But just think, a Psystar Open Computer might become a sought-after collector's item in a matter of months. Maybe buying one wasn't such a bad idea after all! [Yahoo!]

In the past, PC and Mac clones had duplicated parts. In the case of the PC, the XT clones contained a copy of the IBM BIOS (not licensed by IBM.) In the case of the real Mac clones like Daystar and Motorola's, they contained a licensed Macintosh ROM inside.

So technically these are not Mac clones at all, just normal PC hardware that don't have any of the special components in current Macs, which is why they require a special hacked version of the Mac OS X operating system. As we've seen, that hacked version has automatic update issues and they don't even want you reinstalling it yourself (in fact, they don't have permission to distribute the patch that makes this possible.)

So what is Apple waiting for? They've been known to be swift and merciless in the past when it comes to axing companies trying to make a living off the Apple brand. These "clones" are anything but, and if people start to believe that Apple hardware is of the same quality as these guys, they could be in serious trouble.

Go get 'em Steve! [Product page via Gadget Lab]

If you're thinking it sounds too good to be true and that the site looks a little scuammy, you should know that it took a lot of time to craft this voodoo stick and required the developers to thwart "various problems, including sabotage." After six months of testing, it's due on June 23. Our advice? Let someone else be the guinea pig. Hey guinea pigs, if you buy this, let us know how it goes! [EFiX via Insanely Mac via Hack a Day]

If you already purchased a machine, you can download an update to enable this. Second, they're shipping a newer case with a quieter fan. It doesn't seem like they've found a way to control fan speed yet, or they could have just seeded an update for that to people who are stuck with the louder, full speed one. Our recommendation is still a "don't buy" for these guys, partially for their lousy tech support, as well as for several other reasons.

Received my "open computer" day before yesterday. Two immediate problems.

First, the noise level was completely intolerable. Never heard a computer as loud in my life.

Second problem was video was DOA right out of the box. No signal going to monitor. Boot up is a moot point as there is nothing to see.

Called the company. A female answered the phone, presumably a receptionist. She informed me some one would return my call shortly and give me RA# I had requested. No call. Called back after several hours. Spoke with one of the guys there in either sales or support. They assured me that they were getting the information from UPS as we spoke and would shortly be sending me the return shipping label via UPS within minutes. Nothing.

Called back again this morning. Was assured that shipping info was to be emailed shortly and they were going to be calling UPS to arrange a pickup for this afternoon. Nothing.

All I want to do is return the computer and get a refund.

We knew about the incredibly loud fan before, but unfortunately reader Rick ordered before he saw it featured here. C'mon, Psystar. The first couple weeks is vital to proving your legitimacy and professionalism. If you're going to drop the ball like this, you might as well just shut down and go home now.

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]

Update: Photos here!. We find out what's in the package.

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. 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.

If we look at the only viable way to install a Leopard on a vanilla OS X machine right now, which is using a hacked version of the OS, this decision makes sense. Psystar can't very well distribute hacked versions of Leopard with every computer. The most they can do is give out copies of the real Leopard, which is uninstallable as-is. But that's not what they said before.

Back when we first heard about them, they claimed this:

The highly extensible OpenMac is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels. If you purchase Leopard with your OpenMac we will not only include the actual Leopard retail package with genuine installation disc, but we also include a Psystar restore disc for your OpenMac and we will preinstall Leopard for free so you can begin to use your computer right out of the box.

What happened here? Are they still going to include a restore disc? If so, that might run afoul of Apple and/or the guys who came up with the hacking method in the first place. If you're going to have to mail your hard drive in every time there's a problem, this might be too much trouble for the money you save. [Macfixit]

Things are starting to smell slightly less vaporous, and they can actually probably ship out some units if things keep going according to plan. We're still leery about giving these guys any money on account of their unprofessional behavior and all the mistakes they've made up until now, so hold off on ordering until we actually see units in the wild. Anyone receive their tracking numbers yet? [Psystar]

There've been a couple developments on Psystar since last week we just updated our post with. First, it seems like we've finally found the reason why Psystar changed their address from 10481 to 10475. Second, and this one is unconfirmed so far, but it looks like credit cards submitted to Psystar might be getting weird charges on them. Take a look.

Tracking numbers are supposed to go out when your order ships, so if anyone ordered two weeks ago, you should have gotten yours already. And anyone ballsy enough to jump in after the slime started to hit the fan should theoretically get 'em on Monday. If you've ordered one, let us know how it goes. A huge thanks to all of you pushing this thing forward, please keep the tips coming. [ZDNet, Thanks JB!]

First, let's revisit what we already know. Not only does the Miami Chamber of Commerce and BBB not know anything about any company named Psystar (confirmed by reader Travis through his contacts in the chamber), the actual physical address they listed on their website actually changed halfway through the day yesterday. What's going on here? Did they all of a sudden move from a home business into a new office space? Nope. Here's the deal.

Reader Michael went down to their first location, address courtesy of the Guardian's quick fingers, and saw that it was indeed a residential address. It's a one story house with a truck and sedan out front. Not a business, but still holds the possibility of being a small home business. Still, unlikely. Why would they change their address? Perhaps they saw all the reaction they were getting about their Open Mac products and wanted a bigger space?

Nope. Reader Kahri visited their second location and saw no Psystar, but a packing supply company called "USA KOEN PACK." Was Psystar leasing the place? No. He spoke with the manager, and they've never heard of Psystar, and USA KOEN PACK has been at that location for the last two years. KOEN PACK actually takes up from 10481 to 10490, so there's no chance of it being a mistaken address. Update: Looks like Psystar's changed their address once again to 10471.

Now that we know their storefront isn't actually there, how about their online presence? As other readers pointed out when they tried to purchase an Open Mac for themselves, at no point was the credit card transaction secure. Today, when you visit their store page, you get this:

Thank you for visiting Psystar. We're sorry but the store is temporarily down due to the fact that we are currently unable to process any credit card transactions. Please send an e-mail to support@psystar.com with the subject line "UPDATE" so that we can update you when the store comes back online. For customers who have already placed orders: if you received a confirmation e-mail then your item is in queue to be built and shipped.

Here's our recommendation. Don't buy anything from Psystar now until we can clear this up. We've contacted them for more information and a review unit too see if everything they're claiming is real. So far, no response. We'll keep at it, but for now if you're looking to get a Mac clone, you're better off building it yourself.

Thanks to Kahri, Mike and Travis!

Update: Reader Robert did some more digging in the Florida Corporate filing office, and it seems that Psystar's principles are Rodolfo and Roberto Pedraza, who are officers or agents on a whole crapload of companies. Only one of these companies besides Psystar is currently active: Floridatek. As Robert says, "These guys are obviously clowns."

Update 2: Someone just brought up the point that he could actually work at USA KOEN PACK and is just using his workplace as an address. Interesting possibility, but somewhat unlikely.

Update 3: Ha! It looks like Psystar changed their address again. Here are their first two: image. Their third one is below.

Update 4: They've changed the address for a third time! Thanks Wild Homes.

Update 5: Reader Joe poked around the FloridaTek site and it seems that a bunch of links are just links to an automatic download of an executable file. Phishing? Watch out.

Update 6: Tom's Hardware talked to Pedraza and got a couple quotes from him. You should hop over to see more, but they do admit that their address on the site was incorrect and they'll correct it to the right one. What we don't get is why it would be incorrect 3 times in a row. Until things clear up, our recommendation still stands. Don't buy anything from Psystar. (We attempted to contact the company and have received no response to any of these allegations.)

Update 7: They've got a new note up now on their site explaining the reason for all the address changes. It doesn't explain why they went from their home address to 10481, to 10471, then finally to 10475. Our guy Kahri went to scope out 10471 yesterday and didn't find anything tying that address to KOEN, but did see a sign for Logistic Solutions. Unfortunately Logistic Solutions isn't one of the registered companies these guys belong to. Not much we can tell from this. Kahri says:

Hey folks, I went back yesterday to check their new address 10471 (today it's 10475). Really whether it's 10471, 10481 or 10475, it doesn't mean anything because it's all the same big warehouse building which covers the block between 104th and 105th.

Update 8: Reader Greg dug up this find on their current address, 10475 NW 28th Street, which was once for sale for $5,990,000. If this really is them, then they're occupying a $6 million building.

Update 9: Another reader went to visit 10481, the first address listed, and found that KOEN PACK actually isn't the company there (it's to the left of it). 10481 belongs to a company called cotton images. What's interesting about this is that the cotton images guy actually KNOWS Rudy Peraza, and Rudy worked for them in the past. This explains WHY Psystar used the 10481 address first (because he worked there), and why he had to change the address so suddenly. Are they really renting out 10475, the current address? It's hard to say. ZDNet seems to have some clear pictures of that unit, but our reader below went to 10871 to scope it out.

I went to the 10481 address on April 16. Koen Pack is not at that address, it is to the left of it. I went inside the 10481 address and spoke with employees of cottonimages.com

I spoke with the first employee I encountered. I pointed out on her
browser that Psystar was listing the 10481 address on Psystar's page
and that other people like me were sure to follow - since Psystar had
earned international press. She seemed surprised and brought me to
"Scott", who told me his wife owns the cottonimages.com business.

When I mentioned Rudy Peraza was listed as the Psystar owner, he told
me that Rudy used to work for him and he had nothing but praise for him
but with that name he could make a phone call. He promptly got on the
cell phone and called someone.

When he was done on the phone, he told me that Rudy had definitely
listed the wrong address but that he had been informed by Rudy that
Rudy was going to rent the space immediately next door. We both walked
over to 10871 next door. We found the place closed but it was clearly
being renovated for a new tenant.

Scott seemed genuine and surprised (annoyed?) to find his address
listed as Psystar's. I suspect that is the reason Psystar's address
changed yet again the following day.

When I asked Scott if I could give him my number to pass on to Rudy, I
was told that he couldn't do that. He said Rudy is apparently
overwhelmed by the attention and demand. I can't fault Scott, he
doesn't need additional headaches.

While I can cut a small business owner some slack, and understand what
happens when demand explodes, I'm disappointed. I had intented to go
their address and expected to find a small store with products to sell.
I thought I would confirm them using the well known Antec P180 case,
and look and see what motherboard they were using. I did not find any
of that.

Mostly, what Psystar's owner needs to do now is make a public
statement. In fact, a lot of them, including an interview. He should
address the fundamental questions surrounding his business. Miami
Herald, where are you?

Lacking that and further transparency, this one potential customer will
stay away until I get the same level of transparency I get from any
other business I deal with.

Update 10: Our scout Kahri says that he's going to scout out 10475 and see if there's any existence of Psystar being there. He says that it's possible Psystar has just acquired that side of the building, but hasn't put up signage yet. Check back later for pictures and info.

Update 11: This doesn't really serve any use except for curiosity's sake, but here's Psystar's weblog stats. Thanks tipster!

Update 12: It seems like credit cards are starting to get billed? Reader Yariv sends in this super weird credit card statement of tons of $9.99 charges that supposedly add up to $399. We're not sure about this one. There's nothing there that ties these charges to Psystar. Has anyone else purchased a machine and gotten billed for it? Let us know. My email's on the left side of the page. Hopefully we can either confirm or smash whether cards are being charged yet. See Update 14.

Update 13: This is a big find. Kahri just went down to Psystar and took this shot of their window. This is the first indication that Psystar actually exists at that location. Amazing!

Update 14: Reader Derek says he didn't have any strange anomalies with his order, and was billed for the exact amount listed. He also received a call from a 305 number (Miami), that asked him if he wanted to purchase a separate OS because he ordered his machine without one. Anyone else receive their shipping notification yet? Email me if you have.

Update 15: Here's Psystar's official picture of their logo on the door. Looks good! But not open to the public.

The Guardian also finds it weird that Apple hasn't responded at all. Does Apple know that they're a fake company? Is Apple planning something behind the scenes? Either way, this whole situation smells worse than Benny Goldman in the tub.

Do we have any Giz readers around there? Shoot me an email if you are. Thanks guys! Got your emails. [Guardian]

They also told Information Week that they weren't breaking any laws, and that they were going to continue to sell this system no matter what Apple says. Another example the employee gave was this: "What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?" Even if Psystar's machines aren't anything spectacular, if they can set a legal precedent for third-party manufacturers selling OS X-bundled machines, that would be a win for everybody. [InformationWeek - Thanks Achal!]

The highly extensible OpenMac is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels. If you purchase Leopard with your OpenMac we will not only include the actual Leopard retail package with genuine installation disc, but we also include a Psystar restore disc for your OpenMac and we will preinstall Leopard for free so you can begin to use your computer right out of the box.

Apple's EULA prohibits the use of Mac OS X in any hardware not made by Apple, so Psystar's legal position is unclear. The only thing we know for now is that a) their site is down and b) you can spend $400 and get all this:

• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor
• 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
• Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics
• 20x DVD+/-R SATA drive that is Lightscribe-capable
• 4 rear USB Ports

in a fully-expandable, butt-ugly generic PC box. Not too shabby. [Psystar —Thanks Sean Crowell]