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Exclusive Video: Psystar in the Wild watch!

gizmodo.com — It's alive. Reader Patrick is lucky enough to be using one of the few Psystar Open Computing machines that have made it into the wild, and he was generous enough to make a video showing the machine (including the connections in the back to the monitor to show that it's legit). It's also pretty fast.

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  • autoy, on 04/28/2008, -5/+61OMG, the vacuum cleaner!
    • Malte33, on 04/28/2008, -2/+5For a PC ... that Thing is f*cking loud ....
      • indiekiduk, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5If I was building my own hackintosh I would use a fanless video card and choose a mobo which OS X can variably adjust the speed of the CPU fan. And also have a quiet antec PSU.
        • Tenoq, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1Well that's just it - the BIOS controls the variable fan speed on the CPU. And that Gigabyte board (G31M-S2L) DOES have CPU fan speed control: PWM or voltage. I don't know why it's not turned on... but it's equally possible the noise is from the cheap PSU used.
      • themastersb, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Sounds like mine.
    • compulsive1, on 04/28/2008, -0/+4The sound seems so loud in part due to the leveler function built in the camera's microphone circuit. It turns up quiet sounds and turns down loud sounds automatically so that the sound track is audible at normal playback levels from small TV speakers.
      Note how loud the person's steps and other noises are before the computer gets turned on.
  • JustinLucke, on 04/28/2008, -4/+42That has got to be the loudest ***** computer ever
    • Urkel, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3I agree that it is loud, but so is my Dell Vostro and Gen1 Macbook. I'm not sure if people should panic about this issue just yet because on my Dell the fan does that for the first minute then calms down so it's possible this is doing the same thing.

      Loud computers suck, but at a price like $400 (My Dell or the Psystar) then many people could live with it because these are essentially disposable computers. Even if you toss them out once a year then in 3 years you've only spend $1200 and you've kept up to date with current specs.
      • redwallhp, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Yeah, I have a Gateway desktop that does that. You turn the thing on, and it sounds like a jet taking off for about a minute, then the fan settles down and is practically inaudible.
        My new MacBook is totally silent unless I'm running something processor-intensive, like a 3D game.
    • esoterick, on 04/29/2008, -0/+0Dude my ***** way louder but ive got a Q6600 OCed and i didnt want to go water cooling :(
  • PebblePlace, on 04/28/2008, -3/+11If truly legit, it'll be interesting to see how long Apple lets these computers survive. Psystar will constantly be jail-breaking these computers...
    • luchid, on 04/28/2008, -0/+12I don't think Apple has to do anything, really. The hassle of having to patch stuff up before upgrading and having to hunt down and download the special upgrades will be enough of a deterrent to the average user. See Apple's stance of software piracy. They know people pirate their OS, yet they still don't even require a serial number when you install it. And no stupid piracy check either.
      • LastDitchHero, on 04/28/2008, -3/+1Maybe cause they use Hardware based checks. Same with many Windows OEM discs. Also, instead of a piracy check the update just hoses your OS. Personally spending too much to stop piracy hurts your bottom line. People will crack your stuff but all companies who wish to protect their IP will have to make some honest effort while balancing in being consumer friendly.
  • insanesocrates, on 04/28/2008, -5/+38"Hi, I'm a Mac...and a PC?"
  • colincornaby, on 04/28/2008, -9/+30Holy crap that thing is loud. It sounds like a vacuum.
    I have a eight core 2.8 ghz Mac Pro with a GeForce 8800. It would blow away the Psystar in terms of speed. But the Mac Pro is quieter than my G4 Cube. And my G4 cube is FANLESS. The only noise the Cube makes is the sound of it's hard drive spinning.
    Meantime this computer is slower and it sounds like a jet. Say what you will about Apple's pricing. But there is something to be said about the hardware quality.
    • wacomwacoff, on 04/28/2008, -6/+5Dugg for owning a Cube. I've got one too (with an 800Mhz speed bump that needed a fan added to it) and it's still a great little machine!
    • MikeCerm, on 04/28/2008, -11/+18No, there isn't something to be said for their hardware quality. Mac's are overpriced. Just because a crappy custom builder uses bad fans doesn't justify Apple's pricing. For $100 in replacement heatsink/fan, case fan, and PSU, you can make any PC virtually silent. Psystar is obviously not including quality parts.

      That doesn't change the fact that you can build a nice quad-core Hackintosh for $600. For $700, you can build one that's nearly silent. Just don't get it from Psystar.
      • luchid, on 04/28/2008, -3/+9Please point me to a list of components and a case of equal quality and features of a Mac Pro for $700.
      • richthomas, on 04/28/2008, -5/+10Mac Pros have 2x quad core Xeon server processes and fully buffered RAM. its a good deal for a machine thats that fast, aluminium casing, 4x PCIe, quiet as and has an OS that 'just works'.
      • wacomwacoff, on 04/28/2008, -2/+9No, they aren't. The bare-bones components to build a quad-core Mac will run you upwards of $1200, and yes, they need fans. Show me how to build a $700 silent quad-core Mac and you've got your first investor.
      • blackjack75, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2That said if you want to build a PC for gaming having an hyper-expensive Xeon is pretty much useless (yes, some people do professional work and still like to play games from time to time).

        I'd still love to see a slightly bigger mac mini with a 3.5 HD and a PCIE graphics card. A new cube is long overdue.
    • dn11, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2They obviously skimped on cooling to keep cost down - but it would be easy enough to get larger heatsinks and quiet fans. The higher end model seems to come in an Antec p180 case which is known for quiet cooling and sound dampening, i've got one right beside me right now and I can barely hear a whisper despite 4 HDs 3x120 mm fans etc.
    • elburro, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Yeah there's something to say about Mac's hardware Quality. It's crap
  • 5hocker, on 04/28/2008, -4/+16Apple. Seriously. Just build a cheap minitower - just for ***** and gigglez. Sell it for the same as the Mini. Your stock will break $200 on the announcement...
    • NaziHatinChimp, on 04/28/2008, -1/+5Macbook, Macbook Pro, Mac Pro,...Mac please?
    • dafragsta, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4It would fill a void. A cheap Mac that lets you upgrade teh HD, RAM, CPU, and video card.
    • bhalo05, on 04/28/2008, -2/+6Not gonna happen. It would ruin the sales of the rest of their catalogue.
      • foshizol, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Well if that's true why do we have Dell, HP, Sony Etc still making PCs with windows on them? They should all be driven out of business by people like me who make cheap but upgradeable computers.
    • blackjack75, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2As happy as I would be, I don't think the stock would be so enthusiastic.
      • inkswamp, on 04/29/2008, -0/+2I know people who won't switch to Macs because there's no mid-range tower. They don't want an underpowered Mac Mini, they don't want an all-in-one iMac and they don't want to blow $2700 on a Mac Pro (and that doesn't count the cost of a display.) A mid-range tower wouldn't cannibalize the sale of iMacs or Minis. It would draw in people who have so far shunned Macs because such an option is missing.
  • MScrip, on 04/28/2008, -4/+9Wow, exclusive video... all eyes on you... and that's all you put in the video?
  • yokozuka, on 04/28/2008, -9/+17Can't work with Mac OS X Software Update? Then Psystar is a fraud. They claimed that their "open" modified PC can run Mac OS X with no modifications. But this is just another PC with a patched copy of Leopard installed in it.

    If you can't use a retail copy of Mac OS X and Software Update doesn't recognize your computer, there's no point on buying from them, you can get ANY PC and do exactly the same on your own.
    • awokenbymyfears, on 04/28/2008, -3/+3That statement isn't exactly true. You must use certain compatible hardware to make a hackintosh. And there is always the fact that it's illegal...
      • webcrumb, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1If you buy OSX and slap an Apple sticker on the side of your case, it's perfectly legal.
        • yogiincork, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1It may be legal, but it's a breach of Apple's EULA...it states OS X can only be installed on apple branded hardware.

    • ZenMojo, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2So since Mac won't let you update because of their monopoly, you technically haven't made a cheap Mac? That's *****.
    • armydrummer42R, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1You can always download the updates manually too...but Macboys have become so helpless over the years that they've forgotten that such an option exists.
  • WYendrys, on 04/28/2008, -9/+5Apple's not gonna be to happy.
    • azbmr, on 04/28/2008, -2/+6Why not? This piece of ***** will scare non-tech savvy people into thinking ALL hackintoshes are pieces of *****.
    • nevermind13, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1I personally do not see why Apple would care at all. They get an extra $129 they would have never seen to begin with and have to offer zero support for it. Seems like a win-win for them (assuming a person would not have purchased a Mac otherwise). And personally, I think that many of Apples mainstream customers buy Macs for the sleek hardware, rather than the OS.
      • elburro, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1You forget Steve has got to control everything so if there is a computer out there that is running a Mac OS and he hasn't dictated exactly what hardware and software will be in it he is a unhappy camper.
  • muzocan, on 04/28/2008, -12/+4He loves that DVI cable. Geek porn.
    • mdshort, on 04/28/2008, -1/+6In the article it says that the DVI cable was shown to prove that it was the real deal.
      • muzocan, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1Thanks for treating me like a retarded person. I know and read the article.
        • TaylorSmythe, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1I'll treat you like a retarded person.
  • uberamd, on 04/28/2008, -7/+8Selling a computer that can run the OSx86 project OS... wow, good job Psystar. Guess what, the $90 Dell Optiplex GX260 systems on eBay can run OSx86 perfectly as well, should Dell start selling fake Mac's too?

    As the owner of a OSx86 Dell Optiplex GX270, and a Macbook, I can honestly say that in comparison the Hackintosh is crap compared to the real thing. But thats just my opinion. I would much rather pay $500 and get a PowerBook G4 laptop with a 15" display, backlit keyboard, etc, than pay the same price for a Psystar PC made from parts purchased from Newegg that has OSx86 hacked onto it.
  • groone, on 04/28/2008, -10/+1sham ma damma ding dong
  • jamez, on 04/28/2008, -14/+3*****, I hate gizmodo.

    So many ***** licking the dangling balls of Apple.

  • mlvassallo, on 04/28/2008, -1/+8Was that before it took off in to orbit??? How many fans are in that thing!?
  • mackan90, on 04/28/2008, -1/+5The fans are really messed up.
    • armydrummer42R, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1The fans, or Fanboys? I'd say both.
  • RubineBoy, on 04/28/2008, -4/+2OMG, I'd really like to know what they all try to prove with THAT ...
  • mirunit, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Very nice, however that is a fairly loud computer.
  • Slices, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1So is that good for anything besides waking up the neighborhood and making you feel like you're standing atop the geek chain?
  • jax1492, on 04/28/2008, -3/+3They will be sued into the stone age by apple.
    • RubineBoy, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1It also looks like a computer from the stone age.
    • Vo0Ds, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2Or they might deny them the publicity and just make sure they can't do it with later releases?
  • artgod, on 04/28/2008, -1/+7Sounds like a damn leaf blower.
  • andrewtwilliams, on 04/28/2008, -8/+2This is *****. A cheap imitation. Disgusting. Unworthy of Mac OS X.
    • whatwhatwhoa, on 04/28/2008, -2/+6since when is the Mac OS X a deity?

      oh since fanboys came around.
  • Jem7vwh, on 04/28/2008, -5/+3Cool
    Steve likes stealing BSD and others like stealing OSX.
    I don't see a problem here.
    • colincornaby, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4Steve didn't steal anything. Apple in fact has released the full source to their version of BSD, even though they are under no obligation to:
      http://developer.apple.com/opensource/index.html
      If anything you should be mad at Microsoft. They stole BSD's networking stack and didn't give back a thing.
      • intellimouse, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1And Apple stole Konfabulator and didn't give back a thing.
        • colincornaby, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1They offered to hire the Konfabulator guy when they were working on widgets, but he turned them down. What more would you have Apple do?
        • BlueStarr, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1Konfabulator took the premiss for their software from Sherlock, an Apple application.
    • BlueStarr, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1Jem...how old are you? You must be like 12 cause you're acting like a little bitch.
  • quelcertoleo, on 04/28/2008, -4/+2"Software Update won't recognize it so you won't be able to patch"

    Wow, nice to pay for a system that you can't patch, a script kiddie is all it takes to run into serious trouble.
    Not to mention the noise, terrible. I'd still take an used G5 anytime.
    • derfunkenstein, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1that's so dumb - Software Update recognizes every other Hackintosh on earth, just be careful installing 10.5.x updates so they don't trash you
    • armydrummer42R, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2You can still download the updates manually, so it's not like you couldn't update the machine. Or have Mac users become so helpless without software update that they forgot how to do those things?
  • blakespot, on 04/28/2008, -6/+2I call FAKE FAKE FAKE. Yea, he spent all that time carefully following the video cable, but - DUH!! The keyboard and mouse weren't even wired to ANYTHING!
    • vladin, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2D'oH.. thats funny.. good one.. oh.. WAIT.. couldn't be wireless.. noooooo.. that's just crazy.. If you look just left of the tower you'll see it.
  • keepinithamsta, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4Psyduck is more exciting.
  • dafragsta, on 04/28/2008, -1/+3I don't own a Mac and I'm in no way a Mac fanboy, but will this really be worth it? I mean, will it really even be cheaper? An iMac is about $1200 these days and it comes with the same size screen. As others have mentioned, it can't be patched and it won't be supported. If you want a Mac, you are probably going to want to buy into the semi-closed platform for those reasons anyway. If you just want a cheap Mac, why not just buy a Mac Mini?
    • armydrummer42R, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1You can even get some nice iMac's refurbished for cheap now after the release of the new iMacs with updated processors.
    • intellimouse, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2If you want a machine that has available PCI slots, from Apple, you're paying a minimum of $2,800.
  • bgreen00, on 04/28/2008, -8/+1Hoax .... it was really a Dell. Didn't you see the Dell name on the monitor.
    • UNL1M1T3D, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Yes, because you can't buy a Dell monitor separate from there PC's or have one laying around from an old set up. /sarcasm
      • bgreen00, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1guess I forgot my /sarcasm sign on my comment... thought it was obvious
  • lisakejjoo8, on 04/28/2008, -14/+0
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  • illtempered, on 04/28/2008, -3/+1I wouldn't buy that thing... sounds worse than my old pc!
  • maehem, on 04/28/2008, -1/+5Super Lame! People have been putting OSX on PCs for the last year. I have a couple in my lab. The video proves nothing. You would need to do a full unboxing of a Psystar machine to convince me that it's an actual product and not something a bored 12-year old hacked together.
  • spacebuddy, on 04/28/2008, -4/+2Some NOOB actually paid for this noisy machine ROFL
  • psimac, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2I rather pay twice as much for better industrial design, reliability and some F-ING PEACE & QUIET! OMG, it's louder than my G5 with the side cover off and all 5 fans running at full-tilt. WTF? Demand is high? Won't be after awhile, when no one can speak over the damned thing.
  • JackQuack, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1The field finally levels. We can finally cut through the mac propaganda. It is now just a standard machine and it will suck just as hard.
  • derfunkenstein, on 04/28/2008, -1/+0Yeah, this is totally a Kalyway 10.5.1 + Kalyway 10.5.2 update + netkas EFI Hackintosh. Right down to System Profiler identifying it as a Mac Pro with a bogus serial number. What a waste...
  • ZenMojo, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2Let me sum up this thread. "Oh no, it's inexpensive and loud! I pay double for Macintoshes and that's how I know they're great! THE FAIL."
    Thank God only 9% of the OS market involves these douches.
    • BlueStarr, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1The rest willing pay less for hardware but get ***** over and use a substandard OS with endless security issues and ***** drivers, dll hell, viruses, malware, spyware, adware.....shall I go on?
    • willrs, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1my mac IS great...
  • blackjack75, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1I know we mac users are supposedly fanboys but boy, there's some fan abuse there. (Don't try to reverse the words in this sentence if you're under 18).
  • BingeBoy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Hungry hungry hippo
  • UNL1M1T3D, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1As said higher up by compulsive1:

    "The sound seems so loud in part due to the leveler function built in the camera's microphone circuit. It turns up quiet sounds and turns down loud sounds automatically so that the sound track is audible at normal playback levels from small TV speakers.
    Note how loud the person's steps and other noises are before the computer gets turned on."
  • armydrummer42R, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Even if software update doesn't work, you can still manually download all of the updated from apple.com. So it isn't like you wouldn't EVER be able to update the OS.
  • intellimouse, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2Who the hell wants to run OSuX anyway? MAYBE if you're retarded, but that's it.
    • willrs, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1i like using the Photobooth twirl effect to make myself look like a llama
  • Yage2006, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Man that box is ***** loud sounds like my vacuume cleaner wtf.
  • xdra, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1This is the only Tech news on digg in the last 24 hours, so DUGG! Bring digg back! Why is it that we're more interested in looking at young teens' ass and booby cracks?
  • MrViklund, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1This is unacceptable. I really hope Apple sue them into their grave.
  • dcolley, on 04/30/2008, -0/+1Finally a box that only a PC user could love. The reason PC users have not completely switched over to Mac is because most have not taken the test drive.
  •  

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