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Psystar is working on a Mac OS-based notebook that will round out its Mac clone product line.

Mac clone maker Psystar will soon have a Mac OS X-based notebook to join its desktop products, such as the Open Computer seen here.

(Credit: Psystar)

A company representative confirmed a message sent to an AppleInsider reader indicating that a Psystar notebook using Mac OS is in development, although it's not clear when it will arrive. Psystar has of course been selling Mac OS X desktops for over six months, much to the chagrin of Apple's lawyers.

Building a notebook, however, is a very different undertaking than a desktop. The average person reading this article could slap together a desktop PC while watching a football game on a Saturday afternoon, using off-the-shelf parts from an electronics store like Fry's. And there has always been a thriving market for so-called "white box" desktops built by local shops such as Psystar and distributed to small businesses.

A comparable market does not exist for notebooks. Most notebooks are almost completely assembled by system builders in China or Taiwan, and then distributed by big companies once the final build is complete. Some places sell so-called "barebones" notebooks, but very few people seem to be interested in building their own notebooks.

However, PC companies sure are. It's an old story that virtually all the growth in that market has come from notebooks over the past two or three years, and just this week IDC announced that notebook shipments have overtaken desktops in the U.S. market for the first time in the history of the industry.

I e-mailed Psystar CEO Rudy Pedraza wondering if the company is assembling a notebook in-house or whether they have struck up a relationship with one of the big contract manufacturers in Asia. I didn't hear back immediately, but I'll update this post when and if he returns the message.

Psystar's Open Computer now has an option for a Blu-ray drive, which is not available on a Mac.

(Credit: Psystar)

Psystar's Mac clones now come with a Blu-ray drive, but they still can't do much more with the technology than is already possible on a Mac.

Go ahead, order an Open Computer or Open Pro with a $310 Blu-ray drive if you're a Mac OS X fan chafing at Apple CEO Steve Jobs' decision that Blu-ray is "a bag of hurt." But don't expect to be able to pop in a Blu-ray movie and watch a high-definition movie on the display attached to that system.

Without Mac OS support for a Blu-Ray player, all you can really do with a Blu-ray drive on an Open Computer is burn Blu-ray discs using Roxio's Toast 9 software, as Ars Technica points out. Apple doesn't appear close to licensing the Blu-ray technology to make a player compatible with Mac OS X, and Psystar isn't exactly in a position to add it on itself.

And you could already burn files or home movies with Toast 9 if you had a third-party Blu-ray disc drive hooked up to a Mac, or installed in a Mac Pro. I guess if you need the storage requirements of the Blu-ray format for files on a cheap computer this might be a palatable option, but otherwise, Psystar really isn't bringing much to the table with this move.

Psystar's Open Computer has arrived.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The Open Computer has landed at CNET Networks.

My colleagues over at CNET Reviews in New York have managed to get their hands on a review unit of Psystar's Open Computer, and they've got all sorts of pictures to share. For those of you who just woke up, Psystar is selling computers with Mac OS X Leopard as a preinstallation option, which is not part of an official program run by Apple and involves the use of some trickeration in order to get things up and running.

Click here for an unboxing video, or here for a slideshow. Rich Brown of CNET Reviews says he'll have a formal review of the Open Computer up this evening, so make sure to check back for that as well.

All sorts of questions about Psystar's legitimacy arose about the company after it was inundated with orders, forcing its Web site offline and causing its initial payment provider to cut ties with the company. But the kinks appear to have been worked out.

I ordered an Open Computer as just a regular customer, not as a reviewer, and received a call this morning from Psystar that my order is ready to ship if I was willing to switch to a black case. Apparently the white cases are in heavy demand; there would have been a 10-day back order if I wanted to keep the white case.

And now that the lingering doubts appear to have been satisfied, we can start to focus on the real question: What sort of legal issues is Psystar going to encounter down the road, and how exactly is Apple going to handle that?

At least one Psystar customer has received their Open Computer, as I continue to await mine.

(Credit: Psystar)

Mac clones large and small are popping up all over the place these days.

Psystar has managed to get past a tumultuous week earlier this month to get Open Computers into the hands of its customers. The Open Computer is being sold with Mac OS X Leopard as a preinstalled option for Psystar's customers, in what is expected to at some point draw some legal attention from Apple.

Check out this video on Gizmodo of the Open Computer, which sounds like an airplane taking off, in all its glory. I ordered a unit two weeks ago that was supposed to ship on Monday, but I haven't received an updated notice that it has left the factory. My colleague Rich Brown in CNET Reviews is also expecting a review unit for a formal review of the product, so watch for that in the coming days.

Engadget also found video of the Oqo handheld computer running Mac OS X Leopard, the result of a project undertaken by a forum member at Oqo Talk. I wouldn't call the Oqo Leopard model ideal, as it takes a full 2 minutes and 30 seconds for the system to boot. But if you wanted a preview of a future Mac mobile Internet device, this might be it.

Psystar's newest location near Miami International Airport.

(Credit: Anonymous ZDNet.com reader)

Psystar finally managed to get its Internet store back up and running Saturday, and promised that all Mac clones ordered to date will soon be on the way.

if you haven't been following the saga of Psystar, check out our coverage this week. In short, Psystar is selling home-built Open Computers with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled, which is a violation of Apple's licensing policy for Mac OS X.

The company has been besieged with orders, attention, and skepticism this week after news of its existence spread far and wide. Most of the attention focused on the fact that Psystar changed its address no less than four times over the week, and that its payment processor pulled its services from the company after learning it was selling products, not just IT services.

But Psystar is back once again, with a new payment processor, according to the company's Web site. And it's promising that all Open Computers or OpenPro Computers ordered this month will soon be shipping.

"To all, we challenge you: let's see if we can max this one out. Regarding shipping, orders placed the week of April 7 are currently being shipped. We will be shipping units out of our new facility starting Monday, April 21, including those orders placed the week of April 14," Psystar said on its site. "Orders are being shipped in the order that they were received--don't worry; you'll get yours soon. Upon shipment, an e-mail notification, including tracking information, will be sent to you automatically."

So we'll see if those orders start to come through. I ordered a Leopard Open Computer on Wednesday, and my credit card was charged on Saturday. I still haven't received a shipping notice yet.

While we're waiting, check out more photos of what is supposedly Psystar's new building, obtained by my colleague Larry Dignan over at ZDNet. It would be nice if we can finally put the speculation about Psystar's existence to rest next week, and get into the most interesting part of this saga: how does the company plan to fend off an expected legal challenge from Apple?

The Psystar Open Computer, the source of a huge Internet kerfuffle this week.

(Credit: Psystar)

The more we learn about Mac clone maker Psystar, the more questions arise.

For those of you who missed it, the interest of the Mac world this week swung from 3G iPhone rumor-mongering to South Florida, where a company called Psystar has put up a Web site selling a product called an Open Computer. The product is essentially a white-box Mac with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled, and a violation of Apple's licensing agreement for Mac OS X.

The Guardian did a little digging Tuesday into some of the basics around Psystar, such as its exact location and ownership. The company's main business appears to be IT consulting for small and medium-size businesses, such as setting up networks and telecom equipment and providing technical support.

The psystar.com domain name was registered in 2000, according to a Whois search, but the site does not appear to have been active before this past weekend, when news of its existence flooded the Internet. The domain is registered to Rodolfo Pedraza of Miami, who is probably the Rudy Pedraza who spoke to Ars Technica about his company on Tuesday.

According to Florida business records (PDF), Psystar was registered as a company on July 6, 2007, at 10645 SW 112th Street in Miami, a residential neighborhood in the Olympia Heights (2:05pm - Sorry, wrong neighborhood) area south of the city center. That was the address listed on Psystar's contact page on Monday, but at some point on Tuesday, Psystar changed its official address to 10481 NW 28th Street, a commercial district near Miami International Airport.

Several Gizmodo readers went to both addresses on Wednesday, and found no trace of any company named Psystar. A CNET News.com reader wrote in Tuesday night pointing out that a screen-printing company called CottonImages.com lists their address as 10481 NW 28th Street.

A spokesman for Cottonimages.com denied any knowledge of Psystar to Computerworld on Wednesday, and said no company by that name was located at their address. UPDATED 1:30 p.m. PDT--Gizmodo notes that Psystar's address has changed again, this time to 10471 NW 28th Street. Maybe the 10481 address was just a typo, but it's not clear. UPDATED 4:25 pm--Believe it or not, they changed it again. Psystar is now located at 10475 NW 28th Street. This is really weird.

I tried to call Psystar executives Wednesday morning and was directed to submit any questions to an e-mail address at Psystar. The company doesn't appear to have been prepared for the onslaught of attention following the discovery of the Open Computer on its Web site, as its online store was briefly down Wednesday morning. It's now back up and taking orders.

Perhaps foolishly, once the Web store came back online I placed an order for an Open Computer with Leopard preinstalled. I got the basic model for $554.99, although they kill you on shipping with a $93.41 shipping and handling fee for UPS Three-Day Select.

A gentleman who answered the "sales" extension at Psystar's toll-free number told me there is a 7- to 8-day build time right now for the Open Computer. When I asked him what accounted for the delay, he said the company had received many orders in the past few days. He also said he had only started at the company a few days ago.

In other Psystar news, the developer who created the firmware emulator that allows the Open Computer to bypass Apple's restrictions on Mac OS X is peeved that the company is using his technology without his permission.

Netkas, who created the EFI v8 emulator, says he released the software under a strict noncommercial license. For a while, Psystar had not even acknowledged his contribution, but the company has added an "open source" section to its site noting his authorship of the EFI v8 emulator and saying, "Psystar will promote Open Source projects in every way possible."

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the author of software that is designed to violate a company's licensing agreement is annoyed that another company is using that software in violation of his own licensing agreement?

Anyway, that's the latest with Psystar. I'll update this post later if I get a response to my e-mailed questions, or if anything else surfaces.

Psystar is back online selling "white box" Macs with a few subtle changes, and one employee has already played the monopoly card.

As you might recall, Psystar's Web site was overwhelmed Monday after it was found to be selling cheap computers with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled. This caused quite the commotion, as Apple does not license its operating system to other hardware makers, and specifically prohibits (PDF) end users from installing Mac OS X on anything other than an "Apple labeled" computer.

Psystar's OpenPro Computer, which is available with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled.

(Credit: Psystar)

Ars Technica noted that Psystar made several changes to its Web site while it was down Monday. First of all, the product is no longer the OpenMac, it's the Open Computer. Psystar's owner, Rudy Pedraza, told Ars that Psystar did that on their own to "avoid any issues." Wonder what those might be.

The company is also now offering the "OpenPro Computer" in addition to the Open Computer, which might remind you of a certain desktop computer sold by a certain California company that uses a piece of fruit as a logo. That machine costs $999, can be upgraded to quad-core processors, and is available with Leopard preinstalled.

And, in perhaps the most necessary change, they changed the nails-on-a-chalkboard "not non-safe" phrase attached to the description of whether or not you should install Mac OS X updates to your Open Computer. Grammarians, rejoice.

None of those changes will allow Psystar to escape the basic question about its business model: Apple doesn't permit the installation of its operating system on anything but its hardware. One Psystar employee told Information Week that this requirement means Apple is behaving like a monopoly. "What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?" the employee told IW.

Psystar is positioning itself as the "open" computer company. The Open Computer uses techniques--hacks, really--developed by the OSx86 project to free Leopard from the confines placed on it by Apple.

"Psystar has assembled a system that is completely operational with Leopard called the Open Computer. We call it the Open Computer to reflect the opening of what has previously been a hardware monopoly," the company wrote on a Web page describing the Open Computer.

Since they brought it up, let's review the basic definition of a monopoly, shall we? And remember, there's nothing illegal about having a monopoly, it's only when you use that monopoly for nefarious purposes that you get pinched.

The business section of Answers.com says, "A monopoly is a market condition in which a single seller controls the entire output of a particular good or service. A firm is a monopoly if it is the sole seller of its product and if its product has no close substitutes. Close substitutes are those goods that could closely take the place of a particular good; for example, a Pepsi soft drink would be a close substitute for a Coke drink, but a juice drink would not."

Debate the aesthetics all you want, but I'd argue that Windows and Linux are, for the purposes of personal computing, close substitutes to Mac OS X. They can run a personal computer. They can connect you to the Internet. They can run a basic suite of productivity applications.

You may prefer Mac OS X for a variety of reasons, but Apple's requirement that you can only run Mac OS X on Apple hardware doesn't prevent you from using a personal computer. If the only other substitutes were Palm OS phones or AIX servers, maybe you would have a beef.

Answers.com goes further to say: "The fundamental cause of monopoly is barriers to entry; these are technological or economic conditions of a market that raise the cost for firms wanting to enter the market above the cost for firms already in the market or otherwise make new entry difficult."

This is not the only computer in the universe.

(Credit: Apple)

If Mac OS X was the only operating system in the entire universe, and Apple required you to use its hardware, lawyers would have a field day. That's because the barriers to entry into the personal computing business would be impossible to overcome, since a license for Mac OS X is not for sale.

The meat of Psystar's sales pitch is that they can sell you a Mac for cheaper than Apple. So let's consider the third element of a monopoly: the ability to set prices.

Again from Answers.com: "The major difference between a monopoly and a competitive firm is the monopoly's ability to influence the price of its output. Because a competitive firm is small relative to the market, the price of its product is determined by market conditions.

There's a long-standing argument about whether or not Macs are more expensive pound-for-pound with Windows PCs. But however you slice it, Apple doesn't have the ability to force people to pay astronomical prices for the Mac; if Macs cost four times as much as similarly configured Windows PCs, no one would buy them.

Companies are free to charge somewhat more for a similar product if they can prove to people that there is a value attached to that price. If they can't demonstrate that value, people won't buy the product. No one cares that Porsche charges more for the Cayenne than Volkswagen does for the Touareg, and those are practically the same car. That's because Porsche demonstrates more value with a better interior, cushier options, and the cachet associated with driving a Porsche.

The Psystar employee, identified only as "Robert," said the company had no plans to stop selling Open Computers with Leopard preinstalled, and hinted Psystar would be willing to fight Apple. However, Pedraza, who is likely in more of a position to decide those things than Robert, declined to comment to Ars on Psystar's next steps. Apple likewise declined to comment on Psystar or any possible action it might be considering.

I think they're tilting at windmills, but I'd be very interested to see if Psystar has the wherewithal (and the cash) needed to finance a legal test of Apple's end-user license agreement for Leopard. Courts have ruled on specific provisions within EULAs, but it doesn't appear that the general concept has really been tested under U.S. law. Maybe it's time.

But until that day, companies are not required to sell products simply because somebody wants that product.