Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 14th Apr 2008 21:44 UTC
The website of a Miami-based networking and security solutions reseller became inaccessible Monday, shortly after the company began advertising an unauthorized Mac clone for a fraction of the cost of Apple's cheapest system. Dubbed OpenMac, the USD 400 offering from Psystar Corporation is described as 'a low-cost high-performance computing platform' based on the ongoing OSX86Project - a hacker-based initiative aimed at maintaining a version of the Mac OS X operating system for everyday PCs. The website is back online now, and the machine has been renamed to Open Computer. Update: Psystar says they will continue to sell the Open Computer system, despite the fact that it appears to violate Apple's EULA. "We're not breaking any laws," they insisted.
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Member since:
2005-08-26
I meant upgradeable in hardware terms.
I could replace the processor.
I could add ram without a freakin' razor blade or putty knife.
I could plop an extra internal (high RPM, no less) drive in the case.
I could put a new graphics card in the box.
Beyond that, I can't think of anything hardware wise I'd want to add without replacing the system wholesale.
As for installing the OS with every point-release, I don't see that as much of a pain compared to letting software-update do it's thing.
As for security, it'll be safely fire-walled away on my home network, so I can't imagine any huge threat other than zero-day exploits in the browser such as URL injection and we all know that's a gamble anyhow.
The idea for me would be that this box would be a short-term hold-over until I can save the $ for a real Mac, configured the way I want it.
I can afford one of these boxes today. A MacPro will take me another year or more to save up the money. Futher, if I bought this box today, I can sell off all my old kit, (and I mean -all- of it!) and probably get a couple hundred bucks for it. The idea is to take that money, sell off the Open, and that'll go a long-way to being able to afford the real Mac in a shorter time span.
The base Open computer is less than -HALF- the price of the low-end mini (with education discount), has a faster processor, twice the ram, and a desktop HD instead of a friggen slow-ass laptop drive.
If plugging a mac keyboard into the thing makes the keyboard eject button work, this is so worth it that it's just not funny.