Psystar Exits Bankruptcy, Launches New Xeon-Based Systems Running OS X

[Hugh]

Court case

Except that that won't happen because people won't sell.

Pure FUD, sorry
No support or warranty?
First apple has to win the case (years down the road)
Second Psystar has to buy back all the computers they sold, laughable again (not if they go bankrupt.

I am just going by the court case, that is what Apple wants if they win this case. But you are mostly right they will claim they are bankrupted again.

Hugh

 

[dbassett]

Who's the big money behind these jokers? There is no way a small shop can come out of Chap 11 and continue in a law suit with Apple unless microsoft was behind it. Especially when what they are doing is illegal.

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

Seriously though, hooray for competition!

I am totally hoping Psystar wins. I really like the fact they're doing what they are doing, plus their computers offer me options I can't get with Apple.

I could get a Leopard system with 3.0 GHz Quad Core (C2Q) CPU, 4GB ram, 500GB hard drive, 512MB 9500GT video card, DVD+-RW, Firewire, etc for $1,072.99.

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

Who's the big money behind these jokers? There is no way a small shop can come out of Chap 11 and continue in a law suit with Apple unless microsoft was behind it. Especially when what they are doing is illegal.

Not a chance in hell Microsoft is behind it. That would be a nightmare for them, because if Psystar win, that means that in theory, any machine with PC hardware can get Mac OSX as the OS. Right now, Microsoft has that market cornered, because Apple refuses to allow anyone to use OS X unless it's on a computer made and sold by Apple.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

Who's the big money behind these jokers? There is no way a small shop can come out of Chap 11 and continue in a law suit with Apple unless microsoft was behind it. Especially when what they are doing is illegal.

Think about the stupidity of your statement. Why the hell would MS want OSX on generic pc hardware?

 

[Anuba]

You must be the disgruntled prick that is outside the norm.

How about outside the United States?

AppleCare is an overpriced joke, they're asking more than other manufacturers do for a 3Y warranty, only the other manufacturers include next business day on-site repairs. Apple are too cheap and greedy for that, so you have to drag your computer to the nearest Apple reseller, wherever that is.

I did just that, dragged my iMac 24" to the neighboring town to get a dead PSU repaired. It took them 3 weeks and 2 days. After I picked it up, took it home and opened the box I noticed the screen looked like crap so I wiped it off, only to find that some of the smudges and particles were on the inside of the glass. Plugged it in, ran it for 30 minutes, put it in sleep mode. When I tried to wake it up the next morning it was dead, again.

I called Apple to ask if there was another place in the vicinity where I could take it since the last place needed 3 weeks to get the iMac back to the same broken state it was already in, but it turned out to be a 2-hour drive so I guess I'm stuck with the guys who had lunch on the inside of the screen glass. While I had Apple on the phone I also asked them about the battery on my new MBP; after a couple of calibration attempts I haven't been able to get it past 93% health, so I asked what the policy is on battery replacement and whether 93% is within spec. He replied "Does it run?" "Not sure what you mean", I said. "Does it, like, run... on the battery?", he said. "Well... yeah, but... you know, isn't a new battery supposed to hold a full charge?" "But", he said, "does it run for a long time? Because sometimes they do that". At this point I didn't know if he was drunk or maybe talking to a potted plant in his room, I didn't feel like a part of the conversation so I said "Is there any way to find out if the battery is defective?". "Oh yeah", he said, "they have this battery test application on a USB dongle... when you take in the iMac, bring the laptop and have them run that test."
"Okay".
"They might charge you for it though".
"O... kay".

Stellar support, really.

 

[Nermal]

The savvy users have already figured out ways to build their own systems without Apple's "help". If it was easy, the users would no longer need to be savvy, would they?

I'm thinking more along the lines of legality: If Apple was to sell a barebones motherboard along with OS X then there wouldn't be arguments about whether it's legal or not. There would also be no issues with your sound breaking after every patch

 

[bobertoq]

Wow these guys are playing dirty, lol I love it

Go Psystar!

I really pray for the day OSX is made available for all PC owners, and I am not talking about OSX86, I mean real deal OSX from Apple.

They make a killer OS, now if they would fight on the PC's home turf. they would really slaughter Windows.

No, that would mean Apple's hardware sales would plummet, resulting in more expensive Macs and a more expensive Mac OS X. Apple already has competition, and their competition is Microsoft with Dell, Asus, Gateway, etc.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

No, that would mean Apple's hardware sales would plummet, resulting in more expensive Macs and a more expensive Mac OS X. Apple already has competition, and their competition is Microsoft with Dell, Asus, Gateway, etc.

Not necessarily. Some people will buy whatever it takes to use OSX, so theres no competition for that market.
Plenty of film makers require Final Cut Pro, and will have to buy apple's hardware to use it, so theres really no competition for that demographic.

This is why i dont miss the late 80s/early 90s. I should be able to run any app on my hardware instead of buying several computers just to use specific apps.

 

[Sehnsucht]

6 x 2 GB isn't that expensive.

I was just going by the fact that an 8 GB DDR3 RAM kit (like the kind that goes into a MacBook Pro) is SEVEN HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS on NewEgg. I suppose laptop modules are just more expensive across the board...

 

[Eidorian]

I was just going by the fact that an 8 GB DDR3 RAM kit (like the kind that goes into a MacBook Pro) is SEVEN HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS on NewEgg. I suppose laptop modules are just more expensive across the board...

It's the RAM density that's costly. You can populate 6 RAM slots with 2 GB a hell of a lot more cheaply than just 2 slots with 4 GB of RAM.

Hell I have 6 GB of RAM that cost me $60 over the past two years. I might even get more DD2-800 because it's dirt cheap and AMD has some killer DDR2 motherboards. I'll have 8 GB and move the spare 2 into a HTPC I've been considering.

 

[Sehnsucht]

...I called Apple to ask if there was another place in the vicinity where I could take it since the last place needed 3 weeks to get the iMac back to the same broken state it was already in, but it turned out to be a 2-hour drive so I guess I'm stuck with the guys who had lunch on the inside of the screen glass. While I had Apple on the phone I also asked them about the battery on my new MBP; after a couple of calibration attempts I haven't been able to get it past 93% health, so I asked what the policy is on battery replacement and whether 93% is within spec. He replied "Does it run?" "Not sure what you mean", I said. "Does it, like, run... on the battery?", he said. "Well... yeah, but... you know, isn't a new battery supposed to hold a full charge?" "But", he said, "does it run for a long time? Because sometimes they do that". At this point I didn't know if he was drunk or maybe talking to a potted plant in his room, I didn't feel like a part of the conversation so I said "Is there any way to find out if the battery is defective?". "Oh yeah", he said, "they have this battery test application on a USB dongle... when you take in the iMac, bring the laptop and have them run that test."
"Okay".
"They might charge you for it though".
"O... kay".

Stellar support, really.

I'm not making light of your situation when I say this (because I realize how irritating and frustrating that must be) but the way you told it made me laugh my ass off for four million years!!! Your posts are always so entertaining...

I'm wondering if (and hoping that) Steve Jobs' successor might work to improve Apple support in other countries. Or maybe Steve Jobs himself! Apple certainly has the cash they'd need to make all those improvements and more...

 

[MattInOz]

Not a chance in hell Microsoft is behind it. That would be a nightmare for them, because if Psystar win, that means that in theory, any machine with PC hardware can get Mac OSX as the OS. Right now, Microsoft has that market cornered, because Apple refuses to allow anyone to use OS X unless it's on a computer made and sold by Apple.

I think your right and it more likely someone other than them.

On the other hand if Apple wins then MS would have a court ruling that they don't have a monopoly on Computer Operating Systems and maybe get themselves out of some of the Anti-trust provisions effecting them. They would want to Pystar to suffer a convincing defeat in court, and would keep them propped up to make sure it's a flaming death.

Although it is hard to believe they would be that arrogant.

Still think more likely some form of crime syndicate but crazier things have been true in the past.

 

[Eidorian]

I'm not making light of your situation when I say this (because I realize how irritating and frustrating that must be) but the way you told it made me laugh for four million years!!! Your posts are always so entertaining...

I'm wondering if (and hoping that) Steve Jobs' successor might work to improve Apple support in other countries. Or maybe Steve Jobs himself! Apple certainly has the cash they'd need to make all those improvements and more...

It can be a mess even stateside. It's an hour to the nearest Apple Store or 3 in the other direction. They finally added another local repair shop to the list but they only handle notebooks.

Dell gives you on-site goodness for desktops and their notebooks if you coughed up for that support level. Remote diagnosis seems to be their new feature before you have a chance to mail it in now for lower tier support levels.

I've only had to deal with Dell's education and business support. It has been top notch. Even if that one Latitude D500 took 3 site visits to fix.

 

[Sehnsucht]

It can be a mess even stateside. It's an hour to the nearest Apple Store or 3 in the other direction. They finally added another local repair shop to the list but they only handle notebooks.

I am officially spoiled. My Apple store is about 15 - 25 minutes away depending on traffic, and the hardest part is lugging a heavy boxed computer up and down a moving escalator (it's inside a shopping mall.) Luckily, though, I've not yet had to do this myself. Yet...

Last time I was in there, I saw a guy dragging his Mac Pro in. I was just thinking, "Damn dude, that must have been fun!"

 

[Eidorian]

I am officially spoiled. My Apple store is about 15 - 25 minutes away depending on traffic, and the hardest part is lugging a heavy boxed computer up and down a moving escalator (it's inside a shopping mall.) Luckily, though, I've not yet had to do this myself. Yet...

I had to lug my iMac in to prove there was a problem with my iPod Shuffle. They later released a firmware update for the iPod Shuffle that fixed the problem because every one had the same playback flaw.

Apple gives me good support when I act like an idiot. If I show any intelligence it's a trip to hell.

 

[3282868]

It can be a mess even stateside. It's an hour to the nearest Apple Store or 3 in the other direction. They finally added another local repair shop to the list but they only handle notebooks.

Dell gives you on-site goodness for desktops and their notebooks if you coughed up for that support level. Remote diagnosis seems to be their new feature before you have a chance to mail it in now for lower tier support levels.

I've only had to deal with Dell's education and business support. It has been top notch. Even if that one Latitude D500 took 3 site visits to fix.

A little known fact about AppleCare: My father, who is wheel chair bound, experienced a crashed hard drive in his iMac. While speaking with AppleCare, it turns out that on-site, no cost service is included in AppleCare (at least stateside). A technician came to his home, replaced the drive, reset the drive with Time Machine after running a barrage of system tests, and didn't leave until the iMac was up and running. No extra charge was incurred. When speaking with AppleCare, mention the fact that on-site service is included in the coverage. If the rep denies it, read the fine print, it's in there.

 

[3282868]

Not true! Configuring the new Psystar model as close as possible to a low-end Mac Pro ends up with a computer that is about $2000. The low-end Mac Pro, similarly configured, is $2500. I'd hardly call $500 "thousands more".

Mark

Easy killer. So it's not thousands less, but it's still "less"

 

[MorphingDragon]

How about outside the United States?

AppleCare is an overpriced joke, they're asking more than other manufacturers do for a 3Y warranty, only the other manufacturers include next business day on-site repairs. Apple are too cheap and greedy for that, so you have to drag your computer to the nearest Apple reseller, wherever that is.

I did just that, dragged my iMac 24" to the neighboring town to get a dead PSU repaired. It took them 3 weeks and 2 days. After I picked it up, took it home and opened the box I noticed the screen looked like crap so I wiped it off, only to find that some of the smudges and particles were on the inside of the glass. Plugged it in, ran it for 30 minutes, put it in sleep mode. When I tried to wake it up the next morning it was dead, again.

I called Apple to ask if there was another place in the vicinity where I could take it since the last place needed 3 weeks to get the iMac back to the same broken state it was already in, but it turned out to be a 2-hour drive so I guess I'm stuck with the guys who had lunch on the inside of the screen glass. While I had Apple on the phone I also asked them about the battery on my new MBP; after a couple of calibration attempts I haven't been able to get it past 93% health, so I asked what the policy is on battery replacement and whether 93% is within spec. He replied "Does it run?" "Not sure what you mean", I said. "Does it, like, run... on the battery?", he said. "Well... yeah, but... you know, isn't a new battery supposed to hold a full charge?" "But", he said, "does it run for a long time? Because sometimes they do that". At this point I didn't know if he was drunk or maybe talking to a potted plant in his room, I didn't feel like a part of the conversation so I said "Is there any way to find out if the battery is defective?". "Oh yeah", he said, "they have this battery test application on a USB dongle... when you take in the iMac, bring the laptop and have them run that test."
"Okay".
"They might charge you for it though".
"O... kay".

Stellar support, really.

Sounds Like Renaissance NZ. At Least if there was a Real Apple NZ branch I could blame Apple for lackluster service. But its all Renaissance's fault for anything here, Even PCs. Magnum Mac sucks and Renaissance are slow with repairs. I only recently found a good 3rd party repairer!!!

---

On Topic...

If I wanted a Hackintosh I could just get an EFI-X dongle, build it for cheaper and still get hardware warranty support for over 6 months. Plus ever since the eMac I have had a pure hate for Boxes. (With the exception of Workstations or slimline boxes) The boxes for the cheaper ones look plasticy and cheap. Reminds me of a Subaru Interior... and not the Legacies.

 

[applefan69]

This question is out of pure curiosity, and hopefully someone can answer. But lets pretend for a moment that in the end it turned out microsoft or some sort of close competitor of apple was behind this psystar operation.

Could apple do anything about it?

 

[MorphingDragon]

This question is out of pure curiosity, and hopefully someone can answer. But lets pretend for a moment that in the end it turned out microsoft or some sort of close competitor of apple was behind this psystar operation.

Could apple do anything about it?

No. But they could sue the company in charge for the same thing they sued Phystar for.

 

[ikir]

Crazy.... I'm going crazy reading some comments here. People says Psystart is a competitor, or love their hardware just don't get it. Psystar is parasite, they sell generic hardware without all the cool thing mac has, from the smallest thing to the engennering of hardware. Sure it cost less... would you buy a ****** pc for more than a mac pro? FireWire 800, audio out with support for digital volume, commands and mic, alluminium ultra silent custom made towers? imac slim design? iMac built in audio, webcam, mic? Nothing...

 

[Winni]

So you endorse competition doing illegal things with another companies IP in order to compete?

I agree with competition is good, but when a company uses another companies IP without permission and thus change the coding of the product so it will work for them is unethical and illegal. That is why I view Psystar as scumbags and to a certain extent with Palm( for the whole iTunes thing). You want to compete with Apple using their IP? Get their permission. If they say no, suck it up and develop your own competing product.

Firstly, Psystar are NOT doing anything illegal with another companies IP. EULAs are neither laws nor has it been confirmed by any court of law anywhere in this world that they even represent a legally binding contract.

Secondly, you are obviously not up-to-date on how easy it has become to install completely unmodified versions of OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Thirdly, what Apple is doing with the iTunes store and iPhone/iPod products is no different to what Microsoft is doing in most countries with Windows and hardware bundles. And -THAT- has been found to be illegal by German laws and probably also by laws in other countries as well.

 

[Winni]

Not a chance in hell Microsoft is behind it. That would be a nightmare for them, because if Psystar win, that means that in theory, any machine with PC hardware can get Mac OSX as the OS. Right now, Microsoft has that market cornered, because Apple refuses to allow anyone to use OS X unless it's on a computer made and sold by Apple.

100% ACK. Only PC OEMs could be interested in Psystar winning this lawsuit. Microsoft has absolutely nothing to gain but a lot to loose when an American court rules in Psystar's favor.

 

[Matek]

Crazy.... I'm going crazy reading some comments here. People says Psystart is a competitor, or love their hardware just don't get it. Psystar is parasite, they sell generic hardware without all the cool thing mac has, from the smallest thing to the engennering of hardware.

The "cool thing" Apple has is mainly OS X.

Sure it cost less... would you buy a ****** pc for more than a mac pro?

Saying a mac is different from a PC is passe for a couple of years now. They all use the same, identical generic hardware, so when you buy a Mac Pro, you're already buying a ****** pc.

FireWire 800, audio out with support for digital volume, commands and mic, alluminium ultra silent custom made towers? imac slim design? iMac built in audio, webcam, mic? Nothing...

They have FW800, they have digital audio out, you can buy a mic and a webcam and still save a considerable amount of money. OK, their towers aren't custom made, but they are some of the highest quality enclosures Antec has to offer. And they are famous for their low noise.

Sure, the dimensions of Mac Mini and iMac replacements are nowhere near comparable, but having a case you can easily open yourself has some advantages.