Psystar Open(3) manages to ship, gets unboxed by lucky customer
By Darren Murph 
posted April 16th 2009 1:29PM
posted April 16th 2009 1:29PM
[Thanks, Mike]
posted April 16th 2009 1:29PM
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I'm guessing it still comes in the random crap case and the lack of iLife included? Competition is good, but only if it is good.
Agreed. Stock shit.
And btw.:
This is stealing Apple's work.
They make Software. And they make their own computers to make that software run better.
And when you look at the DIRTY cheap price of the Software Apple takes, you see how your are given back a lot of that what you laid down for you computer.
100 for OSX. Flat. NO Ultimate edition.
79€ for iLife. Laughable.
Final Cut Express 199. A joke ...
And these guys just want to make money from the work of others.
They DID nothing for all they sell to you.
They take stock market hardware and take the OS others worked for.
The whole point of "uh, you buy a Mac OS license, so it must be legit" is bullshit.
The price of a 129 for OSX is not supposed to be a "free market" price.
Lol at the guy saying Apple takes dire cuts in software, what about the overpriced hardware? You're the reason fanboi's get the rap they deserve.
@TMM
They are stealing Apple's work by... buying it from them? Just like other OEM's are stealing microsoft's work by buying copies of windows from them?
It's not stealing if you PAY FOR IT.
Hey TMM,
tl;dr
BTW, they PAY for the license of OS X. How is that stealing?
@TMM
Stock shit?
Id rather have stock shit when it comes in the form of 2.33Ghz Quad Core CPU, 9400GT 512Mb, 1Tb HDD, 4Gb Ram for $930 instead of $1200 for 2.66Ghz Dual Core, 9400M(mobile = shit), 320Gb hdd and 2Gb of ram.
Still sans a "bag of hurt" though......
TMM your fit is completely wrong here. You may not like that they are running the Apple OS, but it is purchased and there is no stealing here. The cost of these machines is a great plus for consumers who can't afford the overpriced Mac variants and you shouldn't ignore that fact with flawed reasoning like "They make Software. And they make their own computers to make that software run better."
They make the computers to sell and make money just as they make the OS to sell and make money. Just as MS makes hardware to make money to supplement making money on software. One is not dependant on the other. Be realistic - companies need competition for us all to win - not monopolies.
Actually I believe you can get iLife on it now, but you'll have to buy iWork as well. I think it's $60 for the two on the psystar website.
Even as a hackintosh user, I have to agree with TMM, to a certain point.
The price apple puts on os x, 129$ takes into consideration that the user has an apple computer already running os x. So the new copy os x is an upgrade, not a complete new buy, or license... Kind of comparable to photoshop that is upgradable for 199$ but buying a complete new license is 699$. Apple doesn't really a have a choice if they want to keep the hardware closed then to work that way or don't get a much bigger market share by tomorrow. The development on os x probably costs load and one of the reason os x in nice is because it gets updated every year and a half.
Anyways, if apple was to make clones or sell licenses, I'd expect the price to be much higher than 129$ for non apple hardware.
Right. TMM's argument and point are valid. I don't even like Apple, but I believe if we work in a system where ownership is valued and intellectual creations are prized, then infringeent must be punished.
TMM rightly suggests that Apple subsidizes the cost of the software it provides by means of charging what they do for the hardware. If someone comes in and uses the lower price of the software and then sells that software with lower priced hardware, they are damaging Apple's business model and ptentially placing future development of the software in jeapordy.
Apple could go about this with a change in pricing policy... if the software is going on Apple hardware, price is lower, and if the software is going on other hardware, price is ridiculously high.
But how and where can you uy complete retail packages of Apple OS X? Can I go and get OS X and install it on a home built computer? (Sincere question since I don't know).
Can you update it? Or will OS updates and the like kill it? And what about installing software, will it all run as nice as on a normal mac?
It sucks, face it.
I'm an OEM kinda guy. I would never buy a computer that could run OSX unless it was an Apple made Mac.
Just like I'd never want to run Windows on my workstation G5.
Just doesn't feel right.
@Quantumphysics
Do you even know what OEM stands for or what it means?
In theory its can be updated but there are not a warranty that Apple will block futures updates.
And yes, its runs any software, in fact you can bet that (comparing product of the same price) this clone can kickass in performance. I saw a hackingtosh running noticeable quicker that one top-of-the-line Mac.
Apple hardware WAS top-notch but it was in the past, in the non-intel era. Now Apple hardware around the same that a Apple clone, the only difference is the Apple tax.
Mr Hairy mkozak8350 on Flickr is very lucky ! I was just looking up how to make a Hackintosh hah
epic win
Epic? Surely this is only worth a raised eyebrow.
@jinsei888, you and the dude down stairs (liamf555) got some differences to work out.
epic win/epic fail has about the same amount of substance in a comment as "first!"
Furthermore, I always picture the poster of such comments to be some greasy-skinned overweight coke-bottle-glasses nerd with a half-open tower in his mom's basement, sitting in filth.
Joe, I thought I was the only reader of this web site who thought that. The words "epic" and "fail" are so overused(on this site and others) and lacking in substance that it's starting to make me cringe. Maybe it's the fact that I'm now in my third decade on this planet, but words like "fail" and "epic", along with the acronyms such as "FTW" and "lol", are turning me off to internet forums in general.
epic fail
lucky? only if you lack the ability to DIY.
I hackintoshed my dell inspiron 531 desktop and everything works like it should, updates, installing software, the only thing is parallel takes a little messing around if you install osx on the same drive as a windows install as boot camp won't work.
It should run if Psystar did it correctly.
I just built a new hackintosh a couple weeks ago and the thing rocks! Q9400@3.2ghz, 8GB RAM, Geforce 9800GT, 500GB HD.
Everything runs great & no problems installing apps, no issues with software update, etc. I'm nervous about the impending 10.5.7 release so I backed up my disk last night just in case.
Hey Funny Coincidence I'm building a hackintosh with the exact same config as yours although i'm going with 2 1tb hard disks. Isnt the Q9400 (SLB6B) a 2.66Ghz processor? also what Motherboard did you use?
its called overclocking Dark Prince.
there are some good Gigabyte board that work really well. I am running my hackintosh with a P35-DS3R MoBo and it runs like a champ.
Look at it now, kids, since this is going to be a museum piece soon. If Apple wins the case then Psystar is clearly toast but even if Psystar wins I don't see them surviving since the Dells of this world will then enter the market. Right now they survive because no one else is really interested in going to court over the matter - it's better to let Psystar (or whoever is actually backing them) to pay the legal fees and then reap the benefits later, if there is anything to reap.
>> I don't see them surviving since the Dells of this world will then enter the market
No, if Psystar wins Apple will tightly control the sale of copies of OS X, and tie sales to the ownership of a Mac. Dell will not enter the market, there won't be any means for them to do so.
Silly question but what makes you think that Apple would be allowed to control the sale of OS X to only select vendors? Surely the whole point of this case is to prove whether, legally, they are permitted to restrict which hardware runs their software. If they are told that they can't do this then logically any other company would be entitled to buy OS X licenses and install it on their hardware, no matter who that company is.
Simple, you only get OS X disks when you buy a Mac. Point updates become big downloads or alternatively can be purchased with the presentation of a macintosh serial number. The issue here seems to be that Psystar is able to buy the copies of OS X, if apple removes that all together Psystar is out of the picture.
It's draconian, but it would work.
I was going to respond in detail but matt merrit nailed it. They simply won't be able to purchase OS X without buying a Mac to go with it, or proving that they have a Mac on which to install it.
Won't stop hackintoshes, but it'll guarantee Psystar dies and Dell, et. al. can't load it on their hardware.
Then IBM could go back 20 years and sue all the people that made IBM clones. This suit won't stand up in court since Apple switched chips.
Actually, if Apple loses, anti-trust regulators around the world will be watching to see if they try to lock software sales to hardware. If they do, expect the EU to lead the charge with an immediate investigation into anti-trust violations. If you think they were tough on MS, just wait. EU anti-trust regulators faced Apple down over iTunes pricing and Apple blinked quickly--agreeing to EU terms within 6 months of the anti-trust investigation beginning.
My question to you Chad, is what if Apple describes the OS as a part of their computer. If they stop selling it separately, the only way to get it will be through owning a Mac - essentially making it a part of the machine.
Matt,
My answer to you is that the EU would reject that argument in a heart beat (laughing loudly too, while delivering the opinion), especially now that Apple's using standard Intel processors and PC guts. Look how they stood up to MS on Explorer.
Matt: Here's an idea. Pull an Acorn, and put the OS in ROM.
Works better when the OS is 4 MiB like it is for the Acorn machines, but it still works when it's 4 GiB, with how cheap flash is nowadays.
boo whoo someone wants to get into the apple club without paying the aforementioned high price and first born child. I didn't wine like this when boot camp came out.
LOL! Engadget got pwnd
In my opinio, it cost more when you buy it with dual boot! It's not cheaper tha a mac. And if Psystar lose the battle with apple then people who have bought the open3 would be shit out of luck!
yeah they take severe cuts, like the ipod nano the other day that cost about 23 dollars to make ,,,, and sells for ?
apple = overpriced
I built a hackintosh a month ago. core i7 9800gtx+ 6gb tripple channel ram. 1500 dollars less than the equivalent mac pro. I used my leopard family pack disk that I have for my mac mini htpc and my macbook. Apple got their money for their os from me. Also, I will not use 2 different os's for my main operating system. I need the power of a desktop and enjoy os x. I don't want to spend 1500 more for a single xeon processor that offers no real advantage over a core i7 unless one crash in 5 years costs you thousands of dollars. If I had to use windows to get an affordable powerful pc then i would be switching all of my computers over to windows and not give apple any more money. With my hackintosh, I will buy a new macbook and a new mac mini htpc when its time to upgrade them or when they break. So in the end we both win.
I think its ridiculous to call it stealing when a $130 license has been purchased. That is roughly the cost of windows home premium.
I do wonder if these psystar hackintoshes are really going to be good for the average user. Seems like even though they can update now, that they will run into trouble in the future. A geek like me isn't going to have problems finding out how to get everything working again with apple changes something. The average user will. I would think that anyone with the knowledge to keep these computers up and running would be better off building their own anyway.
The reason it's stealing, even though you bought that license, is because you're using the software in a way that is not allowed by the license.
The license is monopolistic and not necessarily legally binding. Apple could also lose me as a lucrative customer. I buy a lot of their software and hardware.
BZZZZT wrong. If you're using a Core i7, then it's not "equivalent to a Mac Pro". The Mac Pro uses Nehalem Xeons. How is that the same thing as a Core i7? In fact that $1500 you mentioned is about the cost difference between those two chips. Regardless of whether you THINK they're the same thing or not, they are NOT the same thing. It's pretty cut and dried. Xeons are workstation processors, the Mac Pro is a workstation. What don't people understand about that?
Bottom line, you get what you pay for, therefore the word "overpriced" does not apply, just like how when you pay more for a Mustang GT, you get a bigger engine. Also just FYI, Apple doesn't make any money on software. They make money on hardware. That's kind of the whole reason they're taking Psystar to court in the first place.
Put the buzzer down, Quizshow. This aint Jeopardy.
He noted that the two weren't the same. The Zeon is different, but not in any way he cares about. And not to the tune of $1500
Do you put words in people's mouths much? I never used the word "overpriced". Go back and read it again.
Also, the i7 is a nehalem chip. The only difference between a single processor nehalam i7 and a single processor nehalem xeon is that the xeon supports ECC memory. ECC is slower than non ECC memory. It is slightly more stable, which is why i said that the xeon is a positive in a situation where one crash every few years could cost you thousands of dollars. For most people however (even power users), the the Xeon with its ECC memory is actually slower than the i7 with its non-ECC memory without any disadvantages.
What I'm saying is, don't just say "ITS A WORKSTATION PROCESSOR" without having any idea what it means and expecting to be right. Do some research first.
Xeons also support dual processor configurations and traditionally have more cache. But you're right, and hes an ass.