Cloned Mac Computers: Hackintosh by Psystar

Psystar is selling home-built Open Computers with Mac OS X Leopard pre-installed, which is a violation of Apple’s licensing policy, which forbids users from jamming its software onto non-Apple hardware.

Customers can choose between four Operating Systems. The choices are: Linux, Mac OS X – Leopard, Microsoft Windows XP  and Microsoft Windows Vista.

“We’re not out to steal anyone’s money, we want to earn it. We have thousands of machines we have to build and ship out… I just want to help Steve Jobs make more money,” - insisted Psystar’s President Rudy Pedraza, in a phone interview with Forbes. And the simple reason they do this is because they feel Apple Inc is charging too much for their line of Macs.

In an article, titled “Open Computer: The Smart Alternative to an Apple,” and published on their web site, Psystar argues:

Why spend $1999 to get the least expensive Apple computer with a decent video card when you can pay less than a fourth of that for an equivalent sleek and small form-factor desktop with the same hardware… You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to get the full OS X Leopard experience. Apple’s Mac Mini is completely stripped and still expensive.

Psystar’s payment processor Powerpay pulled its services from the company after learning it was selling cloned products. But Psystar remained defiant and accused the payment processing company of not supporting “Open Computing”

Midday yesterday our store was not receiving any orders. This was due to the fact that our merchant gateway, Powerpay, dropped the ball on us and refused to process any more transactions from our company. We have reverted to Paypal until we can find a high-volume merchant. Apparently Powerpay was not ready to handle the community’s demand for Open Computing.

Steven Goodrich, CEO and president of PowerPay quickly reacted by issuing the following statement to ZDNet, explaining reasons behind the decision to suspend Psystar’s account:

If a merchant fails to deliver product, or the product is not the type, quantity, or quality that the consumer expects, then PowerPay is often on the hook for any disputed transactions… PowerPay initially suspended and subsequently terminated the merchant-processing account of Psystar for three primary reasons: product/services not as represented in application, sales volumes grossly exceeded, (and) no address verification utilized… In this case, the applicant processed almost 200% of his anticipated annual volume over just a few days. In doing so, the applicant never used AVS (address verification services) which is a vital part of validating cardholder consent… PowerPay handles literally billions of dollars of processing volume annually. The notion that PowerPay ‘dropped the ball’ or was ‘unable to handle a flood of orders’ is inaccurate.

ZDNet reported that Psystar changed its address no less than four times over the week, but the Company claims they changed address only once due to higher than expected demand:

The first new address posted (10481) was in error and our correct address is 10475 NW 28th Street. PSYSTAR was, prior to this past week, not ready to handle the enormous production capacity demanded by the online community. Due to the incredible response we have now expanded to a larger commercial unit to handle the supplies and assembly of Open Computers.

Psystar’s $999 OpenPro Hackintosh comes with the following specifications:

Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM
Processor: Core2Duo/2.6GHz E6750
Hard Drive: 750 GB 7200RPM SATA
Video Card: GeForce 8600GT 512MB
Case color: Black
Operating System: Your choice of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (add $155), Windows XP Pro or Windows Vista Home Premium / 64bit (add $150), and Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (free).

Psystar said they will start in a new facility on Monday, April 21 and all computer orders will arrive soon: “Orders are being shipped in the order that they were received, don’t worry, you’ll get yours soon. Upon shipment an email notification including tracking information will be sent to you automatically.”