'OpenMac' Promises $399 Headless Mac... But Not From Apple

[Yvan256]

compare Apple to a BMW? Give me a break....

I think that when most people compare Apple to BMW they are comparing the price and the perceived value of the whole system, not the quality of the hardware.

I bought a Mac mini because I wanted to switch to Mac OS X. Yes the Mac mini is more expensive (if only because it uses laptop parts), yes it's less powerful in some areas than my old PC (especially the GPU), however it does run OS X, which is what I wanted.

Are Apple computers more expensive? Yes they are (let's not embark on the whole "software value" debate again, thanks in advance). Is Mac OS X better than the other operating systems? That's a personal decision that people have to make for themselves, and vote with their wallets.

However, after a little more than two years using a Mac mini, I find regular PC towers to be extremely noisy and annoying. Heck, my external 1TB drive makes almost four times as much noise as my Mac mini!

That's my opinion/point of view of the "Apple = BWM" comparison.

However, some people really seem to believe that Apple has "better hardware" when in fact what makes OS X stable is that Apple has a specific, limited range of hardware to test on for the QA. The intel CPU inside your intel Mac is the same as in other PCs, the hard drives, RAM, chipsets are also the same. The only real difference between an intel Mac and a PC is that intel Macs use EFI while most PCs still use BIOS.

Oh, and PCs can't help but be ugly because of the front bays for 5.25" and 3.5" drives.

 

[timothyjay2004]

it's one thing to build one and tinker as a hobby ... But it's another to actually sell the computer to consumers. Consumers will not have any kind of support from either apple or this company, why the helll would anyone want to buy it? But if it makes it to market, people will, and then will be mad at Apple for not supporting Leopard questions on that piece of crap. I really hope that'd they'd state up front that support will be nonexistent with this pc, but they won't and people will be pissed when they find out.

 

[mtrctyjoe]

How about a 15 inch+ Lap Top while your at it?

I sure would like to be able to by a Mac lap top with a "usable" sized screen that does not cost $2 Grand! More power to them as far as I am concerend.

 

[Jpoon]

Well my friend before you start pointing the evil finger at Apple for their computer line lacking upgradability (Except Mac Pro) take a look at Sony's entire line and tell me if you can find even ONE desktop tower? All Sony makes now are iMac style desktops and lappys. As time goes by Dell will be following that path as well leaving their desktop towers to the Alienware line.

Now while I agree Apple needs to either step up the Mac mini with some jaw-dropping specs or produce a headless iMac I don't agree with the stupid clone.

I don't see what the big deal is.
If it's not a good product, then people won't buy it, and the word will get out that it doesn't work.

If it works extremely well, then Apple has some work to do, in that they should address the need of their customers rather than continuing to produce products that fit the needs of a very small part of the market.

So what is everyone worried about? You'll win either way.

 

[Eric S.]

I'd like to see this become a huge seller. Maybe Apple would get the message that there are a lot of people who want a a low- or mid-range desktop that is expandable and upgradeable.

 

[greenmeanie]

Well aren't you all high and mighty .

This is illegal and will never happen. This is EXACTLY what Apple doesn't want: it's brand diluted with an ugly product full of bargain-bin components to appeal to the wellfare market. No thanks.

 

[sparks9]

Return of the clones?

 

[marcogiardini]

i simply trust apple. No other one

 

[greenmeanie]

If they get shut down maybe they could offer us the ROM for our own machine?

 

[twoodcc]

wow, now this is crazy. i'm sure apple isn't going to stand around and watch this though

 

[turboflam3]

As for the arguments that Macs are too expensive, think again. Any semi-professional can easily afford a Mac. The problem isn't that Macs are too expensive, rather that some people want to spend their money in other ways and have some distorted belief that computers are a commodity and should be free. These are thee same people that pirate all their songs and movies and refuse to ever buy a piece of software. I know plenty myself--the ones always asking for a copy of Leopard or the latest software.

Those people need to learn how to torrent, I feel embarrassed for them as well.

As far as I am aware, Apple have not been overly concerned with the hackintosh community so far. That might change. If Apple started to intentionally annoy hackintosh users, it could become quite an ordeal to maintain a running system.

What you should be buying, when you buy a mac, is a system that just works. There are some issues with Leopard, but compared to the Windows experience that still holds, IMHO.

If you run a Hackintosh system you have a much greater risk of a system that one day won't do what you want it to do (and for some reason it always happens at the worst possible time). Downtime for me is relatively short, because I can quite happily keep working in Linux using the same software as I use in OS X. All my important stuff is OS-agnostic and backed up off-site. Even so, I would not use a Hackintosh if I owned my own business. Downtime can easily cost you thousands, so the extra risk just isn't worth it.

Even if Apple does nothing, sometimes you still have to jump through hoops to make the updates work. Terminal work can again potentially break your system, especially if you don't know what you're doing and muck about with the sudo command. Generally speaking, when you delete something in Unix, it stays deleted. Also, you need to read through a bunch of forum posts before making the assumption, that what Some Guy Off The Internet recommends won't render your computer unusable.

For most users it simply isn't worth it.

I see what your saying, yeah in a professional environment with a lot at stake it's probably best not the best way to go.

But for a hobbyist or a casual user with some computer knowledge, a hackintosh would be great. For these people as long as they know what they're doing they shouldn't have too much trouble.

i simply trust apple. No other one

Have fun with that

 

[yomamafor1]

What's even funnier is that ppl always say that Leopard costs so little while Vista was so expensive. What they don't realize was that they initially paid hundreds more to get the right to even INSTALL leopard. $1000 for the right to use leopard, then $99 upgrades from that point forward. Then, Mac geeks compare that $99 to Vista's $200 and say that Vista is a rip off.

Not that I like Vista. I have 3 Macs and 1 XP machine at home. Vista is the devil.

Thank you for making a sensible statement. And to aid your point, some of the Mac users felt delighted, overjoyed, and even believed they got a steal when they get screwed so much on hardware. On average Mac users get screwed about 2x the price on hardware, up to 4x~5x on MacPros.

I really don't understand what is this "elitist" mentality flowing around here. Face it. Macintosh is just a platform, just like PCs. OS X is just an operating system, just like Windows. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, with no clear winner.

You want to buy a computer that works out of the box? Buy a Dell. You want to buy a computer that works out of the box, AND feel delighted to get screwed on hardware? Buy an Apple.

 

[KindredMAC]

To appease the gods, Apple needs to do the following:
- Lower the Mac Mini back to its original price point of sub-$500, or lower is always better.
- Bring the MacBook back down to iBook pricing of $999 for the base model.
- Offer one more Mac Pro model with a Quad Core chip below current offerings to get a price somewhere between $1799-$1999.

The third option would make me the happiest, being that I am a Graphic Designer, heavy Adobe CS3 design and web but light on the video end, I don't really need 8 cores at this point. I need something that can support 3-4 LCD monitors, multiple internal HDDs, a good amount of RAM and 1 extra PCI slot. $2000 is really all I can personally afford to put towards that type of desktop system, since I'm constantly putting all of my other money towards a MacBook Pro, Airport Extreme multi-based network, iPhones, Apple TV and such.

As for the OpenMac..... good for them. There is nothing wrong with shaking up the neighborhood. Sure it is a violation of TOU, but you can't make the perfect omelet without breaking a bunch of eggs!

 

[arkitect]

i simply trust apple. No other one

My apologies if I seem gratuitously mean, but… are you serious?

Apple, Inc. is no different from any other multinational corporation…

 

[ChrisA]

If Apple does not like this, Apple's best option would be to offer the same product. Even for $100 more most people would prefer to buy from Apple. But Apple did this to them selves by not offering what most of their customers waned. Just a "normal computer".

I might buy one of these to replace a G4 mac mini

 

[yomamafor1]

i simply trust apple. No other one

Translated: I simply like to purchase extremely overpriced products that can be had for fractions of its price. No other one.

 

[MikeTheC]

Return of the clones?

I'm having a bad Star Wars PTSD flashback now. Thanks.

 

[FaasNat]

The real reason Apple cannot let this happen is:

If Mac OS was able to be installed on a vanilla custom built Intel machine, they would not be able to rip people off with overpriced components. Think about it, the only reason ppl are willing to pay $1000 more for the EXACT same hardware is because Mac OS can be installed on it.

Mac OS is easily installable on a Dell machine. But it is not in Apple's business interest to let that happen.

Isn't this kinda what happened with the Mac clones in the late 90's? Umax, Motorola, and [especially] Power Computing were blowing away Apple's hardware sales.

Kinda funny, instead of trying to compete with that and have machines that appeal to the consumer, Apple bought Power Computing, killed it off, and then canceled the other clones.

Granted, Apple's bulk revenue came from hardware profits and at that time they were really strapped for cash...... But now that Apple has more market appeal, people may be looking to run OS X, but don't want to shell out high bucks to do so (a lot of my friends want a desktop machine that doesn't have an integrated monitor with an upgradeable graphics card).

 

[utekineir]

The product fills a big void in apples lineup.

Right now theres mini, imac, pro.



But still

sued in 3 2 1

 

[oban14]

And I'm extremely embarrassed for individuals such as yourself that don't see anything wrong with what you're advocating. And you justify it with Apple having billions so it's ok.

The mini will eventually get updated, replaced or removed from Apple's lineup and it won't have anything to do with what you think. Hell, I want a new iMac with a matte screen but Apple doesn't make one.

So why don't you build your own? Go buy a matte screen, get a bunch of the very same cheap Intel components that apple makes their iMacs out of, and you'll probably save 1000 dollars in the process.

Hell, just go buy one of the machines this company is selling and get any monitor you want.

 

[kkat69]

Translated: I simply like to purchase extremely overpriced products that can be had for fractions of its price. No other one.

Wow, the swarm of low post, recently registered users is swarming in on this thread.

PC Users cashing in to bash in on the Mac community?

How surprising....

 

[mc3s]

Everyone in here seems to be discussing two topics and combining them into one.

Hackintosh's (x86) and this particular computer.

Personally I think this computer is a bad idea from start to finish. The naming seems to infringe on caopyrights held by Apple and the inclusion of OSX with the option of a pre-install seems very likely to spell doom for the company.

A hackintosh you build yourself, however, is a great idea. You can use the exact same compatible parts (read what apple charges you more for) and with very minimal work get OSX to work flawlessly. When a new update arrives its a 5 minute scan through the forums and another 10 or so spent tweaking. Certainly not for the computer illiterate but satisfying to those that are not so faint of heart. Of course you do need to stick to a fairly strict list of known working hardware, you just can't toss OSX on any build and expect everything to work.

I can't imagine why there is so much negativity in here focused on the x86 project. Legality gray areas aside at the very least this is a great solution to a niche in OSX users that needs to be filled. Apple's desktops are all about niche. A tiny box with an external brick, an AIO and a giant cheese grater are niche desktops. Why not let the few of us willing to make a hackintosh exist without your scorn? Its the mac we want, it fills our needs and its the niche that Apple won't fill.

I love Apple the software company but their hardware is hit or miss with me. I can afford a Mac Pro I just see no reason to buy one when I can make my own for cheaper and use a case I like.

Also note that I can pass along my opinions to you without comparing a mac to a brand of automobiles.

 

[DaBrain]

I can't get onto PSYSTAR'S web site...

Strange that.

Yeah I hear ya! That lasted long--))))

 

[electronboy]

Its not illegal unless you obtain Leopard without paying for it. It is against Apple's EULA.

I'm at a loss to understand this reasoning, so I'm going to pass on any analysis.

Regardless of the legal issues, two important specs for this computer were left out:

-ugly
-probably short lived (if Apple Legal has anything to say about it!)

 

[yomamafor1]

So why don't you build your own? Go buy a matte screen, get a bunch of the very same cheap Intel components that apple makes their iMacs out of, and you'll probably save 1000 dollars in the process.

Hell, just go buy one of the machines this company is selling and get any monitor you want.

I was thinking to do that, until the website got shut down. If I don't like OSX, I can always revert back to Linux or Windows. If I buy an Apple, and if I don't like OSX...

...I'm screwed on BOTH hardware AND software. Talk about major ripoff....