Gizmodo reader Patrick (Whiskeyfrown) has received and is using “one of the few Psystar Open Computing machines that have made it into the wild, and he was generous enough to make a video showing the machine (including the connections in the back to the monitor to show that it’s legit),” Jason Chen reports for Gizmodo.
“The thing boots up and runs pretty damn fast, says Patrick, but Software Update won’t recognize it so you won’t be able to patch. System Profiler thinks that it’s a Mac Pro,” Chen reports.
Full article, with video, here.
Why didn’t any of the so-called journalists do this?
Is he running this at an air force base runway or a conference room” Darn the beast is loud!
I mean actually buying a machine and evaluating it. From the video, we can’t be sure this was a Psystar vs. a home-made Hackintosh. And we see nothing besides a screen booting up. Nice job, tech news organizations of the world.
I’ve seen articles from writers from Cnet, MacWorld, and ZDnet all saying they were buying one. Seems Patrick was just the first to get his (he’s probably in Florida) the “real” journalist are in Cali at least three days further away.
Wasting Money.
Looks just like another PCBox
look & feel can’t be the same like a real Mac.
Warranty? Support? ? ? ? ?
Well its very loud, this is true.
With no updates however, its a serious security risk.
And potentially useless. Updates provide new feature improvements that create value. And at 500 bucks, I think id rather go for a cheap imac. While the imac is minimum 1099, it still a better deal considering it also comes with a real video card.
In fact I would say that if the mini had a legitimate video card that we as a consumer could choose, it would be the perfect mid tower. Drives can always be added as externals.
Give me a mini with an upgradeable video card and im sold.
Otherwise i got to stick with my imac.
The thing sounds like a vacuum cleaner!!!
As well as point upgrades, how do install OS X 10.6 on it when it comes out? I’m pretty sure my current iMac will be able to run it with no issues, my other machines are 3-4 years old so will possibly run it but if they don’t aren’t of importance. The machine has no lifespan from the moment you buy it. Everyone knows you can get OS X to run on a non-Mac PC, but that doesn’t make it a good idea and definitely not one you should be paying for.
Apple should sell OS X for PC’s.
Just don’t support it on non Apple hardware, or give it half-assed support, much like M$ does to get people to upgrade.
EFI is evil.
Next week or so we have 10.5.3 available and Psystar Open Computer is worthless…
Strange that apple hasn’t said anything…
I’m wondering whether or not, Apple thinks it’s not worth the venture of getting their legal teams out, or possibly wait for psystar to become a fat wagu meat, waiting to smack it down with the legal team, and sizzle the thin slices of wa-gu fatty meat over a nice barbie….
or maybe Apple is testing the waters…. all this is venting more conspiracy
It LOOKS like Psystar has begun to ship what they promised.
Be careful – you get what you pay for.
Wouldn’t have it under a Christmas tree and I wouldn’t advise anyone to buy one either.
Lanzarote is right, what about service and support?
If you want the true Mac experience get the real thing!!!
You see this is a fine example of what will happen if Apple let clone maker do this. You will get the great OS X alright, but the rest of the build is crap. It will run, but all the great things we take for granted with top of the line industrial design, fit and finish from Apple will be gone. No thanks. I’d rather have the real thing.
Sorry Patrick, if you think that’s a fast boot, your insane
That’s just a normal boot time of any recent hardware Mac.
Now my RAID 0 10,000 RPM G5 with Tiger boots faster than new Mac’s, in about 10 seconds. But that’s a gaming box naturally.
OS X can boot much faster than what everyone see’s in a factory box, but Apple purposely slows down OSX , even how the images appear on the screen for consistancy.
I’ve seen special versions of OS X in Cupertino that boot within 3 seconds. YES 3 SECONDS!!
So why don’t we get to have this SUPERCHARGED VERSION OF OSX???!!!
Noisy… and with this terrible and horrific DOS intro! Berk and re-berk!
Cool! Just add an ionizer to it and you will have the perfect computer/air purifier.
People will be like “Wow! That OS X smells great!”
What’s with the walk behind and the fondling of the cables? It looks like cheap amateur geek porn. Almost expected to see jiz dripping off the Dell logo!
No POST tone either.
This ain’t a Mac, just some cobbled together parts stuffed into a box that somebody got to boot to Mac OS.
Crap like is what you would have if Apple would license it’s OS out to box assemblers.
Possible Apple Business and Legal Strategy –
(Maybe why Apple has been quiet)
A shady operation announces it’s selling illegal Mac clones;
Apple smacks them down with an apparently heavy-handed legal response.
Effect:
the problem is eradicated at some expense and with some (unwarranted) negative publicity to Apple for sticking to the letter of the law.
OR
Apple waits until the company outright rips off a bunch of dupes, or ships a shoddy, short-lived product.
Effect:
The problem goes away on its own when the “company” leaves bare wires sticking out of the walls of their office/factory, and no light bulbs, and no forwarding address, people learn again not to trust Open-Mac purveyours, and instead stick with legitimate Apple software and hardware. Apple acquires no negative publicity, at no expense.
I hope Apple takes these guys to the cleaner. They don’t have a legal or moral leg to stand on.
Yeah,
That thing’s louder than my Mirror-Drive Door Wind Tunnel, Dual G4 1.25. . . . Much louder!
At least the MDD sounds like a Convair 880 taxiing to the gate, . . . not an Oreck.
I wouldn’t buy it for a dollar.
the thing was SO noisy!!! you get what you pay for (my cousin had osx running on a p.c. 4 years ago)
@ DJ Jac
“You get what you pay for.”
QFT, brother.
For the life of me, I don’t understand how this company thinks it’s legal to steal someone else’s intellectual property and sell it without actually licensing the IP. If a person wants Mac OS X then they buy a Macintosh otherwise they can just buy something else. Apple apparently wants to control their IP the way they see best fit for their company.
Besides, what good is a Mac system that won’t update via the Software Update feature?