Psystar With OS X Is Real

Gizmodo has a true-blue video of a real Psystar box with OS X running.

And yes it’s is OSx86 Project OS X that’s running on the box. Now you know.

The only people who really care about the Psystar are Mac owners (including Dave).

Personally speaking this is not really a hot item to me, but evidently this is news.

So.. what can be said about the Psystar?

It’s a computer box.
It’s loud.
You could build one much cheaper than buying one.
Um.. that’s it.

What people have been taking from this (aside from the full-on Apple-EULA breaking aspect) is that maybe Apple should consider licensing their OS to companies other than their own.

Well.. what can be said about that? Dell has been wooing Apple for years almost begging to build Apple-compliant boxes for them. And yes I am one of those people that truly believe Dell could build a great Mac.

Before you Mactards out there rip me to shreds for the above, consider this:

How cool it would be if you could get same-day on-site support for your Mac? No more lugging (or shipping) the Mac out when it breaks (and yes, they do). You call support, a tech comes out and fixes your Mac – at your home or business. How cool would that be? Very cool. Dell can do that for individual purchases. Apple absolutely, positively won’t (even with AppleCare).

Wouldn’t you rather see an officially licensed stringent-QC spec Apple-approved Mac built by a known manufacturer instead of a company like Psystar?

You want more people using more Macs? You need better deployment. Apple (with the exception of educational institution delivery) completely sucks in that department. Dell on the other hand has the resources at-the-ready to do it – right now.

I don’t want to hear one word from any Mactard saying “I’d NEVER buy a Mac built by Dell!” because all you guys said the EXACT same thing right before Intel processors were put in Macs over the previous-gen Motorola procs. I heard more than a few Mac-faithful state “Intel in a Mac just isn’t right! It’s too ‘Microsoft’!” Well, we all know what happened. The Intel proc was put in the Mac and it absolutely destroyed the previous-gen Moto proc. Have you noticed how no Mactard now calls PCs “Wintels” anymore? It’s because they can’t since Macs now use Intel procs.

Trust me, you want Dell to build Mac computers instead of have a EULA-breaking Psystar box as your only alternative to running a box with OS X.

The Mac faithful get sick to their stomach if you mention “Dell” and “Apple” in the same sentence. However if they were willing to pull their heads out of their butts for a moment, they’d realized a Dell-built Mac would look absolutely identical to a Chinese Mac and have the same QC spec. And yes, in case you weren’t aware, many Macs are delivered direct from China. At least with a Dell-built computer they’d be built, housed and delivered just a tad closer to home.

Also consider that Dell isn’t 100% Microsoft with their boxes. Perhaps you weren’t aware they already sell boxes with Ubuntu installed? So you can’t claim Dell is “Microsoft only” territory either.

Think about it. Psystar or Dell? The choice is obvious. And no, “neither” isn’t an answer. People are going to continue to build EULA-breaking OS X boxes. Better to go with the established company (that would be within EULA) rather than a small outfit that builds loud obnoxious substandard boxes.

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Mr Cap
I am certainly one of your described Mactards that wouldn’t touch a Dell. I work on Dell junk daily and it is just a cheap beige box of junk. Sure thye sell a lot of boxes but the market for dell is the masses, those that often time just don’t know better. Apple will likely never approach the penny-wise pound-foolish sorts that think a cheap box is the solution. Apple will gradually increase market share while Microsoft (which has clearly peaked) will ever so gradually fade into insignificance. Thank you for supporting my IT services by buying Dell! I would never find enough Apple work to keep me in business.
http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
There is no beige-colored computers anywhere on Dell’s web site. At all.
When I worked for Dell as a field service tech I never saw a beige colored box OR laptop – and this was several years ago.
Could you list the model you speak of along with the manufacturing date/year? The last time Dell made anything beige was over 5 years ago.
Mike
first of all the color of the case has nothing to do with it. I have a beige case too, but all my parts are fairly new ranging from 2007-2008.
Sam
Great article…
I think that Dell made computers running OSX would be a great thing.
In order for Apple to “gradually increase market share”, they need to start thinking about more than keeping OSX out of nonnative machines. Sure, the way they are going right now will last for a while, but they can’t even try to outpace Microsoft unless they change some of their policies, and become more like a big business. They are a great little company, but without future changes in the way they do business, they will reach a point where their growth will stop.
There would be a huge market for a non-apple OSX computer, and the only thing holding us back is Apple…

Rich
I don’t know Sam — I don’t think they have to do anything differently.
Apple’s market share has been gradually increasing with every passing year/quarter (in both the business and personal arenas).
It seems to me that all they have to do is keep doing what they have been doing and it’s just a matter of time before this “little company” and Microsoft swap places. They’re doing great – 2nd quarter revenue of $7.51 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, 43 percent revenue growth. (54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter).
Granted, Microsoft may have made more money last quarter, but they’re revenue growth was only 30%. and if they keep doing what they have been doing (products like Vista), it won’t be too long before the roles are reversed!
How much time before Apple catches up is open to interpretation, but the fact is that the gap is getting smaller every day.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
It does when Dell doesn’t manufacture it and hasn’t for years.
Dimension series: Black.
Optiplex series: Black, silver front bezel.
Inspiron desktop: Silver
XPS: Varied (but absolutely no beige or “putty” color)
Precision Workstation: Black.
Here, try this on for size: Go to eBay.com, do a search for Dell Dimension. When you find the beige cases, find one that ISN’T a previous-gen Pentium 4 or earlier. Seriously. Go find one.
Even better: Do the same search for Dell XPS or Dell Dimension XPS. Guess what? No beige-colored boxes with anything over Pent-4′s in them.
These are all boxes built years ago (well before 2007). And Pent-4 obviously isn’t new.
Sorry, but your claim to have a beige-colored Dell box with “fairly new parts” as you say doesn’t cut it because Dell had no beige-colored new offering in ’07 or ’08.
http://www.chadwsmith.com/ Chad Smith
Here’s the problem with your article – Dell *doesn’t* make Macs.
This is the real world where Psystar exists and a Dell MacBook Pro does not. Would a $400 Dell Mac be better than a $400 Psystar Open Computer? I’m sure it would. But the problem is one is real and the other is hypothetical. I’m sure an IBM eMate G7 iPhone would be pretty cool, too, but while it remains in its nonexistent form, my very real Nokia 6120 is better.
The true comparison should be better the very real Psystar Open Computer and the equally real Mac Mini. In that comparison, (sound aside) the Psystar wins. It has a *MUCH* faster processor, more RAM, over 3 times the storage, a DVD burner, is user upgradeable (hard drive, video card, optical drive, RAM, etc.), and costs HUNDREDS less. If you have Psystar install the OS, then it’s still $50 less – for a much better system.
Jeremy
LOL, that is priceless Dell make a good computer period now that would be a trick, besides the high motherboard faliure rate and the horrid tech support what would Mac want to associate with a company that has gone backwards since 2005? I do like the idea of the Mac clone but wasn’t that tried before and went nowhere?
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