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Psystar's Mac clones are unavailable after Tuesday's settlement with Apple.

(Credit: Screenshot by Erica Ogg/CNET)

As part of Psystar's partial settlement with Apple, all models of the company's Open Computer featuring preinstalled Mac OS have been removed from its Web site.

A quick visit to Psystar.com Wednesday morning reveals all five products the Mac clone maker had been selling since 2008 are suddenly "out of stock." It follows Tuesday's partial settlement, in which the Florida-based Psystar agreed to pay $2.65 million to Apple for copyright infringement, in exchange for Apple dropping the other claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Though Psystar has agreed to a settlement payment amount already, and is done selling Mac OS preinstalled on hardware, it doesn't mean the company is done fighting. Part of the agreement included that Apple will not get paid until "any and all appeals in this matter are concluded or the time for filing any such appeal has lapsed," according to the court documents.

Psystar still intends to appeal to a higher court the November 13 ruling of U.S. District Judge William Alsup, in which he said Psystar violated Apple's copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It's a process that could stretch on for years.

Until then, if Psystar wants to stay in business, it's going to have to figure out another way of selling hardware and Mac software.

Psystar's recent legal woes keep proving the company's insanity. New documents show that these guys planned to sell at least 1.45 million Mac clones by 2011. How many did they actually sell in the past year? 768.

The best part is those are conservative estimates. According to Psystar's aggressive predictions (divulged in legal documents as part of Apple's ongoing litigation), the company planned to move 12 million computers by 2011. 12 million! That's a far cry from the triple digit numbers they managed to sell.

The other best part is that Psystar pitched their inevitable legal battle with Apple as a competitive advantage, claiming other companies would want to stay away from that mess. Imagine asking the bank for a loan on a truck, saying you'll use it to haul stolen TVs, and arguing that fear of getting arrested will make yours the only TV truck in town. No wonder these guys are going under.

The documents were provided as part of the upcoming injunction proceedings, where Apple is trying to halt sales of Psystar's products. Hey Apple, I know this is all about protecting your IP and all, but going by those dismal figures, you really don't have to worry about Psystar's sales.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Episode 58 of the Digital City, where we wrangle with the legal arguments over Apple vs. Psystar; show off the latest super-fancy laptop to hit our desks, the $2,000 HP Envy 15; and find the world's best laptop backpack in the Booq Boa.

Both Modern Warfare 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii get some praise, while PSP Go sales seem to hit a wall; and we compare the original God of War games to the new polished-up versions in the God of War collection for PS3.

Related links:
>>Booq Boa Squeeze review
>>Spend some time with New Super Mario Bros. Wii
>>Modern Warfare 2 arrives

>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
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>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

Update: So it's clear, neither this post nor the video constitute the official CNET review. Click here for the full write-up with specs, charts, pricing and detailed analysis.

It's been almost exactly a year since we last reviewed a Psystar desktop. During that 12 month gap, Apple's suit against Psystar has steadily advanced through the court system, Psystar entered into and emerged from bankruptcy, and Apple released a brand-new operating system by way of Mac OS X 10.6.1, aka Snow Leopard. Somehow, none of those events has stopped Psystar from selling its own computers using Apple's Mac OS X operating system.

The Open(Q) largely comes from the same mold as other Psystar computers we've reviewed. It offers better core specs, and thus better performance, than a comparable Apple desktop for the same price. Psystar has also successfully transitioned to Snow Leopard in its non-Apple certified systems, with no apparent missing features or glitches.

Even more than in the past, this Psystar PC feels cheap. Part of Psystar's business model is that it keeps prices lower than Apple's, so we understand cutting a few corners. But both the case and the motherboard feel more out of date and low-end than previous Psystar desktops. And, because of the legal proceedings especially, the usual concerns about Psystar's capability to support its computers persist.

You can read our full review for the details of the Psystar Open(Q). With the recent news that Psystar is licensing its strategy for installing Mac OS X onto non-Apple PCs, perhaps some other brave vendor will find a way to challenge Apple on value and Psystar on craftsmanship. Until then, we're sure Psystar still has plenty of potential customers out there who are curious, looking for a deal, or who simply want to circumvent the Apple machine.

Read our review of the Psystar Open(Q).

Psystar has decided to not let a legal battle get in the way of its product road map.

The company introduced the Open(3) Wednesday, which as the name implies is the third model that Psystar has shipped with Mac OS X preinstalled. As you may also recall, Apple has not taken kindly to Psystar's decision to ship such a product, and the two companies are currently exchanging legal briefs and arguments over whether Psystar has a right to sell Open Computers with Mac OS X.

Psystar's Open(3) is basically the same product as the Open Computer that it replaces, but the company swapped the larger tower chassis found on the first model for a slimline desktop chassis. It costs $599 with a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GBs of memory, and a 500GB hard drive.

Back in October Psystar said it plans to ship a notebook with Mac OS X preinstalled, but it didn't set a target date and nothing has surfaced yet.

Psystar's new Open(3) is now shipping with Mac OS X preinstalled.

(Credit: Psystar)

A company called EFi-X USA (no, that's not a throwaway droid from Empire Strikes Back) apparently plans to take on Mac clone maker Psystar by bypassing the consumer market and jumping straight to the power user demographic.

(Credit: EFi-X USA)

The machines it's prepping sound pretty nice, with a 3.8GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor, 1TB storage on 7200 rpm drives, a 150GB 10k rpm system drive, 4GB of included RAM, and a GeForce 8800 GTS GPU.

What's more, according to AppleInsider, the company is planning to let consumers customize their machines, meaning that if the current crop of Mac Pros aren't what you're looking for, you can make up your own personalized system.

The systems will reportedly sell for $2,100, but that includes the proprietary EFi-X internal adapter that tricks OS X into thinking it's on a Mac. That's how this company plans to work the magic.

We haven't heard word from Apple's legal team yet, and we're not sure what the legal ramifications for such a dongle might be.

Apple has so far not dropped as big a hammer as it could have on Psystar. Currently the companies are in litigation over copyright infringement. We'll see how Apple responds to this new challenger.

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.

Following our review of Psystar's Apple-annoying Open Computer, we took a look at the higher-end model last week, the OpenPro. Our OpenPro review unit came with both OS X and 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate, and a $2,659 price tag (starts at $999 with Linux). In brief, it works, and it's a better deal than similar hardware from Apple, but not as attractive, and not as price-competitive compared with certain Windows PCs.

By "it works," we're referring to Psystar's EULA-violating, lawsuit-embroiled installation of Apple's OS X on this non-Apple product. Apple, as you may know, has frowned on Psystar's offering. But where last time we had some qualms about the stability and reliability of Psystar's OS X implementation, this time out we got to look at Psystar's new restore disc and also test the veracity of Psystar's claim that this system will handle all of Apple's current OS X software updates.

Psystar's bland OpenPro chassis.

(Credit: CNET)

Read on for the details, but we'll simply say that Psystar has done some impressive work on the software side, and bolstered our confidence in its products. If only we could be sure the company will still be around in six months.

Read the full review of the Psystar OpenPro.