you talk out yo azz without having any actual clone experience under your belt. For the record this is like my 15th apple computer, and my 2nd mac clone. My first mac clone was a UMAX Supermac C600, which i bought when i was 13 for the same reason that I bought this one: it was cheaper. :D:apple:

Cheers!
Click to expand...

"Cheaper?" I guess if you don't count the costs of complete lack of customer service (I'm sorry, but you did NOT get excellent customer service if you had to pay to return a DOA system, you didn't get the disk that was advertised, etc.), you don't count the cost of not being able to turn off your system, etc.

You crack me up.
 
cmaier said:
LOL. Sign me up. :eek:
Click to expand...

Well I mean, I could pay Apple an extra $3000. Oh, wait... I don't have an extra $3000 :p

cmaier said:
"Cheaper?" I guess if you don't count the costs of complete lack of customer service (I'm sorry, but you did NOT get excellent customer service if you had to pay to return a DOA system, you didn't get the disk that was advertised, etc.), you don't count the cost of not being able to turn off your system, etc.

You crack me up.
Click to expand...

You crack me up.

And also, with my old g5, I never turned it off either. Flat rate electricity ftw.
 
dophineh said:
Well I mean, I could pay Apple an extra $3000. Oh, wait... I don't have an extra $3000 :p
Click to expand...

Here's one way to get $3000 - stop buying systems that require all your free time just to keep them running. This might mean buying a used system, or even a windows system.

Then, with the time you save, earn a degree or get a job or start your own business :)
 
cmaier said:
Here's one way to get $3000 - stop buying systems that require all your free time just to keep them running. This might mean buying a used system, or even a windows system.

Then, with the time you save, earn a degree or get a job or start your own business :)
Click to expand...

All my free time? Maybe more like 5% of my free time. I am earning a degree right now... Computer Science.

And I am also working: http://www.2xdvisual.com making $$$ and yea, I still don't want to pay $3000 extra, not until I have more money and the economy isn't in the ****ter
 
If that works for you, go ahead and get a Clone.

I for 1 will not be getting a Clone like you advertise, because I HATED the Windoze experiance. The reason I bought a MAC was to avert time wasting processes i.e. "never shut down".
 
WPB2 said:
If that works for you, go ahead and get a Clone.

I for 1 will not be getting a Clone like you advertise, because I HATED the Windoze experiance. The reason I bought a MAC was to avert time wasting processes i.e. "never shut down".
Click to expand...

Honestly, I would love to have a new mac pro. But dammit man, I would also love to have a new Mercedes CLS63. Hell ya.. ... but... ya... some day

And I never said 'never' shut down. I cycle it occasionally. Haven't really noticed any performance decrease due to a build up of unused processes.
 
If it is working for you, great.

But let me give you this word of advice. I have learned the hard way that you really do get what you pay for in computers, and electronics in general.

You've already had to pay to return a DOA system, that should have never happened. DOA happens, but having to pay to return it is ridiculous.

Sometimes it doesn't start?! So, in a few months, what are you going to do if it doesn't start anymore? Pay to return it and hope the next works better?

Good luck to you, but in the end, I'm sure this clone will cost more than a used Mac Pro.
 
r.j.s said:
If it is working for you, great.

But let me give you this word of advice. I have learned the hard way that you really do get what you pay for in computers, and electronics in general.

You've already had to pay to return a DOA system, that should have never happened. DOA happens, but having to pay to return it is ridiculous.

Sometimes it doesn't start?! So, in a few months, what are you going to do if it doesn't start anymore? Pay to return it and hope the next works better?

Good luck to you, but in the end, I'm sure this clone will cost more than a used Mac Pro.
Click to expand...

You do get what you pay for. And with a new apple system alot of what your getting is peace of mind, and support. Two things I value a lot less than your avg user.

Theres absolutely no need to warn me. I am fully aware. ;)
 
dophineh said:
You do get what you pay for. And with a new apple system alot of what your getting is peace of mind, and support. Two things I value a lot less than your avg user.

Theres absolutely no need to warn me. I am fully aware. ;)
Click to expand...

Ah, to be young again :)

My home office houses a collection of "slightly-off-brand" computers that, at the time, I thought were a good idea. Lots of laptops that, spec-wise, were "just as good" as the HP's, compaqs, dells, and ibms. Sigh. (Heck, when I was a kid I even got the TI-99/4A instead of the apple ][ to "save money" and because it had "better specs.")

Can't believe it took me 25 years of computing to learn better.
 
cmaier said:
Ah, to be young again :)

My home office houses a collection of "slightly-off-brand" computers that, at the time, I thought were a good idea. Lots of laptops that, spec-wise, were "just as good" as the HP's, compaqs, dells, and ibms. Sigh. (Heck, when I was a kid I even got the TI-99/4A instead of the apple ][ to "save money" and because it had "better specs.")

Can't believe it took me 25 years of computing to learn better.
Click to expand...

I loved my UMAX SuperMac C600 to death, and it was a very very good machine.

I almost bought a mac performa 6400 instead, it was comparable spec wise but cost more. Ironically, the performa had a long list of problems and bugs, while the cheaper SuperMac had no problems at all.

My G5 had some hardware problems, and was a semi lemon from the day I first bought it. After months of apple care, it was finally more stable, but never 100%.
 
dophineh said:
I loved my UMAX SuperMac C600 to death, and it was a very very good machine.

I almost bought a mac performa 6400 instead, it was comparable spec wise but cost more. Ironically, the performa had a long list of problems and bugs, while the cheaper SuperMac had no problems at all.

My G5 had some hardware problems, and was a semi lemon from the day I first bought it. After months of apple care, it was finally more stable, but never 100%.
Click to expand...

I have a certain affinity toward umax; back in the day I was designing chips for Exponential, and UMAX was one of our customers for the x704 for their apple clones. Never actually ended up in any commercial systems, since Jobs returned and pulled the plug on it.

Still - your story is irrelevant; Umax was an AUTHORIZED clone.
 
cmaier said:
I have a certain affinity toward umax; back in the day I was designing chips for Exponential, and UMAX was one of our customers for the x704 for their apple clones. Never actually ended up in any commercial systems, since Jobs returned and pulled the plug on it.

Still - your story is irrelevant; Umax was an AUTHORIZED clone.
Click to expand...

it's not completely irrelevant, at least not to me, because I had to deal with a very similar dogmatic fanboi attitude as seen currently in this very thread. 'clonez will be teh deathz of you!'... oh ok cool
 
dophineh said:
it's not completely irrelevant, at least not to me, because I had to deal with a very similar dogmatic fanboi attitude as seen currently in this very thread. 'clonez will be teh deathz of you!'... oh ok cool
Click to expand...

That's a shame, because back then, all macs (clones included) were junk. When I was designing CPUs for those things, we'd sometimes test things out with windows nt for powerpc, and it ran several times faster, multitasked, etc.

Back then not even Apple understood how their own custom asics worked because the engineers had all left.

It was a sad time in macdom.
 
cmaier said:
Ah, to be young again :)

Sigh. (Heck, when I was a kid I even got the TI-99/4A instead of the apple ][ to "save money" and because it had "better specs.")

Can't believe it took me 25 years of computing to learn better.
Click to expand...

Hey, the TI-99/4A was very expandable, supported some serious software as well as having optional Pascal support hardwired in, assembly language support as well as an extended Basic language available beyond the simple console Basic.

The processor was the first 16 bit CPU available in a home computer, and was actually a mini computer processor. Sort of like the Mac Pro having server grade Xeons instead of standard desktop chips.

The speech capability was an industry leader, especially with the Terminal Emulator installed. Being based on phonemes meant you could reproduce nearly any language.

Almost forgot the eight expansion slots.

I'll get off of my soap box now.
 
jodelli said:
Hey, the TI-99/4A was very expandable, supported some serious software as well as having optional Pascal support hardwired in, assembly language support as well as an extended Basic language available beyond the simple console Basic.

The processor was the first 16 bit CPU available in a home computer, and was actually a mini computer processor. Sort of like the Mac Pro having server grade Xeons instead of standard desktop chips.

The speech capability was an industry leader, especially with the Terminal Emulator installed. Being based on phonemes meant you could reproduce nearly any language.

Almost forgot the eight expansion slots.

I'll get off of my soap box now.
Click to expand...

All that is true. I had the expansion box, the speech synthesizer+, lots of cartridges, microsoft word and multiplan, disk drive, etc.

Still, I wish I had that Apple ][ :)
 
cmaier said:
That's a shame, because back then, all macs (clones included) were junk. When I was designing CPUs for those things, we'd sometimes test things out with windows nt for powerpc, and it ran several times faster, multitasked, etc.

Back then not even Apple understood how their own custom asics worked because the engineers had all left.

It was a sad time in macdom.
Click to expand...

Wasn't that sad, OS8/9 was still way more sexy than Windows 95/98/CE or whatever it was back then.

cmaier said:
All that is true. I had the expansion box, the speech synthesizer+, lots of cartridges, microsoft word and multiplan, disk drive, etc.

Still, I wish I had that Apple ][ :)
Click to expand...

I think my parents gave my Apple II to goodwill :mad: :(

me_appleii.jpg
 
Calling the OpenpileofSh*t a "mac clone" is an insult to the real clones of the 90's.

A far better name is "cheap wannabe junk for losers that can't afford to buy a real mac".
 
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