“When we first heard about EFI-X—a simple USB dongle that’ll let you magically install Leopard on your PC—it sounded too fantastic to be true. Well, I used it to turn my gaming PC into a Mac Pro over the weekend, and I’m somewhat amazed to say this, but it works perfectly,” Matt Buchanan reports for Gizmodo.
“I grabbed all the updates straight from Apple—including 10.5.5 last night, so you don’t have to wait for a hacked patch like you would running a typical Hackintosh—installed a whole bunch of software and have been using it for several days. It runs beautifully, just like a real Mac Pro,” Buchanan reports.
“Its only real ‘catch,’ is that you have to use the supported hardware, not a very long list indeed. But outside of the Gigabyte motherboard requirement (reportedly some Asus boards using a P45 chipset also work), it’s actually fairly generic,” Buchanan reports.
Full review, with video of the US$155 EFI-X in action, here.
EFI-X America’s website is here.
MacDailyNews Take: While the product may (or may not) be legal to sell, we do know that they are using Apple images of Mac OS X Leopard on their website, presumably without Apple’s permission. Also of note is that Apple’s Software License Agreement for Mac OS X explicitly states: This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Wandering joe” for the heads up.]
You put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig
“You put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
SB. You put lipstick on a plug, but it’s still a plug.
People complain of the “high cost” of purchasing a mac, but then are willing to pay $150 for this…
@Whatever:
Can we please leave Sarah Palin out of this…
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Yeah, with something like this I can build a dual quad core, dual monitor high end video card Mac for less than $1000… less than half the cost of a Mac Pro. Yeah I can see that being handy. The only reason I would not buy something like this is because I know they will be sued by Apple and might be forced to reveal who they sold to.
Sorry, but I am typing this on my MacBook and I really wanted a box from Apple that is what I described above. Call it a Mac Mini ‘Pro’ – just needs lots of RAM, a high pair of end processors, and high end video board. No more expansion needed. Apple could sell it for a starting price of $999 profitably but do not.
Who is Whatever and who did he call a pig?
‘a high pair of end processors’ yes that should be “a pair of high end processors”
Surely this breaks the law of copyright?
Not sure it isn’t perfectly good for Apple though…
All those people who would switch with an existing PC, get to love OSX and then persuade others, then buy Mac hardware and etc etc…
A virtuous circle…
@Jaxson – I doubt you can build a dual processor computer for less than $2000 since those logic boards are expensive and they only support the Xeon chips (which are also more expensive). No doubt, though, that you could build a quad-core for less than $1000.
I assume that people who resort to making their very own hackintosh and using these types of things simply don’t get the basic concept… Time = Money.
Okay, I get the tinkerer imperative, but clearly either they do not value their own time or they can be bought for cheap.
I’d suggest they spare themselves the misery and get a used Mac. But I guess the hackintoshers are used to the Pee Sea world where every DOSBox™ is for one use only. Real Macs keep going for years.
I wonder how long it’ll take for Apple to release the lawyers?
“a high pair of end processors”
Jaxson, you can find those by the dozen near the 14th Street Apple Store in Manhattan. Hint: look for shaved heads with leather vests.
@Mr. Reee
Good one!
Funniest thing is this from the Efi-x website:
“Computing is a serious thing for us as well as for you, and we all know that saving a penny will most likely spoil our digital life.”
Too right. I wouldn’t run anything but high class and high quality Mac hardware. Ergo, no Efi-x required!
There would be need to do this if Apple would let us use any GPU in a MacPro.
I know four people who would buy a MacPro immediately (today) if it they could put their GPUs of choice in it — the same way you can RAM or hard drives — so that they can play games in Boot Camp with high spec rigs.
I love my MacBook Pro, and the wife’s MacBook, and the kid’s iMac, but I still use a PC for gaming — and I so wish that I could use a MacPro instead. But without this option, I may consider buying one of these EFix instead.
Everyone knows that EULAs are only as good as the paper they are written on, and unless you use your own paper they aren’t even worth that.
Fair Use is a bitch, ain’t it?
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/gpu-sweeney-interview.ars
GPUs may not be that much of an issue going forward…
Not as perfect as the headline makes it seem….
“Okay, there was a slight hitch. My video card, an Nvidia 8800GT, isn’t supported by the firmware EFiX ships with. EFiX already has the update on the site, but its updater is only coded for 32-bit Windows. If, like me, you run Vista 64-bit, you will have to install Vista 32-bit on the drive you intend to put Leopard on, just to update the stupid firmware.
After I did that, everything was peachy. The only slight inconsistency is that my 8800GT shows up as a 256MB card, when it’s actually a 512MB card, and my 1066MHz RAM is only running at 800MHz apparently. But that’s sorta trivial.”
Get a Mac!
What if you put lipstick on a dongle? Or what if you put an Apple logo on your PC… Using Lipstick.
So, is EFI-X assuming you bring (or steal) your own copy of OSX?
And yes, I’m also one of those MacHeads who wishes Apple would offer a headless iMac.
Not the Mac Mini—crappy video card, crappy HD drive, but the full innards of the iMac 24 inch without the screen.
Seems like Apple is big enough to diversify now but maybe they aren’t.
But I guess the hackintoshers are used to the Pee Sea world where every DOSBox™ is for one use only.
Given the ongoing costs of anti-whatever subscriptions, frequently rebuilding your disk after problems arise, and generally high cost of ownership (TCO), I had always referred to it as the Fee Cee world.
Both fit.
After I did that, everything was peachy. The only slight inconsistency is that my 8800GT shows up as a 256MB card, when it’s actually a 512MB card, and my 1066MHz RAM is only running at 800MHz apparently. But that’s sorta trivial.”
Today I got a ticket for driving my Porsche too slow on the Interstate. I tried explaining to the officer I couldn’t go any faster than 35 mph.
It’s nice when a product is hot so many 3rd parties are willing to do free R&D;for you. Now Jobs just need to make some Apple logo stamps so we can start stamping PC boxes to make them official “Apple-labeled” computers. Cost of Apple stamp: $500.
I love lipstick on my dongle.
What are you talking about? You can put most any Windows video card in a Mac Pro… the catch is that you can only use it in Windows Boot Camp mode.