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I use a OSx86 computer that I built myself as my main computer. I've been able to do all the updates from apple since 10.5 except one. That one I had to wait a day and download a hacked version. It's been very easy to update. But I'm afraid this company is going to screw it up for everybody. Apple might start going out of it's way to make updates not work on generic PCs.

Yupp! If it was a real co. with deep pockets, it may be a different story but these clowns will do nothing for the cause.
 
Over 200 comments later and the question remains:

WHO HAS GOTTEN THEIR OPEN MAC? Or, who has even been notified that their Open Mac is shipping?

Once they actually ship something, then we can begin to debate it all.
 
Why are there so few cables and cords coming out of the OpenMac in that video, unlike the half-dozen or or coming out of the Ubuntu and XP boxes, and why are none of them visible between the computer and monitor? At 0:25 you can see what must be a power cord (since the LED's on the box are on), what's obviously a mouse cord (very slack, very thin), and one other cord beneath the box. Two of the cables running up to the monitor have no counterparts running into/out of the computer; there should only be one with no counterpart, the monitor's power cord. I'm calling shenanigans. This is fake. I'm guessing they have a MacBook Pro on the floor.
 
I've never seen a legitimate company have 3 different business addresses all on the same day (an article on The Guardian has screenshots of PsyStar's 2 previous addresses). Looks like a scam to me...
 
I've never seen a legitimate company have 3 different business addresses all on the same day (an article on The Guardian has screenshots of PsyStar's 2 previous addresses). Looks like a scam to me...

Ya' think??;) And the sleazy, cheesy vid. that could have been made in imovie or even photobooth was made in FCPro?

I'm still waiting to see a single tracking number that a system has been shipped from these clowns - just one.
 
Brilliant

Great job Psystar - maybe some common sense can be knocked into this Mac market.

A few legal niceties to solve - but quite brave and pioneering.

Its how the market should be - competition, and certainly not OS + HW bundled, unfairly - not in the 21C.

Bravo.
 
Ya' think??;) And the sleazy, cheesy vid. that could have been made in imovie or even photobooth was made in FCPro?

I'm still waiting to see a single tracking number that a system has been shipped from these clowns - just one.
Yes, my 14 year old makes better videos than that.

Besides which, there is no evidence that the machine they claim to be running Quake 4 with max settings on Leopard is on max settings, no evidence that it is running Leopard, and no evidence that the machine running it is one of PsyStar's (all we have is a picture of a monitor and one of PsyStar's boxes in the same frame; any possible connections are unclear in the video.
 
Not exactly. They dropped the low end model. To be honest, they would have probably been better off dropping the Mini.

If :apple: is going to cripple the MacMini then its better off EOL. Dropping the low end iMac with integrated graphics probably was a wise move. :)
 
What you call 'cheapo Ubuntu' is a kickass way of computing without using propriety system software...don't go lumping it in with these clowns, who clearly deserve your scorn.

Agree 100%. The latest Ubuntu releases have been really nice. I would gladly use it over Vista any day of the week. It seems to have ample hardware support. At work, it discovered my network scanner automatically and it makes scanning a breeze- much better than the crappy Windows support software from HP.

Additionally, it is very clean and polished, and GNOME is looking good. The only bad things are if you need strong MS Office support, and Open Office won't work for you. Also, no iTunes. The tight integration with OS X and my iPhone has made me even more inseparable from my Mac.
 
Another note of interest is that the CPU is the e4500, which only has 2MB cache.

By the time you add pre-installed Leopard and iLife, you are at the cost of a Mini, without Apple's support and without the reputation and track record of Apple - why bother?

Also, I noticed that the PsyStar checkout system does not work, and the FAQs section is blank. How could anyone trust these people?

Funny that today's 3rd location for PsyStar is only blocks from the Miami airport. Kind of gives a new meaning to the term "fly by night", doesn't it?
 
Another note of interest is that the CPU is the e4500, which only has 2MB cache.

By the time you add pre-installed Leopard and iLife, you are at the cost of a Mini, without Apple's support and without the reputation and track record of Apple - why bother?

Also, I noticed that the PsyStar checkout system does not work, and the FAQs section is blank. How could anyone trust these people?

Funny that today's 3rd location for PsyStar is only blocks from the Miami airport. Kind of gives a new meaning to the term "fly by night", doesn't it?

I've been to that neighborhood. It's right by the Doral Country Club and one of the best Hooters I've ever had the pleasure to have some wings and a Corona or three at.:D
 
Why can't there be another computer company that has Mac OS X on it other then Apple? If Apple ever wants to eat into that 90+% market share of Windows, they need to spread there OS around. Look at Windows and IBM back in the day. As long as Apple has there Apple-bloated prices on there products because there supposedly better then the rest, there market share will never take away Windows' domination.

In summary: Apple, spread your OS around to other manufacturers. It's the only way to have your dream of a Mac OS happy-world.

It's not Apple's "dream" to be lame and have their OS running like **** on some piece of crap. That's reserved for Windows and the clonebox companies.
 
Great job Psystar - maybe some common sense can be knocked into this Mac market.

A few legal niceties to solve - but quite brave and pioneering.

Its how the market should be - competition, and certainly not OS + HW bundled, unfairly - not in the 21C.

Bravo.

You're right of course. Unfortunately--and astonishingly--the vast majority here seem to think otherwise.
 
Great job Psystar - maybe some common sense can be knocked into this Mac market.

A few legal niceties to solve - but quite brave and pioneering.

Its how the market should be - competition, and certainly not OS + HW bundled, unfairly - not in the 21C.

Bravo.

IANAL, but I suspect there are more then a "few" legal niceties for Psystar to solve... Even if the EULA route is a no-go, sounds like possible DMCA violations (circumvention clauses?), software piracy (illegal copies ala "restore" cd's, not to mention the likelihood of where the installation images they use originated from)... and those are probably just the tip of the iceberg. All that said, they are setting themselves up for a world of legal pain, as they will likely be violating numerous laws and *distributing* at the same time.

Legal trouble aside, based on their presentation, credit card excuses, and particularly where they are located... I suspect anyone that buys one of these machines is guaranteed to get burned.

But hey... i've been wrong before :p
 
You're right of course. Unfortunately--and astonishingly--the vast majority here seem to think otherwise.

Personally, if someone buys a copy of Leopard, I'm not sure I consider it immoral to load it on some other hardware. Legal or not, that is another story.

However, I completely respect the right of Apple to throw as many monkey wrenches in the process as possible. I would consider it completely immoral for the court to say something like, "Apple must facilitate interoperability with OS X running on third party hardware."

Part of the OS X experience is running on a limited set of known hardware. I'm not sure why people don't get this. Otherwise, your best bet is you end up with something like Windows. When done poorly, you end up with the Linux distros of the 90's and even today to some extent. What is wrong with having a best of breed OS that isn't plagued by having to support every half-as_ed chipset coming out of China?

Sadly, the benchmark for whether hardware "works" and can be shipped is whether it works with Windows. This has plagued Linux for years. Crap hardware gets produced that doesn't even adhere to industry specifications, but the combo of crap hardware + windows + a crap driver halfway works, some of the time. But try to plug it into Linux and it won't work because it doesn't adhere to the specs. In the same fashion, a lot of broken HTML is largely considered valid because it runs in IE. And worse, Firefox and Safari end up supporting broken stuff because there is so much of it out there.

Anyway, I'm sure at some point someone is going to sue Apple and I wouldn't be half surprised if the court orders them to start supporting installations on 3rd party hardware. People have went after Microsoft for years, and if you think it has to do with anything other than the fact that Microsoft is a big company and a big target, then you're crazy. Apple will become just as big of a target. All these lawsuits do is cost the company money which results in exactly two things- increased costs for consumers and increased money in the pockets of lawyers.
 
Not to be insensitive but the whole Mac/PC thing is kind of like classes in society and this stupid open computer is like someone that needs to feel rich and important buying a kit car because they can't afford a real Ferrari lol :rolleyes:
 
You're right of course. Unfortunately--and astonishingly--the vast majority here seem to think otherwise.
The majority of posters on these boards do not want to have a Microsoft-esque array of choices for OS, from upgrade to full version, with accompanying registration codes, keys, and other anti-piracy headaches. The majority of posters on these boards do not want to pay $399 for Leopard (as opposed to its $129 price). The majority of posters on these boards do not want to spend hours configuring a new system (instead, they want a system that "just works" right out of the box). If PsyStar and others like it are successful, however, this is exactly what will happen.

You should remember that by the terms of the EULA, the copy of Leopard you purchase is essentially an upgrade, not a full retail version. That is why it is only licensed to be installed on Apple hardware that already has a legitimate copy of OS X on it. If it were otherwise, it would have a much heftier price, more like the full professional version of Vista. So, if PsyStar were to do this legally (it can be argued that this unauthorized use of Leopard is theft of intellectual property for the purpose of profiting from the unauthorized distribution of that property), its box would cost much more than the Mini.
 
Progress

If I was talking 40 years ago I would be saying that in 2009 we will be looking at the illegality of homosexuality as unbelievable and monstrous.

If I was talking 40 years ago I would be saying that the race issue in South America was a real blight and there would actually be laws against it in 2009 - and we would be having a Black president.

100 years ago I'd be saying that in 2009 we just won't believe women didn't have the vote.

... In a few years time I think Mac OSX Jackal (or whatever they codename it) will be freely available on PCs - and people will have a choice once again - maybe even 3 way (U, W, O).

And anyway OSX is already on PCs - Apples are PCs - just with a restricted and out-of-date set of HW and pwetty marketing and a hefty (doubled) price tag. ASUS make the Macbook - Intel make the chips etc etc. What do you think is inside these plastic and Aluminium boxes that isn't in other PCs? - the RAM - eh no - the HD - eh no - the graphics card? eh no - the TFT - eh no ... so what then?
 
The majority of posters on these boards do not want to spend hours configuring a new system (instead, they want a system that "just works" right out of the box). If PsyStar and others like it are successful, however, this is exactly what will happen.

Really, I can't imagine anything like this happen. The idea about the midmarket headless iMac is not changing the essential components of OS X, it's about using a different set of hardware components that are known to work elsewhere.

Changing from 2.5" SATA hard drives to 3.5" SATA hard drives impacts price, performance but not the way the hard disk controller sees the drive and how the OS sees the hard disk controller (remember what IDE stands for?)

Changing RAM from FB-DIMMs of the Mac Pro, or SO-DIMMS from a laptop to DDR2 SDRAM impacts price and performance, but not the workings of the thing.

Choosing to a graphics card that is already supported by OS X and putting it in a cheaper tower instead of just being able to do it on the Mac Pro wouldn't change anything about the way the OS and hardware work.

As for different motherboards, the OSX86 hardware compatibility list only shows something we should already know: If we pick high end motherboards from big name brands, we get a better result. Apple picks high end components from big hardware manufacturers and puts them together the same way that Dell, Lenovo, HP would - no magic there.
 
I agree somewhat.

They have limited warranties, generally much shorter than the industry average to be frank, and yes, they do occasionally break because of software updates. I've seen it enough to know better. No computer is perfect, not even a Mac.

The difference is if something breaks on my Mac I will take it to my local Apple Store or licensed service centre. I will not have to send it in by post with a $50+ delivery charge. Also, Apple may only have a one year warranty, but I have found that they are fairly relaxed about it. A wire on my MBP's MagSafe adapter failed. The machine was 6 months out of warranty with no AppleCare. Apple replaced the adapter for free with no argument. I do wonder if Psystar would do the same.

I think what people have to remember is that Apple provides a whole package, not just the parts of one.
 
The difference is if something breaks on my Mac I will take it to my local Apple Store or licensed service centre. I will not have to send it in by post with a $50+ delivery charge. Also, Apple may only have a one year warranty, but I have found that they are fairly relaxed about it. A wire on my MBP's MagSafe adapter failed. The machine was 6 months out of warranty with no AppleCare. Apple replaced the adapter for free with no argument. I do wonder if Psystar would do the same.

I think what people have to remember is that Apple provides a whole package, not just the parts of one.

I'm glad you have had such good luck with Apple service...but that's the first time I've ever heard of them repairing or replacing something for free that they weren't contractually bound to repair or replace, unless it had the potential to be a safety hazard or something like that. In fact, I've had the opposite happen twice: something that seemed to me to be clearly covered ended up costing me money in the end, for reasons that can only be described as "load of crap disguised as words." Other times, they've been quite good; it just depends. Consistency is not an adjective I would use to describe my Apple service experiences, warranty or non-warranty. More like they have multiple-identity disorder.

Elsewhere: corinhorn, you are correct: there's no doubling of prices happening, and there's no reason to say such a thing. However, I will disagree with the folks who argue the opposite, because we DO pay more for Macs just because they're Macs. They run system software that kicks ass--which is really what this thread is all about--and they're rather attractive as well. To me it's worth it, but no use trying to throw numbers around and say it isn't true.
 
This statement and similar statements irritate me more than anything in this thread. Could you please prove this "double price tag" claim?

I apologise - I thought everybody knows this - just compare Dell and Apple - you'll see. You're right though - depending on what model you choose it might not be 100% difference - maybe 50% extra. I exaggerated.

MBP - $2000
Dell XPS 1530 - $1,500

That's apart from the flexibility you'll get with (say) Dell - Apple always over-specify the CPU. If you are happier with a lower end CPU etc you can get it for half - with a 8600MGT
 
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