$400 Apple Mac madness
p2pnet news | Products:- Is the Apple Mac about to become user friendly?
Could be.
But Apple has nothing to do with it.
“The OpenMac is an alternative to pricey Apple hardware,” says its maker, Psystar, which is marketing its product as a cheaper and more expandable alternative to a true Apple Mac, says MacRumors.
Because of the “the massive influx of users in the last 24 hours,” the site was down when we went for a look at 6:43 am Pacific.
But, the company is advertising a $400 “OpenMac” which, “claims to be a Leopard compatible Mac built from standard PC-parts,” says the story, going on for your money, you get a tower with:
- 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
- Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics
- 20x DVD+/-R Drive
- 4 USB Ports
- 250GB 7200RPM Drive
MacRumors continues >>>
When comparing base configurations, the Mac Mini costs 150% of the price of the OpenMac while offering poorer performance, smaller storage space, and RAM. Not only that but the Mac Mini doesn’t have the option for an nVidia GeForce 8600 video card like the OpenMac does so playing games on it is a lost cause.
The company claims that the machine is Leopard compatible with some “minimal patching” but does offer Leopard pre-installed. This is reportedly accomplished by using parts that are known to be compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, as well as the use of an EFI emulator.
With the EFI V8 emulator it is possible to install Leopard’s kernel straight from the DVD that you purchased at the Apple store barring the addition of a few drivers to ensure that everything boots and runs smoothly.
“The concept is an interesting possibility, and will certainly draw the attention of Apple,” it adds.
No kidding 
But, “The use of Leopard on non Apple-branded hardware is a violation of its End User License Agreement (EULA) and is specifically prohibited.”
Definitely stay tuned.
MacRumors – ‘OpenMac’ Promises $399 Headless Mac… But Not From Apple, April 14, 2008
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April 14th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I am willing to bet that ELUA isn’t “Specifically Prohibiting the installation of this OS on non Apple hardware”, as much as it is “Specifically Prohibiting users from calling Apple Support to figure out why the OS has a conflict with a ton of non-Apple hardware”
Understandable that Apple doesn’t want, or deserve, to support machines not manufactured by them.
Nice thing about this is that an internet full of intelligent pioneers will no doubt start a collaboration online dedicated to the “Unofficial Support” for this process, and most likely provide meaningful support that rivals Apple’s.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Even if the EULA states that, I believe that clause would be completely unenforceable in any court.