Psystar Customer Demos Open Computer, But Who Exactly Is The Target Audience?
Psystar’sOpen Computer video demomay have prompted more questions than it perhaps answered, but it did encourage one Gizmodo reader Patrick (username Whiskeyfrown) to reveal that he’d not only put down the money for a non-Apple system running OS X but had already taken delivery of it. At the time, his comments were:
Now Patrick hasproduced a videoof his Psystar system in action, including tracing the VGA cable from tower to monitor just to confirm it’s not some under-the-table Mac doing all the hard work.
According to Patrick, the Open Computer boots and runs “pretty damn fast” but, despite OS X System Profiler recognising the machine as a Mac Pro, updates won’t work. That, says SlashGear commenter John Sawer, is going to be perhaps Psystar’s biggest headache. Ina commentwell worth reading if this whole Open Computer business has got you tempted to flex the plastic, he argues that average, entry-level users of OS X – which Psystar has suggested are part of its target audience – could in fact find the machines are a poor deal, despite potential cash savings.
“Psystar isn’t selling Mac clones. They’re selling PCs for which they claim they’ve carefully hand-picked hardware that works better as aHackintoshthan some other PCs, but we’ll see how good they are at that. This hand-picking may also narrow your hardware choices, possibly more than using a Mac tower"John Sawer
Indeed, the process of creating your own Hackintosh can be as simple as a shortLifehacker tutorial. What’s tricky is getting a system which will play nicely with Apple updates and for which tech support is easily found, neither of which seems to be on offer from Psystar. Right now, however tempting a $399 OS X machine is, it’s difficult to recommend it as a first experience of Apple to budget-short buyers.
