Comments on: Mac OS X seller (not Apple) disappears after reports

Psystar was selling a $554 desktop with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled, but hours after reports surfaced regarding the company's product, its Web site has gone offline.

[oldman47701]

Mac OS

always wanted for Job's to get with it..thought you wanted to become one of the players?? guess not..sorry Job's--thought you was better than Gates..was wrong..BACK to LINUX...

[lwp13]

Just install FreeBSD

It is the Mac OS, without the pretty window dressing. It is the choice of Steve Jobs, little Mac Heads. Follow your leader.

[BigGuns149]

Apple mini tower isn't nearly as silly as you think

Much like an Apple supported tablet,the missing mini tower doesn't have to be as unprofitable as you think.

While the sub $500 market definitely has brutal profit margins there would be some money to be made in the $600-$1000 price range. I worked in retail for a while and I remember a *lot* of customers wish that Apple had a mini-tower. They hated Windows, wanted a decent machine that was fairly powerful, but they didn't want to buy an iMac because they already had a 22" or a 24" monitor that they enjoyed. Apple had *zero* chance with these customers even though they wish there was a Mac targeted towards them.

The Mac Mini is nice as a basic media center, but it hasn't been updated since August of last year and hence, both the chipset and the relatively anemic processor feel downright dated and make it too underpowered for a lot of customers.

Due to the small form factor the Mac Mini will never be competitive feature wise with similar priced desktops. If there wasn't a market for Mini tower retail stores still wouldn't be selling so many. Laptops have grown in popularity, but the desktop mini-tower isn't dead by a long shot.

Provided Apple kept it pretty simple it wouldn't really cannibalize any of the Mac Pro sales. By its' very nature it would target a different audience then the mini so it wouldn't harm mini sales much. Provided it had a decent modern processor and could support a decent graphics card it could be a decent gaming mac to bring to a LAN party.

The mini turns off a lot of average users, not because they want something that they can easily upgrade, but rather because the Mini from both a geek and a non-geek perspective feels like a poor value. A lot of non-geeks buy computers on clock speed and on hard disk space alone. On both measures the mini seems only interesting if one desires a computer that is 6.5 x 6.5 inches. Heck, one of the few places I have seen a Mac Mini outside of a store is at the J. Paul Getty Center in LA being used in an art exhibit. Talk about irony.

Even if a Mini tower were $50-$100 more than a similar spec machine a lot of people would buy it just so they could have a real officially supported Mac as opposed to building a hackintosh that would sortof work and sometimes sortof not work. People see added value to the MacOS, but not enough to buy one of Apple's higher end models.

[daedbird]

Simple solution

Here is what Apple can do to make everyone happy. 1. Upgrade
the Mac Mini....2.Install an optical drive that can work
horizontal/vertically.....3.Put feet on the side of the Mini....4.Put
a hinge on the top cover....5.Call it the Mac XB11435 (or
anything similar to a Dell Optiplex) and market is a mini-
tower/streamline computer, cuz Mini sounds like a toy, not a
real computer....It will sell like hotcakes


Oh, and install some sort of DVR software(buy TiVo) and a RF
connection

[Dalmatian28]

Good Job

Thank you, thank you, thank you Psystar!
I have been trying to do this for a years. Steve Jobs is willing to use Windows and Linux and run it on his hardware, but doesn't want to be fer and let the others do the same! The Apple is coming up with new thrush time after time! If you remember other junk like their non-replaceable battery policy, extra Wi-Fi charge, iTunes protection and list goes on and on! They like to believe that they know what user wants better then user himself! Pure arrogance! Again, I want to thank you everyone who helped us get to this point! Hope we can soon run any operating system on any hardware we want! That is called freedom and Apple is on our way! Please, Please help fight the Apple! We can win this! Every user around the world could benefit if we brake free!

[-hh]

And its still 8 cores vs. 4 cores!

"The Mac Pro is a XEON, not a Core 2 Duo..."

And the default Mac configuration has two of these CPUs, which
means 2 * Quad = 8 cores, vs the HP's 4 cores.

"...It has the faster frontside bus, etc."

Namely, 1600MHz vs 1333MHz, which is a 20% difference.


"Show me a Dual Quad Core 2.8 Xeon from ANY vendor, other
than Apple, for UNDER $3500 ($700 MORE than Apple) and you
will get a gold star!"

Exactly. And please do note that the one that Dell sells is at the
20% slower 1333MHz FSB.


The bottom line is that a good consumer is a knowledgeable one
and knows better than to ignore gross differences in products,
as well as how to avoid sub-optimal product configurations
(such as failing to avoid obviously overpriced RAM upgrades).
When one does an objective comparison, prices aren't as far out
of line as is all-too-frequently claimed.


-hh

[Chameleon81]

then

either you have too much money or too much love for apple. I would buy sth that can run Mac Osx with no problem if it is at a discount price.

[Thomas, David]

Truth

These words will eventually come out of your mouth "Why can't my
mac-clone do that?"

Followed by "Apple broke my systems, I can't upgrade it, they
should support my mac-clone. They are out to get me."

I'm just shaking my head in disbelief now, when you finally realize
"Oh, there was some purpose to the design!"

[as901]

Apple blunders again.

Apple has made some big blunders in the past. During the home computer boom ,apple announced that they would not long sell home computers. They almost went under ,and they had to turn to Microsoft for help.

Now they had a second chance to make extra money and perhaps increase their market share. They could make low cost e-machines and pick up more users to sell software and upgrades to in the future.

They could licence some of their software and hardware to other computer makers. Instead of finding a way to increase they exposure and client base, Apple again has taken a wrong turn. It is almost as if the company has a death wish?

Mark Heinemann

[nicmart]

Completely agree

As smart a Jobs is, he and the board do not comprehend the
value of market share. You would think that the iPod would have
taught them, but no.

[AJ Pants]

lol @ "extra money'

Apple doesn't need any 'extra money', you dolt.

Apple prides itself on making the world's best hardware which
compliments the worlds best operating system. Why would they
want it running on cheap, botchy hardware?

Anyway, I give it 18 months before you finally break down and
buy one of those lovely Macbook Pros.

Actually, save yourself the torment and order one tonight.

[JadedGamer]

Scam more likely

Why do everyone blame Apple when a company claims to make Mac clones and then disappears? Isn't it more likely the press release was part of a pump'n'dump operation and the perps now have cashed in?

[Zaunto]

Mac Hardware

I want a Macbook Pro right now. I'd rather be running Protools on that than my Vista Basic PC. Vista sucks. Mac OSX does not.

[Umich2010]

Case

Does anyone know what case that is? I noticed they used an antec model case for the pro open computer, so hopefully the case on the regular open computer is available on newegg or something?