OpeniMac offers cut-rate, aesthetically challenged Apple clones direct from Argentina
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted December 4th 2008 5:41PM
posted December 4th 2008 5:41PM
After seeing how well Psystar did with its Open Computer, we think we'll just build our own Hackintosh rather than jump into this OpeniMac we've recently been hepped to. But who knows? Maybe you've been dying to send your hard earned money down to some shady Argentinean characters. In that case, this 2.53GHz machine should be right up your alley. Selling for $990 (or $1,330 with an LG 19-inch monitor), the base unit ships with 2GB memory, 320GB storage, and a 256MB ATI Radeon HD PRO. If you've got deep pockets, $1,710 will get you the OpeniMacPRO, a 3.0GHz machine with a 20-inch widescreen monitor and 4GB RAM. But seriously -- who knows where the money goes? And who knows whether you'll ever see the machine? One thing is for certain, however -- this case is as ugly as sin.
[Thanks, Santiago]
[Thanks, Santiago]
I'm from Argentina but I live elsewhere. It is imposible to buy a Mac there, its price policy is... well is bad. However I wouldn't buy a "openimac" have you read the general terms? Anyway, if you guys from america want to have it translated, I think I could do it, is really juicy.
The price seems to be intendeed to Argentina...they don't need to specify if they are using U$S or Pesos, since is for Argentina only...it's in spanish anyway. Now, I have no idea at all about this machines...and they costs about 500 U$S...which is about the same for a normal computer...you can get a PC here for 240 U$S (a big massive crap...but a computer at least). Weird thing.
Yaaay, I'm from Argentina, I guess I'll spend 1710 dollars on a nasty clone pc with a nice open apple on it!!! Bring it!
Ok, let me show my opinion as an Argentinean:
Apple hasn't got "direct appearance" (I don't know if you call it like that) in Argentina, there's not a direct sales channel, so you have to buy to "official representatives" which have preposterous prices compared to official Apple stores, for example ALFA UNO:
http://www.alfauno.com.ar/listado.php?idCategoria=1&idSubcategoria=3
American dollar currency is 3.4 Argentine peso, so for the 20" iMac you'll be paying , $2352, $652 more for a legitimate iMac.
I'm pretty sure that this Argentinean company is not planning on worldwide sales for their products, I don't even understand what this picture is doing in Engadget news, they're just offering a cheaper way for Argentinean designers and apple enthusiasts to access this system.
I repeat this, these guys are not interested in selling their clones all over the world, just in Argentina.
ooh btw, commas are used for separating decimals and periods for thousands, millions, and so on in South America.
"Send in the CLONE!"
Sí sí!
definitely!
Sounds like a petty good deal to me! I like it!
jess
http://www.privacy.de.tc
I'm from Argentina, all tech stuff here is by far a lot more expensive than USA. Apple products too. But that's not the problem, the problem is the Per Capita Income here, it's about U$S 680 (AR$ 2300) so if I want to buy a Mac here (20" imac) it would cost me U$S 1617 (I would have to work about 3 months to get one), that's why an apple clone is an "interesting" option. Anyway I would never buy an OpenIMac.
PS Sorry for my bad english!
I really don't see the point of a company like this. The OSX86 community has made finding compatible hardware and installing OS X on it easy enough for anyone with sufficient time, inclination and aptitude to build their own.
The obvious rebuttle to my stance is, "What about the poor graphic designers/videographers/fanboys/whoever who really need a Mac but can't afford one and don't have the expertise to build their own." There are several things wrong with this statement but the primary one is that their system will break eventually. It might be a software update that's incompatible with the non-standard hardware, it could be a drive failure or a video card burn out ... so many things can go wrong and if they don't know how to build the system, they won't know how to fix the system and it's unlikely they'll find anyone who can support them.
I like OS X; I like cheap hardware that can still perform well. I wish Apple would release a version of OS X that has support for a broad range of hardware. Until that happens though, people who can't figure out how to install a KEXT should not have Hackintoshes. Something will eventually go wrong and then they'll have either a very expensive Windows machine or a very expensive paper weight.
U$S != US$
There's no way in hell duties on computer components is 100% here in Argentina. Shouldn't be more than 20-30% tops.
Sales tax on computer related stuff is only 10.5%, versus 21% for most merchandise. City tax in Buenos Aires is another 3.5% (Ingresos Brutos). Then we have the extra freight.
IMHO it's the absurd distributor markups that make Apple stuff so expensive.
A hard drive in Argentina costs about 40-50% more than in the US. Why are Apple products 100% more expensive?