Apple Mac Clones Now Available

By Tuan Nguyen in Los Angeles, published on April 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: , , | Themes: Business, Desktop Computers
Syndication: Add to your Google homepage Add to My Yahoo!

Computer system integrator Pystar announced its Mac clone platform called OpenMac. Essentially a PC with Apple’s OS X operating system, Psystar claims that its systems will offer customers the full experience of a Mac, performance and all, without the Apple price tag.

Unlike run of the mill PCs running hacked versions of OS X, Psystar claims that its systems run unmodified copies of OS X. Starting at $400, Psystar offers customers a computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 processor running at 2.2GHz. The system has Intel’s integrated GMA 950 graphics, 2GB of memory standard and 250GB of hard drive space.

Psystar says its able to run unmodified copies of thanks to the use of an EFI V8 BIOS emulator, and this is a $155 option that’s required if you want to run OS X on the OpenMac computer. Psystar claims that its OpenMac systems can offer users Mac Pro level performance with a price tag of a Mac Mini. Despite this claim, Mac Pros actually now come standard with dual quad-core Intel Xeon processors.

It’s been a very long time since Mac clones were available. When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded, the cloning licenses were quickly abolished, leading an end to Mac clone businesses. OS X’s end user license agreement (EULA) actually forbids the installation of OS X on anything other than a real Mac. This also means no hacking, and no emulation.

There’s no news yet if Apple has contacted Psystar, but it is more than likely that Jobs and co are watching if not already sendings lawyers at Psystar’s way.

Psystar’s website appears to be down at the time of this writing.

Comments | Print | Send to a friend
Slideshows related to this news
  Apple iPhone 
Apple iPhone

18 photos

  Apple iPhone 
Apple iPhone

17 photos

  Apple iPhone 
Apple iPhone

25 photos

  Apple iPhone 
Apple iPhone

17 photos

Google Ads

Comments


ap90033 04/14/2008 10:35 AM
Hide
-0+
ap90033
Anyone used this?
Deleted profile 04/14/2008 11:11 AM
Hide
-0+
So, is it spelled Pystar, Psytar, or Psystar?
Slack 04/14/2008 11:55 AM
Hide
-0+
Slack
Hopefully this will take off, Apple is way over-priced anyway. Considering the fact if you open the case its just an mid-level intel based pc that you cannot upgrade. I would love to try the OS-x but I don't want it in $1000 case with $500 pc parts in it.
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 12:14 PM
Hide
-0+
Same performance as a mac Pro? get a life. Not with integrated graphics. marketing lies, err hype strikes again.
shmuls 04/15/2008 12:19 PM
Hide
-0+
shmuls
Get the bloody name right, first it's pystar, then psytar, then psystar and back to psytar again!! I've always been a big fan of Tom's, but this is just shoddy reporting!!

Oh, and I spoke to Psystar today about international shipping, and good news for our European readers, they would be willing to ship to ?some? European countries on a per-order basis. And yes, it?s Psystar...
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 6:16 AM
Hide
-0+
the only EFI emulator that i know of in existense is Netkas PCEFI and i doubt that this knockoff company did the reverse engineering themselves.
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 6:15 AM
Hide
-0+
"Slick: Hopefully this will take off, Apple is way over-priced anyway. Considering the fact if you open the case its just an mid-level intel based pc that you cannot upgrade. I would love to try the OS-x but I don't want it in $1000 case with $500 pc parts in it."

Dream on. Build a Mac at Apple.com/store and then build a comparable PC and you'll see they're not so overpriced, in fact the Mac usually turns out cheaper.

Plus you don't have to deal with all the headaches that Windoze induces.
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 6:16 AM
Hide
-0+
Slack: ps: google for Leopard PC install and you'll see it's relatively easy to dl a leopard install DVD, perform a few simple hacks, and you can install it on a pc.
asdasd123123 04/15/2008 7:24 AM
Hide
-0+
asdasd123123
"Dream on. Build a Mac at Apple.com/store and then build a comparable PC and you'll see they're not so overpriced, in fact the Mac usually turns out cheaper."

Hahahaha! Are you high on CRACK or something? XD
Check a ram upgrade on a mac, vs real price for PC. 5x price tag.
Cuddles 04/15/2008 9:45 AM
Hide
-0+
Cuddles
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822238001 Mac
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822101077 PC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822216040 PC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146754 Mac
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820161183 PC

I could go on but you are starting to see the point. I could build 3 PC's with all the software one would need including Office 2007 Student for the price of 1 Mac without any software. What's more is the 1 Mac wouldn't even be able to perform as well as the 3 PC's I had built. This is my problem with Mac.
"I can run 150 applications at once... Haha Windows!" Mac
"Uhmm OK. 108 applications and haven't hit 30% on the processor yet." PC
"Damn it!" Mumble Grumble. "Were more secure!" Mac
"Uhmm on the competition you were hacked first and the only reason we were hacked was because of Adobe." PC.
"Damn You! Damn you straight to hell!" Mac.
"Did I tell you about all the Games that are coming out for PC yet and hey didn't you say you were 64 bit... What's that 32 bit underlining I see?" PC
"Auggghhh...." Mac switches off.
"Wait... I didn't get to tell you about. Guess he had a commercial to go to or something." PC


Deleted profile 04/15/2008 10:02 AM
Hide
-0+
Must have been bandwith/server problems earlier I can see the site just fine.
lolknight 04/15/2008 10:35 AM
Hide
-0+
lolknight
"Dream on. Build a Mac at Apple.com/store and then build a comparable PC and you'll see they're not so overpriced, in fact the Mac usually turns out cheaper."

I built a MacBookPro a few months ago, according to the specs of a $1600 ASUS laptop, and it turned out to be $2700 for the Mac.

Mac fanboys didn't believe me and didn't believe ASUS (which you would know is a great brand if you're into computers at all), and demanded I build a Dell system with the same specs. I built one, and it turned out to be $1650.

I assume you haven't built any PC's in a while?

"Psystar says its able to run unmodified copies of thanks to the use of an EFI V8 BIOS emulator, and this is a $155 option that?s required if you want to run OS X on the OpenMac computer"

EFI V8 is the efi emulator designed by the OSx86 coummunity (namely Netkas). This mod is free if you know where to look, and they're charging $155 for it? wow?
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 1:32 AM
Hide
-0+
You guys are out of luck. Seems the legal beagles at One Infinite Loop descended upon the hapless lad (who runs Psystar out of his garage, no less) and the "OpenMac" is a) now known as "Open Computer", b) no longer has the option to have OSX 10.5 pre-installed and c) is currently marked 'unavailable'.
KaiserZr 04/15/2008 4:41 AM
Hide
-0+
KaiserZr
Correct me if I am wrong, didn't a lot of people get mad at Microsoft for making companies use their web browser if they bought their OS. Now what is the difference between that and what Apple does with making people buy their hardware in order to use their OS? I call BS, and I am happy to see that a company is fighting back in a way that doesn't involve hacking the original OS. Windows may have it bugs, but I will take the gaming compatibility and the ability to upgrade the hardware as I wish, with XP over Mac OS any day.

Now if Apple would gain some business sense and allow their OS to be used with any hardware, I would buy a copy of it and use it and quad boot scenario (XP, Vista, Ubuntu Linux, and Mac OS)...but I would need to upgrade to a terra-byte upgrade.
gxsolace 04/15/2008 7:58 AM
Hide
-0+
gxsolace
@Hyram
"Open Computing is an OSx86 compatible hardware platform that is capable of running 'vanilla' OS X Leopard kernels. Why pay more for a Mac you can't upgrade or buy a used one when you can have an Open Computer for less? The Open Computer can now be purchased with Leopard included and preinstalled to make it fully functional out of the box!"

http://psystar.com/shop/openmac.html

Seems like it's still available to me.
smeghead4269 04/15/2008 8:04 AM
Hide
-0+
smeghead4269
The OpenMac is, in fact, now known as the Open Computer as Hyram pointed out. But last I checked (30 seconds ago), it was still available and preinstallation of Leopard was still an option. Same goes for the OpenPro.
Deleted profile 04/15/2008 9:41 AM
Hide
-0+
I like this pattern. I like this pattern. I wish this EFI emulator were more readily available. I don't know about this brand, I just know that my Dell Inspiron that I bought for under $400.00 with a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM (now 4GB) would be sweet as hell for Mac OS X.
Deleted profile 04/16/2008 12:46 PM
Hide
-0+
Can't email the writer anymore so I will post on here. I lest gaps in the paragraphs where they make no sense. This is supposed to be a Tech site so lets get technical about writing the articles correctly.


Psystar says its able to run unmodified copies of thanks to the use of an EFI V8 BIOS emulator, and this is a $155 option that?s required if you want to run OS X on the OpenMac computer. Psystar claims that its OpenMac systems can offer users Mac Pro level performance with a price tag of a Mac Mini. Despite this claim, Mac Pros actually now come standard with dual quad-core Intel Xeon processors.

It?s been a very long time since Mac clones were available. When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded, the cloning licenses were quickly abolished, leading an end to Mac clone businesses. OS X?s end user license agreement (EULA) actually forbids the installation of OS X on anything other than a real Mac. This also means no hacking, and no emulation.

There?s no news yet if Apple has contacted Psystar, but it is more than likely that Jobs and co are watching if not already sendings lawyers at Psystar?s way.
Deleted profile 04/16/2008 12:47 PM
Hide
-0+
See I made a mistake in my 2nd sentence but there is not any way to go back and edit it. But the writer can.
Deleted profile 04/16/2008 12:49 PM
Hide
-0+
I guess they won't let me put gaps in the paragraphs????????????????

Still it just sounds like a caveman talking.

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



  •
Submit my comment

Google Ads