Gizmodo
Despite having the shadiest launch this side of the Phantom console, Psystar actually managed to ship units out to users. Salud! However, there are still a number of problems with Psystar's implementation that makes us have to recommend to our readers not to buy it. Maybe when they get their act together (and probably not even then), but definitely not now. Here's what we think.
1) You can't update. System update is disabled, so you're stuck with the version of Leopard that came with the system for all eternity. What with Apple issuing bug fixes, security fixes, and new versions of their software, this is a bad, bad situation. Hell, even Hackintosh systems you build yourself let you update, even if you have to be picky about it.
2) You can't reinstall Leopard by yourself. If your hard drive borks out or you somehow screw up your installation, you're out of luck. And by luck, we mean $50 plus shipping. You have to mail your drive back to Psystar in order for them to reinstall the OS for you.
3) Their support is untested. When people buy a pre-made machine, they're paying a premium for tech support and warranty support. It's still unclear how good Psystar's warranty support is, but if the $50 fee for reinstalling your OS is any indication, they're going to nickel and dime you whenever you have more than minor problems.
4) Psystar might be going out of business soon thanks to Apple. Apple's been silent about the issue, but there's no way they're going to sit still while someone sells a hacked version of Leopard on vanilla hardware. It could very well be possible that Psystar will win the fight and continue to sell machines, but would you buy a Dell right now if Microsoft was possibly threatening their entire business model because they were selling unauthorized versions of Vista?
5) The hardware build quality isn't great, and the fan is incredibly loud. These machines are made from off-the-shelf parts, which is fine, but it's not going to be top quality construction for the price they're charging. If that's not enough to dissuade you, the fan is incredibly loud because it's always running at full blast and there's no control interface to turn it down.
6) You're not only buying software that breaks Apple's licensing agreements, but the license of the software used to patch Leopard. I don't personally have a huge problem with this, but some people might have an ethical objection.
7) You can build a better one yourself fairly easily. By following Lifehacker's guide to building your own Hackintosh, you can grab your own OS X machine with a trip to Fry's and a couple hours of downloading/installing. Yours will even update correctly.
Point 1 can be fixed by just a quick software patch. Point 2 can be fixed if Psystar ships out a recovery disc, but it's unlikely because that would be distributing an unauthorized version of Leopard. Point 5 is also something they can remedy by rigging up an interface to the fan, and investing in slightly better parts. The other issues are more deep-seated, and might not be able to be overcome. We'll have to wait and see. Our recommendation right now is to stay away. [Gizmodo's Psystar coverage]
Comments
#8 The company is shady and the systems they build are ghetto.
Phantom wouldn't be Phantom if they actually delivered a product. It'll be like chicken sandwich without the chicken...
...damn, I'm starving.
Wow, an intelligent discussion about Psystar, that brings up some very good points. And then the first commenter goes and blows it all to hell. Funny stuff.
I rolled my own, it was easy and cheap. But I also own a real mac, and the hackintosh is just for fun. I wouldn't ever consider buying one... there are way too many limitations! Just buy a Mac Mini and call it a day.
My only issue with going with the lifehacker option is that it's comparing an 800 dollar machine to a 400 dollar machine offered by psystar. Fan loudness I can tolerate...but not letting the software be updatable - thats an inexcusable shortcoming.
#9 - A couple hundred $9 charges on your credit card looks really nice to your credit agency.
Psystar is shadier than a rainforest, and they're not going to overcome that. It's a desperate effort to look legitimate, and they're gonna be out of a shitload of money once Apple wakes up the lawyerin' team.
#10 Their systems are dramatically cheaper than apple and that will damage your apple fanboy credo of always overspending for hardware.
10. Mac fanboy's are the majority and would be the ones to conjure a list on why you shouldn't by a Psystar Computer Right Now.
j/k
*Runs Away*
Salud? What does that mean in this context? Doesn't it mean "health" in spanish?
You know, you can just swap out that power supply/fan ...
I don't know if that's a valid "don't do it!" reason.
@Gofastmazda: Caveat Emptor. You get what you pay for, especially with Operating Systems.
You know what? I might be putting myself out for humble pie if this turns out to be okay in the end, but right now I can safely say that these are for suckers only. If you bought one to tear it apart and post pictures to a web site, okay. If you got one for consumer testing, fine. But otherwise, you're just that stupid or gullible and you deserve everything you don't get.
@ Gofastmazda: I don't own a Mac, don't especially want a Mac, but when you buy a real Mac, you are paying for the Apple support, not just the hardware and installed software.
Buying a Psystar means (1) no support from Apple, who write and maintain the OS, and (2) apparently not a Hell of a lot of support from Spystar, if they will charge $50 plus shipping to reimage your drive. Hell, I'd do that for $5 if I were selling knockoffs of the MacOS.
@GeekyNerdGuy: By the time you've replaced all the shitty components, you're at the same cost as the real thing. Why not get the support while you're at it?
And NO, I'm not a god damn fanboy, I don't even have a Mac. I just hate these companies pulling this kind of crap over on consumers.
System update can be restarted, so you can pick and choose which updates you want to apply.
But a good point was also raised elsewhere: what's to keep Apple from slipping a little code into a future update that will brick your computer?
They don't hesitate to do it to their own customers, for God's sake.
@HeartBurnKid: yeah weher's all the pink stuff that Giz is now famous for (excepting the Fleshbit logo that won't GO AWAY)
While I wouldn't buy a Psystar, I'd be very interested in a company that made an unofficial Psystar clone. Not an Apple clone. A Psystar clone.
@DaOtter: Not really, considering it's virtually the same mobo, processor, RAM and graphics card -- otherwise it wouldn't run OSX.
selling a computer with unauthorized software is enough to NOT buy one. for that i can just build one myself. any idiot buying anything from this company deserves what he/she gets.
cheap price and you can always get a windows installed. nuff said
@Mitch:
I don't mind a loud fan either, but the deal breaker for me is the $50 mail in to re-do the OS.
Not only am I out another $50, but I have to wait for my system to be up again. How long? A week? 2? They don't say.
Nope, not acceptable.
Install a different fan dipshits.
I'm ok with the noisy fan and with waiting on the re-install, but the deal breaker for me is the silent P in their name. That's just unneeded and confusing.
#10 it doesn't play Crisis!
Has anyone heard any updates on those reports of the massive amounts of $9.99 charges? I never heard any follow up to that and was quite curious.
I'm also quite curious about all these reports of great Apple support. I bought an iMac about 2 years ago and was having some trouble with the wireless connection. Upon calling support I was promptly greeted by Habib who kept telling me that I had to buy an apple care plan in order to get support on my week old product. Once I was able to argue my way into trying to get help, he told me a number of times that my problem was either my router (which worked fine for all 3 PCs) or the wire I was using to connect it. At least 4 times this idiot tried to tell me the problem with my wireless connection was the wire I was using!!!
Superior support my ASS! Maybe if I had a local mac store to go into, it would have been different...
wanna hear a story about a genuine copy of Vista ultimate i bought a while back ?
Microscavengers wont let me install it on my PC after changing the motherboard and HD
actually the lifehacker hackintosh is now under $600 due to reductions in component prices.
Point 1 definitely has some merit, but think about this: if an update comes out and it bricks your PC (i.e., Personal Computer), then who are you going to blame? Psystar! I can see why they've made the decision to block updates, but a better recourse would be to have the update manager "phone home" to a Psystar server, and request authorized updates once they've verified they won't brick your machine. That being said, I'd hold off until they/someone does something of this nature before buying an unofficial Apple machine running OS X.
If you're going to install osx86 on standard hardware why not build your own? Thats the main reason people use it, they don't want to be stuck with a is that you aren't stuck with a proprietary piece of mac hardware.
You can build what Psystar is offering
for much less!
A simple fan controller would fix the noise issue.
There is nothing stopping you from reinstalling the OS but I guess you have no idea what you're doing if your stupid enough to buy this instead of build it.
The new image made me remember a song from way back when.
It goes bip when it moves,
and bop when it stops
and WRRRRRRRRRRR!! when it stays still...
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.
Sorta applies to this computer too doesn't it?
@Gofastmazda: One can argue that you're not overspending for hardware. When I purchased my laptop, a similar Dell, IBM, and HP were actually more expensive in cost.
How did I overspend? I have a machine that natively runs both Windows and OS X, has no doors to break off on the dvd drive (I have broken several in the past by accidentally bumping the eject button repeatedly as said device sat on my lap.), and is built solidly?
I'm not a die-hard apple fan, but apple provides some things in its design process that many manufacturers do not. Some people are willing to "pay more" for this "privilige" or "feature". Some people are not.
Do you automatically buy the cheapest version of a tool when you shop at Home Depot? Pssst, there are some people who actually believe that DeWalt hardware is more durable than Ryobi. Even though they're both make 18v drills, that will handle most jobs similarly. One will stand up better over time.
Um, Giz .. Was there anyone actually lining up to buy these systems? When you can not find where they are located, I don't think there is too much concern about us buying one.
Buying from Psystar has the legitimacy of buying music from AllofMP3 and the longevity of buying music from a Microsoft PlaysForSure source.
You're breaking the law in the short term, and getting hosed in the long term.
Bottom line: you lose.
That said, Apple could really soothe its users (and increase sales substantially) with a reasonably-priced ($1,000?) headless Mac with a replaceable video card.
Come on, Apple. It isn't that hard to understand.
@Gofastmazda: #11: Once using any Apple product, be prepared for GofastMazda to stand on his soapbox and preach about how stupid you are for not asking him before deciding which OS to use.
@LagunaSol: Or, at least upgrade the video card in the Mini to be somewhere near acceptable.
I have a couple of questions for anyone interested in a mac:
Are you that desperate to own something from Apple that you can't put your pennies together and buy the real thing?
Are you interested in a knock off mac just to show off to people that you can screw Apple buy putting their software on any machine and think to yourself "take that you evil empire"?
What is the appeal of this machines?
This was written by a non Mac owner actually I don't own anything from Apple I hate that company and their products I refuse to purchase anything from them, MP3 players there are tons for a quarter of the price that Apple charges for their stupid Ipod which until this I can't understand why so many people bought it.
I think it boils down to "You get what you pay for". In most cases if you are paying a lot less to get a knockoff of the real deal, you are going to pay the price some how some way. If you are a hobbiest, then build your own. If you want a dependable machine, then head to Apple.
interested in a mac/I meant psystar machine.
In short: don't bother.
I don't know If I totally get the whole software update deal. I can see them blocking the software update through the OS, but can't you just go to Apple.com support and download that latest updater and run the updater? Did they block that too? I've done this all the time for when I image and install machines all the time. I have the latest Combo Updater dmg or whatever and run it. I guess we'll have to wait till the next update, to see if it works, huh?
Psystar sells WINDOWS and LINUX machines too.
APPLE can send them a Cease and desist. They stop selling Hackintosh machines... and them what will the Apple Fanboys cry about?
Are they doing the same thing with WINDOWS machines? the LINUX boxes too?
Other than noisy fans, I dunno what all the crying is about... if they're a shady company, so-be-it... don't buy from them...
...you think we can talk about something else now?
Like, that robot dog? or the pooping plastic piggy? ...oh! I know... lets talk about lasers! yeeaaahhh! laaasers! pewn!pewn!pewn! muwaaahahaha!!!
reason 8:
Apple makes tons of money off this site; a site packed with apple users who are apt to dub Jobs' latest offering as a gift from above.
See also: Jesus Phone
See also: Macworld coverage
that said, I am certainly siding with the lifehacker/hackintosh crowd. if you must have an os with a 6% market share on the cheap, why not roll your own and keep your self respect.
GIZMODO IS RUNNED BY ABUNCH OF FANBOYS!!!!!
I better get out of here =)
@GeekyNerdGuy: Hardly - it's a hackintosh so the hardware doesn't necessarily need to be the same. It's more restrictive than, say, Windows XP, but less so than an unhacked OSX.
I wouldn't buy it just because of the fan. That's really damn loud.
@DaOtter: The credit bureaus have no idea how many charges of what amount are on your credit card, they only know payment history. Your wife on the other hand...
@potohead1: yeah, we 'RUNNED' this!
Am I the only one wondering why Apple has let them get this far? Apple legal has come down pretty hard for far far less than this in the past. The silence is deafening...
@kahri: Are you Gizmodo? last time I checked you were just someone running around with the camera so shut up.
@TheCyberBob: Tom Paxton?
@potohead1: As long as you're unbiased.
If you want a Mac so much as to get on Apple's bad side, get a Mac Pro. I'm not trying to be a fanboy (even though I am, I admit it), but it would be substantially easier. Upgradeable, tech support, updates, quiet(ish), plus iLife free.
"Point 2 can be fixed if Psystar ships out a recovery disc, but it's unlikely because that would be distributing an unauthorized version of Leopard."
They already distribute an unauthorized version of Leopard. It's in a hard disk in a crappy pc tower, which is bigger than a DVD, but still.
@potohead1: thanks for checking. next time try spellchecking instead, you "potohead".
@LagunaSol: Believe it or not, Apple's EULA isn't the law. You are buying a legitimate copy of the OS, so you aren't breaking anything.
@hayden0103: Hmmm... $500 clone vs. $2500 Mac Pro... yeah, tough choice.