September 8th, 2010

QUO maxQ2 Is A $4,000 Mac Pro Clone. Yeah, This Won't End Well

QUOComputer, a company that jumped in on the tail of the Psystar saga, is manufacturing a $3,765 Mac clone using lots of nice parts including an Asetek liquid cooling system. Why? I have no idea, but a $4K Mac clone sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. A $4K PC with some nice liquid cooling… yeah, I could get behind that. Press release after the jump. → Read More

December 18th, 2009

Psystar.com is dead

Bye, bye, Psystar.com. The last vestige of Psystar has gone dark after a court order to stop selling Mac clones. The company has provided us with an untold amount of entertainment and drama over the last couple of years. But Goliath killed David this time. The hackintosh movement will live on though and we’ll likely see even more companies attempt to make a quick buck selling OS X machines… → Read More

December 16th, 2009

Psystar is approximately over

So Psystar can no longer sell OS X. Straight up. They can’t assist people in installing it on their Hackintoshen. They can’t mention the word Apple. They can’t circumvent anything dealing with OS X. No how and never. → Read More

December 2nd, 2009

Psystar settles with Apple to the tune of $2.7 million (but won't pay up just yet)

More Psystar news for you. We now know that the Florida-based company will have to pay Apple $2.68 million in damages over its little Hackintosh business. (That’s a partial settlement, not court-mandated or anything.) Go ahead and go to its Web site: everything is out of stock! → Read More

December 1st, 2009

Psystar, Apple reach settlement: No more PCs pre-loaded with Mac OS X (but Rebel EFI may be safe)

Some more Psystar news for y’all. You’ll recall that the renegade company was more or less shut down last week, slapped with an injunction and expected to pay Apple an awful lot of money. Put all of that aside for a minute, for there’s new news: Apple and Psystar have struck a deal! The deal, which ends a 17-month-long legal battle, means Psystar will stop selling computers pre-loaded with Mac OS… → Read More

November 27th, 2009

Psystar's folly: 12 million clones per year by 2011

We all know that Psystar is busy bleeding out in federal court, but that doesn’t mean the fun stops. We’ll be dissecting their glorious failure for quite some time. The most recent development: it seems their plan for taking a bite out of Apple’s sales was comically ambitious. How many clones do you think they sold in 2009? Somewhat under a thousand would be putting it kindly. → Read More

November 25th, 2009

Psystar, she is dead

Apple has been fighting for a permanent injunction against Psystar, preventing the company from selling Hackintoshen and their Rebel EFI software. The company has been accused of “trafficking in circumvention devices.” → Read More

November 15th, 2009

Court sides with Apple, those dudes at Psystar are hosed

Apple’s charges of copyright infringement and DMCA violation against Psystar have stuck and, friends, things ain’t pretty for the two brothers in Miami. The problem with Psystar’s approach wasn’t that they were crazy for trying it. It’s that the were selling a counterfeit unit.

Apple contends that Psystar has violated its distribution right by offering and selling Mac OS X on Psystar computers to… → Read More

November 12th, 2009

News Flash: Psystar is not a faceless corporation, it's two dudes in Miami

For some reason I always imagined Psystar differently. The company has been making Hackintoshes – against Apple’s wishes – for nigh on a year and their various lawsuits and machinations have given lazy Hackintoshers everywhere the opportunity to buy OS X hardware for a fraction of the cost of a new Mac and, more recently, the ability to Hackintosh almost anything.

Well, it turns out this hive of… → Read More

October 23rd, 2009

Citizen Journalism: Making a Psystar Hackintosh

Reader Louis sent in this longish missive about his own experiences installing a Psystar Hackintosh. We were stymied last night by the authentification procedure so we didn’t even get as far as Louis but it seems that the install, while fairly seamless, is fraught with problems. The speakers on our HP, for example, don’t work and while Apple’s Ink feature shows up in the control panel, the… → Read More

October 23rd, 2009

Psystar Rebel EFI isn't magic, won't install OS X on "any machine"

When the Psystar Rebel EFI software launched yesterday, the Internet collectively gasped at the wild claims but a few people in the Hackintosh community probably knew better. Sites were claiming that the Rebel EFI software would allow OS X to be installed on any computer, but that simply isn’t true as I’ve found out over the last 12 hours. In fact, it doesn’t seem to offer any more hardware… → Read More

October 22nd, 2009

Psystar's Rebel EFI allows you to install Mac OS X on any PC, no crazy Hackintoshing required

You can almost hear Steve Jobs flipping out right now. Psystar, notable for its efforts to sell generic PCs with Mac OS X pre-loaded, has just released something called Rebel EFI. It’s software that allows you to instal Mac OS X on generic PCs without having to Hackintosh said PC. (Hackintoshing isn’t for the weak of heart!)

Update: Psystar’s site is down but here are the installation… → Read More

October 9th, 2009

Apple, Psystar ask for summary judgemets, looking to avoid trial

This Apple-Psystar business sure is hotting up! Both Apple and Psystar have asked for summary judgments based on what they believe to be What’s Going On. Such an action would avoid a pesky trial, which would necessarily costs both companies a whole lot of money. → Read More

October 3rd, 2009

Psystar shuffles its counsel – in other news, that lawsuit is still happening

Nobody expected that this Apple-Psystar affair would be rapid or easy, but at this point it’s positively interminable. Psystar has just switched out a lawyer, who probably just about keeled over from constantly parrying Apple’s well-founded injunctions against his client’s business. Here’s hoping Mr. Welker takes a well-deserved vacation. → Read More

September 1st, 2009

Psystar still taking the crazy pills, sues Apple for being a "premium computer monopoly"

Psystar, putter-togetherers of Hackintosh PCs, are suing Apple for monopolizing the market for premium computers, a move akin to a prairie dog popping its head up under a lawnmower. The lawsuit states:

“By tying its operating system to Apple-branded hardware, Apple restrains trade in personal computers that run Mac OS X, collects monopoly rents on its Macintoshes, and monopolizes the market for… → Read More

July 2nd, 2009

Psystar emerges from bankruptcy ready to sell a Core i7 Mac Pro clone

And you thought that Apple finally drove the front running clone maker off of a cliff. Nope. Psystar successfully navigated the bankruptcy courts and is back at its old game of annoying Apple. The ongoing lawsuit is still in play, but bankruptcy no doubt allowed the company to shed some debt and reorganize under Chapter 11 guidelines. Now the company is back and just released a new Core i7 clone. → Read More

June 12th, 2009

Psystar: We'll gladly pay you tomorrow for 581 copies of Leopard today

Picking apart the bankrupt Psystar corpse has revealed a debt of $75,000 to Apple for “Unsecured Nonpriority Claims,” whatever thoseare. Nobody knows what exactly that might be for, although some savvy mathemagicians have decided it might be for 581 (and a half) copies of Leopard. Not knowing Psystar’s actual sales volume, that number means practically nothing. Did they maybe order all those… → Read More

May 26th, 2009

Psystar filed for bankruptcy, Apple lawyers seen circling for the kill

Psystar put up good fight. The small company first released a $399 Mac clone little over a year ago followed by rackmount servers a little later. The company was eventually sued by Apple for using OS X on clone machines. But Psystar showed some backbone and sued Apple back . But even if Psystar had secret financial backing, the company just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. → Read More

May 20th, 2009

Yet another Mac clone maker: RussianMac edition

Maybe RussianMac is thinking that Apple‘s legal team will not notice as they’re too busy with the suing Psystar. Oh, perhaps, the Mac clone maker thinks that they are legally immune being located in the wild west that is Mother Russia. Whatever the case, a full range of Mac clones, including a pro and notebook models, are now available from another maker. Interestingly enough, RussianMac may have… → Read More

May 7th, 2009

Psystar to produce and sell an OS X netbook?

Psystar, the crazy folks that have stood up to Apple’s legal behemoth and continue to produce Mac clones, might be working on a netbook according to MacRumors. Apple has been very quite on the netbook front, and seems to not want anything to do with the niche market — although rumors state otherwise. But there is nothing stopping Psystar from producing its own OS X-running netbook. Chances are it… → Read More

April 16th, 2009

Psystar's Open(3) caught in the wild

It seems like just yesterday when we were unboxing our very own Psystar system, and apart from some build quality issues, were surprised at how well it worked.

The Open(3) system they announced last month was expected by some to be a no-show, what with the ongoing dispute with Apple, but it looks like at least one person with a camera has gotten his delivered. → Read More

March 18th, 2009

Psystar releases new $599 Mac clone

In a move that’s sure to make Apple shake its fist and gnash its teeth, everybody’s favorite underdog, Psystar, has thrown legal caution to the wind and released the Open(3) Computer, starting at $599 without monitor, keyboard, or mouse. → Read More

February 20th, 2009

German "PearC" Apple clones aim to succeed at the Psystar game

The long-running Psystar dispute may be settling down as the controversial PC-maker runs out of steam, but don’t think that’s the end of… the Clone Wars. (sorry)

German PC company HyperMegaNet UG has started selling its own line of cloned Apples. But good heavens, you say, aren’t they scared of Apple? Won’t they see the smoking ruins of Psystar and fear the same fate may be in store for them? → Read More

December 23rd, 2008

With nothing to lose, Psystar now claims Apple didn't copyright OS X

The saga between Psystar and Apple is reaching a sad point. Apple has held firm against the claims of the Mac clone maker and Psystar keeps pilling on new Apple offensives. The latest simply claims that Apple cannot sue Psystar ’cause OS X isn’t covered by copyright protection. → Read More

December 10th, 2008

Psystar drops some antitrust claims, adds others

Psystar is kind of turning into an annoying step-brother by “respectfully disagreeing” with the courts latest findings, but by adding other charges to take the place of the dismissed ones. This whole case seems like it’s going to continue on OJ style, – the first one - never-ending and just wasting taxpayers dollars. Maybe there is a silent backer, secretly funding… → Read More

December 5th, 2008

OpeniMac releases a quasi-Mac clones

You would think that these Argentineans would know about Psystar’s legal ‘issues’ with Apple before they decided to release an unofficial OS X machine, but whatever. The company is selling two Mac Clones for a reasonable amount of cake. The OpeniMac is only $990 and ships with 2GB of memory, 320GB HDD, and a 256MB ATI Radeon HD Pro. The OpeniMacPRO will run ya, $1,710 but is… → Read More

December 3rd, 2008

Apple loses it, suggests puppetmaster behind Psystar

Oh dear, I think Apple’s legal department is getting paranoid. After suggesting that people taking their ad literally were irrational, they’re now suggesting that a shadowy unknown may be behind the whole Psystar drama. The suits and countersuits have been going on for months and months now (all I care about is that it works), and in an amendment to their suit today, Apple added the… → Read More

December 2nd, 2008

Psystar violated DMCA, says Apple

The court proceedings between Apple and Psystar are still dragging on with the latest charges being filed by Apple the day before Thanksgiving. Allegedly, Psystar is violating the Digital Mellennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by circumventing the OS X copy-protection.  Through this motion, Apple seeks leave to file its Amended Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) and this… → Read More

November 19th, 2008

Psystar's counterclaims against Apple to get thrown out of court

The never ending saga of David vs Goliath just got a little tougher for the little guy. Unless Psystar strengthens its counterclaims against Apple, it will be thrown out of court. The counterclaim indicates that OS X is not reasonably interchangeable with other operating systems, such as Windows, and therefore compromises its own niche market. So unless Psystar can come up with something… → Read More

October 28th, 2008

Psystar hopes Apple won't notice Blu-Ray desktops

Psystar is still beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men aka Apple but now they’re shipping “OS X-compatible” machines with Blu-ray installed. Sadly, there is no built-in Blu-Ray support which means you’re stuck using Toast 9 to do anything at all. In our experience, Psystar is basically selling bare bones PCs with a little tweaking… → Read More