New PC runs Mac system for less

Macolytes around the world were buzzing this week with news that an online hardware vendor called Psystar.com is selling a $555 PC called the "Open Computer" that runs the Macintosh OS X Leopard operating ...

[leeann]

You might want to look further into Psystar: they're looking more and more like a sham by the second.

They've changed the address on their website 4 times (in an hour or so), they won't take credit cards, they won't answer their phone, there is absolutely no history on the web for the company until the day they announced...

[Paul]

This article should have been researched a bit more. Turns out that Psystar and their "product" are probably not real.

[Duh]

Leeann, I'm curious where you got that information from? After reading your comment, I went to the Web site and through the checkout process. It appears they accept Visa, Master and AMEX.

The domain was registered 2000-01-13 and expires on 2009-01-13. The registrar history is as follows:

Registrar History: 1 registrar

NS History: 13 changes on 5 unique name servers over 6 years.

IP History: 16 changes on 11 unique name servers over 3 years.

Whois History: 8 records have been archived since 2001-11-10.

I also called the toll-free number listed on the site, and waited about 20 seconds before an operator answered the phone.

My source: http://whois.domaintools.com/psystar.com

[John D]

http://gizmodo.com/380488/psystar-exposed-loo...

before you buy a psystar read this ^^^

I canciled my order after I read it...

[GeekGirl007]

Psystar reminds me of the good old American story; company operates out of their house, their business booms overnight and the rest is pretty obvious! Hum... reminds me of Bill Gates! I think they rock and people should stop being so negative! Give them a break, I beat they didnt expect all this publicity.
"TEAM PSYSTAR".

[Boca Boy]

Even if it Psystar isn't a sham.... you won't be able to get updates for OSX from Apple directly. You will have to wait until the "OSx86" community comes up with a way to run the latest update without hosing the your new wonderful machine. If you want piece of mind that you will actually be able to get the latest updates for OSX from Apple, run OSX, and run Windows... just buy from Apple.

The headaches of updating wouldn't offset the perceived money saved. Psystar is just commercializing the work that the OSx86 community has been doing for the last couple of years.

[RegW]

Gee, I wonder for whom "GeekGirl007" is a shill..

[TDW]

I agree with the others; this article hasn't been researched properly. Beside the issue with the company probably being a sham; installing, running and maintaining this machine isn't as easy as the author makes it out to be.

You cannot run the Mac OS X disk directly on this hardware, it requires a series of hacks to get it running on the hardware. To do it yourself, requires a deal of technical expertise that the average user won't have. Of course Psystar can install it on the hardware if you buy a copy of Leopard, but that ends the software support that they will provide; and that's what the average user will need. They will only provide hardware support. Psystar will direct buyers to a OSX86 forum for support, and the members there are not really happy about that. There has been lively discussions about this.

The major issues any person buying this will have is installing Apple updates. Since this is not official Apple hardware, Apple may (and has) placed programming in their updates that will lock up the system, rendering the computer unusable. The only options after that is installing from a backup or reinstalling the OS, which I doubt Psystar will cover. If that happens, the average user is on their own; most people with a pc with no operating system. When Apple released the 10.5.2 update, they had programming in it that destroyed many "Hackintoshes" as they are called. People that blindly installed the update was forced to reinstall their systems, losing data. I strongly suggest, unless a person has experience building their own PC and installing Windows or Linux systems, they steer clear of this. The "cheap" price is not worth it. Just get a mac mini, because that's what it will cost after you add the price of Leopard to this machine. It may not have all the features, but you get a copy of iLife and real support for both the hardware and software.

I recently built a PC and installed Leopard and Windows XP and I had some issues getting it running, and I've built PCs for years. I've gotten it working and it's very stable. I'm saving up for a Macbook Pro to replace my Powerbook which died; which is the reason why I tried to install the Mac OS on my PC in the first place.

The average user needs a computer that will be supported in case of both software and hardware. The machine Psystar offers isn't it. Let the buyer beware.

[John D]

You know If I could hear from one person that they actually recieved a product from these people I might let my order stand but I have yet to hear one person say I recieved a Machine from these people

[RegW]

Execellent link John D. The Guardian has a good blog on this as well:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/0...

Kind of makes you wonder if Himowitz researched this article at all, never mind properly. But hey, there's a bridge in Brooklyn he might want to buy from me...

[Kim]

This is stupid. First of all Pystar is a hoax. Secondly, you go off on how expensive Macs are (yeah, right) in the lead and then you admit farther down (I guess you thought if you buried it the PC people wouldn't notice?) then you mention that there IS NO Mac PREMIUM.

Just buy a decent computer to begin with. And, finally, if actually paid good money for this 'clone' then decide that you don't like 'Macs' then you haven't really tried one, IMHO.

Your loss.

[Kim]

Have you never heard of a Mac mini? Great computer, about the same price as the (hoax) Pystar, BTW, but it's a real Mac, not a clone. You buy a clone, you might as well by a PC. If the pystar were real, it would exist somewhere in the 'not quite a PC, definitely NOT a Mac' category.

[MacDuff]

The grave problem is that unknowing readers may take this column at face value, place an order (if they're even able to) and be stuck with a rip-off; an unequal offering when compared to Apple's hardware, as well as possibly one day find their Mac OS X installation on this computer "bricked" or rendered non-functional.
First, that seemingly awesome $400.00 Mac they're trying to convince us of:
A base Apple Mac Mini at $599.00 has a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a CDRW/DVD read-only optical drive (they call "a Combo Drive"), a Gigabit Ethernet port, 802.11g wireless connectivity, Bluetooth wireless peripheral connectivity, USB 2 and Firewire 400 ports. It only has Intel integrated graphics circuitry for video power. On the software side, the Mini ships with Mac OS X Leopard, as well as Apple's excellent iLife consumer-level media creation software suite (photo management, publishing and printing, video editing, DVD authoring, website creation and even music composition software). The Mini does not come with a keyboard, mouse or monitor.
Psystar's $400.00 --$200 less than the Mini -- offers a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2Gb RAM, 250GB drive, a DVDRW optical drive and USB ports. Sounds good. Right? Wrong!
Psystar's offerings fall well short of the comprehensive bundle of both hardware and software that even an Apple Mac Mini offers. Their price does not include a Firewire port (that's another $50.00). There is no mention as to the Ethernet port's speed (Apple uses the fastest available). They do not have WiFi or Bluetooth, nor are they even offered as an option (there's possibly a reason for that. See below). It too uses integrated graphics (although dedicated GPUs are optional -- at cost). And, there is no mention of a keyboard, mouse or monitor on their site, too.
So, hardware-wise, one could say that you;re getting what you pay for -- in BOTH cases.
But the most heinous issue with this thing is the software. That the $400.00 price DOES NOT INCLUDE THE OPERATING SYSTEM! At $400.00 you are buying a computer with AN EMPTY HARD DRIVE. You can purchase Mac OS X Leopard from Psystar of course -- for $150.00...$21 dollars MORE than buying it from Apple themselves ($129.00).
Another "gotcha" with this scam is that Apple's iLife software is also not included nor is it even offered as an option. And even though iLife comes bundled with every new Mac (like that $600.00 Mini) it is NOT a part of the Mac OS X installer. Those APPLE Mac owners wishing to upgrade from pervious versions of iLife must purchase it for $79.00 at retail. iLife DOES NOT come with the OS X retail disc (which is what Psystar gouges you for).
So, to add up what you actually NEED to have a "full" Mac experience, the math goes like this:
$399.00 (computer)+ 150.00 (the Operating System)+ 50.00 (firewire for your video camera input)+$79 (YOU buy Apple's iLife)=$678.00
Now, let's say you want to add wireless or Bluetooth to the Psystar? Okay. Because there appears to be no mention of PCI slots on Psystar's boxes you'll need to go USB for this connectivity. Over at newegg.com they have a Belkin USB-based adaptor that is Mac compatible for $24, and a Belkin USB-based 802.11g adaptor runs around $40.00. So, the Bluetooth stick, the wireless stick, your keyboard and your mouse... that's four USB peripherals. Oops. Given that the Psystar is stated as having four REAR USB ports you'll also need a USB hub for say,$20.00 So now, the total for the Psystar is $762.00... not including the value of your time shopping and installing iLife.

(part two continues)

[Mac]

Do you think a clone would come out with Apple's endorsement. Gizmodo has exposed this as a possible hoax almost a day before this article was written.

http://gizmodo.com/380488/psystar-exposed-loo...

[change agent]

hey part of the beauty of a mac is the simplicity of its physical design... can Psystar recreate that?

[Draymedia]

Does anyone actually own one?
Can you clone a MAC drive and have the drive startup the "open computer". Like you can on a MAC.
My firewire drives can be the start up drive for any of my MACS. I own 11

[Dan]

Anyone who would throw money down the toilet with this supposed company deserves any and all of the pain he is going to receive.

From Psystar itself:

"We absolutely do not support customers attempting to install the Leopard operating system on our Open Computer themselves. This is due to a difficult process that we go through to get Leopard to function on our computers. We encourage you to purchase an open computer, and select the option to have Leopard Pre-installed."

Of course, the reader asked what options were available in the event of a major system failure requiring Leopard reinstallation, to which Psystar suggested a return shipment to the company.

"Currently,(shipping the computer back to us) is the only option available. If the HDD dies, you can ship it to us for $50 plus shipping, so we can replace it for you."

You are doing your readers a disservice by promoting this box as if there is no downside.

Anyone wanting to move inexpensively to a Mac should be a smart shopper and buy a Mac Mini for $599 which not only comes with Leopard which is easily updated or reinstalled by the user, it also comes with the iLife suite of apps which you will not get with the vapor clone.

There is never a dearth of people who will willingly and enthusiastically separate a fool from his money.

[Shawn]

Why am I not surprised that Mike Himowitz only deigns to write an article having anything to do with Macs when it's to recommend bypassing Apple, Inc.

The world is slowly turning its back on Microsoft and embracing Apple again and he can't write a single article about this? Apple posts gains in market share every quarter for 2 plus years and nothing. Apple profits set records this quarter, and not because of iPods this time, but because they're selling computers at a rate 3x that of the competition, and nary a peep.
But, if there's an off-brand company who wants to provide poor equipment with an unlicensed copy of OS X, well that sounds like something worth writing about.

And his son bought a MacBook?!?! Apparently his son doesn't read Dad's column because Dad NEVER *EVER* recommends a Mac when it's time for back to school or Christmas computer purchases.

It would be nice if the Sun hired a tech writer who wasn't a doddering old fool that provides generic advice and writes articles that only technophobic retirees find helpful.