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

[oban14]

Then I stand corrected. You read the parts you value as most important to you and ignore the rest. Leopard's EULA does state what hardware configs it can be installed on.

I didn't ignore any of it. The EULA states what hardware configs it can be installed on. If you break the EULA (by installing it on a hackintosh) Apple is no longer legally required to support the product or guarantee that it will work.

So I've agreed to break the EULA, Apple has agreed to no longer support my copy of Leopard, and we're both going to live happily ever after.

Got it?

 

[corywoolf]

Awesome news. I hope this really pisses off Apple, because they have been in denial about their hardware gaps for years. Believe it or not, a lot of people like the idea of being able to upgrade their computer down the road. I consider RAM and Hard-drive upgradability to be a standard these days, so that doesn't count. I am for sure going to buy one of these if the company sticks around and actually ships them. I could care less about looks too. Now this has been discussed a million times already, but finally someone with balls stepped up to the plate to send a message to Apple about their arrogance. I mean look at how long it took them to update the last Mac Pro. I know they were waiting on Intel for a new chip, but they could have released a smaller update in between to add e-sata and some other still absent options.

 

[Mac In School]

Last time I checked, you have to HAVE assets before you are worth suing, and I get the distinct impression the people running this juicy operation aren't high rollers...

They won't be suing to get money from them. They'll be suing (or taking some other legal action) to get them to stop.

 

[Clive At Five]

The sad part of this is that Apple could offer this same box for a few hundred more and I would gladly pay it. I have no problem supporting Apple by buying their hardware, but they don't offer a mid-range tower, despite there being clear demand from consumers and almost unanimous agreement on this from every high-profile Mac commentator out there. For me, it's about the lack of options in Apple's line-up, not about getting OS X on cheap hardware.

Those of you writhing in agony over this so-called "unethical" move should keep that in mind. As long as Apple refuses to offer the product that people want (or at the very least, give more BTO options on the iMac and lower the ridiculous price of the Mini) then people are going to seek this out. It's pretty much Apple's own fault for not paying enough attention to their computer line-up.

As Apple's popularity continues to grow, they ignore the growing demands of their customers at their own peril.

I agree with you. Very well-stated.

 

[JackButler]

I've been using apple hardware since the early 80's. However these days... I would welcome any competition to apple hardware config & prices. Not to mention Apple's lack of quality control.

 

[yomamafor1]

To all you people that think Apple is overpriced or just a fancy box with cheap parts, you are absolutely wrong!

Tell me if this is what you call cheap:
-nVidia 8600 video (many use much cheaper/inferior video)
-Wireless N (many still have G around)
-LED screens on laptops (again only a few have this)
-WIFI and Blue tooth standard on every machine including desktops
-Camera/mic standard on every machine
-Firewire and USB on every machine, some macs have Firewire 800
-1GB/2GB RAM standard
-Infared remote, front row standard on all macs
-Features no one has like Multitouch
-All macs of course come with Leopard OS and iLife installed.

I don't think this is what you would call cheap parts!

They're not cheap. They're inexpensive to purchase individually. Apple marked up about 20%~500% on prices.

Ok now put together a machine JUST like the above and see if you can BLOW away the price of a mini...I dont think so. Apple is not overpriced. It's not a frikin $500 Dell that just happens to sell for $1000 by Apple. Wake up and realize you get what you pay for.

A mini-ITX form factor board that supports C2D costs about 100USD. Plus the CPU, that raise the cost to about 200USD. Plus some miscellaneous components like optical drive, hard disks, that raise the cost to about 350USD.

Apple sells it for 600USD. Go figure.

One last thing I would like to mention:
-UNBEATABLE FORM FACTOR ON ALL MACS

Yes making an incredible form factor like the mini and iMac costs more than some ugly old big box that resembles a small refrigerator and sounds like a hair dryer.

Why do you think laptops cost more than desktops in general. It's the form factor....the size, weight, and design integration/styling.

Incredible form factor like iMac? Its simply a LCD screen with other components built in. I agree the design is slightly better than other competitors, but saying its "incredible" is over-exaggerating.

Let's face it, when you buy an Apple, you're buying a Porsche or Mercedes, or BMW. If you don't like that, go somewhere else. Go to Dell.

This openmac is like buying a BMW engine and throwing it into some kit car and then calling all BMWs and Mercedes way overpriced! Seriously people, how can you be so stupid.

Kan-O-Z

Let's face it. When you buy an Apple, you buy into their elitist image. As I said earlier, Apple is nothing more than a company, Mac is nothing more than a platform, and OS X is nothing more than an operating system. Apple is not Mercedes or BMW. It uses components from PC. Its just simply a style oriented Toyota, with double the price tag slapped on it.

If you're happy to pay the price, so be it. Just keep your elitist image to yourself.

 

[bacaramac]

Summary

Sorry, I tried to follow this thread, but you guys are moving too fast. I leave for an hour and we have 10 more pages.

Can someone provide some intermittent summary posts? Just kidding.

I do have one request. If legal action is taken or they have to remove the product from their website, let's open a new thread.

 

[macsmurf]

What Motherboard did you use to make it?

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4.

 

[monkeydust]

have apple done something already?
i cant get on there website.

and yes guys i have a macbook pro and dont condone illegal osx installations.

 

[yomamafor1]

I think he is mentioning that Apple should make a Mac Pro model with a SINGLE C2Q.

Mac Pro sports a DP server board. That immediately ruled out any desktop variant of C2Q.

Sure, Apple can separately design a model that only sports SP server board, or even desktop board. But Apple is not going to design a separate edition of Mac Pro. Plus, if they uses desktop variant of C2Q, how can they profit from the insane markup?

I guess it goes against the "elegant" image of Apple.

 

[50548]

I didn't ignore any of it. The EULA states what hardware configs it can be installed on. If you break the EULA (by installing it on a hackintosh) Apple is no longer legally required to support the product or guarantee that it will work.

So I've agreed to break the EULA, Apple has agreed to no longer support my copy of Leopard, and we're both going to live happily ever after.

Got it?

WRONG. If you break the EULA, you are simply not allowed to use Leopard, period. Anything else is illegal activity enforceable under local laws.

So, are these Psyonwhatever hackerguys arrested already?

 

[Mitch1984]

Why does everyone want a headless iMac, if they want a cheap iMac, there's the Mac Mini.

What's wrong with an iMac with a screen.

 

[backspinner]

.... maybe apple should make their boxes transparent so ppl can look at beauty all the time...

been there, done that

 

[ease718]

Apple doesn't make Quad's anymore, and I doubt its faster than an 8 core Mac Pro as that uses Xeons.

Though I'm sure its no slouch.

in benchmarks it beats the apple xeon quads by no small margin.


i'd love to build a 8 core machine. maybe my next project. compared to the mini or any of the laptop desktops it positively roasts them. apples quads got about 5000 on geekbench i get over 7000

 

[headfuzz]

Selling systems with Leopard pre-installed without express permission of Apple is likely to draw litigation referring to Apple vs. Franklin. As this case found in favour of Apple, the court would automatically find in favour of Apple.

 

[oban14]

WRONG. If you break the EULA, you are simply not allowed to use Leopard, period. Anything else is illegal activity.

So, are these Psyonwhatever hackerguys arrested already?

Under what criminal statute am I committing a crime?

Also, how could the workers at this company be arrested? They're selling a computer, they're selling Leopard, and they are offering to install Leopard for free before the computer ships. What criminal statute are they violating?

 

[Dorfdad]

Honestly I do not know why someone wouldn't just go through with buying this themselves for even less money. All you need to do is go to OSX86 Project pages and jot down some parts and do a little google searching to do this themselves, with a much nicer case as well!

The market for someone looking to do this, is not grandmom. It's going to be someone who already knows they need to tweak it.

 

[FaasNat]

How much will the OpenMac be worth in 3 years? Not much. It would be a pain trying to get anyone interested in it on ebay and having to explain it's a cut price fake Mac that probably won't even run Cougar, or whatver the next OS will be.

Macs hold their value. Stick your Mac on ebay and you'll get a good price for it - a much better price in relative terms than your 3 year old Alienware or whatever. Then you can just put the money to your next Mac.

An initial outlay of £900 for an iMac, sell it for £500 in three years and buy the newest one for £400. That's £133 a year for a brand new computer at regular intervals. Not bad.

Hypothetically speaking....Well, say you spent $2500 on a MacPro and $550 on an OpenMac. In three years, you sell your MacPro for $2000 and but a new one for $2500 and the OpenMac dies from crappy parts so you get $0 (maybe a tax write-off for recycling it or something). You buy another OpenMac (yeah, they're still around, this is hypothetically speaking after all) for $550.

To compare the two, you spent $3000 for two MacPros and $1100 for two OpenMacs. Having a high resale value doesn't always make it a more cost efficient purchase.

 

[BenRoethig]

Also, is that ECC memory you're quoting there?

I wasn't aware there was non-ECC FB-Dimms.

 

[Phil A.]

I didn't ignore any of it. The EULA states what hardware configs it can be installed on. If you break the EULA (by installing it on a hackintosh) Apple is no longer legally required to support the product or guarantee that it will work.

So I've agreed to break the EULA, Apple has agreed to no longer support my copy of Leopard, and we're both going to live happily ever after.

Got it?

Where do you get that information from? The EULA clearly states that if you break the terms of the agreement your rights to use the software terminate automatically and you must cease using it.
An EULA grants specific rights to use copyrighted material and if you break an EULA then your rights to use that copyrighted material cease and you are in effect then committing a breach of copyright.

 

[WannaGoMac]

i have over the course of 20 years paid inflated prices for apple products.

this year i built a hack rather than shelling out the $5000 i would have spent on an equiv powermac.

I spent $700 (plus $129 for osx leo ) and used the case and power supply from an old pc.

i now have a quad core that runs fine at 3.6GHz. Apple doesnt even make a 3.6GHz comp. my budget mac kicks the $5000 powermacs butt in benchmarks and runs reliable 24/7 as my main mac.

so for all the posts about hacks being unreliable and 'cheap' its the same if not better components being used as apple, just without the $1000 'snake oil'.

i've had pleanty of problems with 'real' macs to btw. i've also had less than stellar experiences dealing with apple customer service.

apple used to be a very cool company, now it is a greedy corporate monopoly. as a designer i also have real issues with being told what variety of helvetica to use at an os level... but thats a whole other issue.

Which motherboard did you use?

My Hackintosh consists of quality components (If you overclock, you have to buy quality). One Q6600 2.4 GHz running at 3.24 Ghz. 2 GB (quality) RAM. 500 GB SATAII hard drive. 8800 GT 512 MB graphics card. Dual-layer lightscribe DVD-RW. Antec P182 case. US price guestimate: $1200 (not including the $129 for Leopard)

This computer gets a slightly better score in Geekbench/Xbench than the comparable Mac Pro costing $2600. Granted, it's not a Xeon processor, but the original poster did not need one. I suspect the difference is not noticable.

There are a lot of reasons not to go with a hackintosh, but it's hard to beat performance/cost-wise.

Thanks!

ok for those asking about my system in pm's

i got everything at newegg.
i got my info at insanelymac dot com

mobo = gigabyte p35 D3SL =$80
processor = core 2 quad 2.4GHz (oc'ed at 3.6GHz) = $279
ram = 4-4-4-12 ddr800 (runs fine at 1000MHz) = $142
hd = WD Raptor 10000 rpm system drive = $89
processor fan = freezerpro7 = $11
firewire card = $14

os10.5 = $129

satisfaction = priceless
i enjoy this computer more than any of the numerous real macs i have owned.

one of the most reliable macs i have owned, it just works and its stinking fast. infact its faster than apples quads.

Thanks!

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4.

Thanks!

I am close to building my own hackintosh. It's taken a while as I keep hoping the headless real mac will appear

 

[Poll Smoker]

Yeah, Apple makes 30%+ profit on their hardware and a lot of that money goes into R&D, support, etc.

Do you know what "profit" means?

 

[amysig]

We get one of these every 1.5 years. Remember the guy promising pizza box style Macs? Nothing ever hits the street. Vaporware.

 

[50548]

Under what criminal statute am I committing a crime?

Also, how could the workers at this company be arrested? They're selling a computer, they're selling Leopard, and they are offering to install Leopard for free before the computer ships. What criminal statute are they violating?

It depends on your country and jurisdiction. They are actively infringing Apple's IPR by selling Leopard or enabling its use in non-Apple branded computers, simple as that.

In most "civilized" places this would be good cause for criminal prosecution or, at the very least, steep civil damages.

 

[FaasNat]

Then maybe you haven't opened up the inside of a Mac Pro. Its by far the easiest tower to upgrade.

This (click on the gallery) one looks pretty clean and easily upgradeable. It ain't the cheapest thing, but that wasn't the issue being discussed.