Psystar Selling Blu-ray Equipped Clone

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Psystar, even though they are still in the middle of arbitration with Apple, have decided to launch a new clone machine with Blu-ray and a 9800GT. I’ll give it to these guys at Psystar, they may not be the brightest bunch out there...but they got balls.

In fact, today, Psystar decided to one-up Apple, not only releasing a new model of clone, but one that comes with a built-in, patented Blu-Ray bag of hurt plus Nvidia’s new 9800GT graphics card—beating Apple to the punch, at least for now.
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Big ones.

If I needed OSX, I'd rather give my money to these guys then Apple.
 
Except there have been third-party Blu-Ray drives available for a long time. OS X can read BD-ROM discs just fine. Toast can even write BD-R and BD-RE discs.

Even with Psystar's included drives; you still can't play a Blu-Ray movie in OS X... (OS X's built-in DVD player will play unencrypted HD DVDs, since they're the same basic file structure as the Apple DVD Studio Pro-created high-def DVDs, but it won't play either HD format's encrypted version.) (Yes, I plugged my Xbox 360 HD DVD drive into my Mac. Works like charm for raw data reading.)
 
Steve Jobs isn't going to be able to afford one more black turtleneck. The world as we know it is over.
 
ICOM said:
Why would you clone something nobody is buying?
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You must have missed the part where Apple's sales growth dwarfs Microsoft's, where they have more cash on hand than Microsoft (25 billion vs 20 billion), and where their cash on hand exceeds Dell's current market capitalization (if they managed to buy based on Dell's current book value, they could do it and still have a billion left over). Somebody's buying their stuff. ;)
 
CharonPDX said:
Except there have been third-party Blu-Ray drives available for a long time. OS X can read BD-ROM discs just fine. Toast can even write BD-R and BD-RE discs.

Even with Psystar's included drives; you still can't play a Blu-Ray movie in OS X... (OS X's built-in DVD player will play unencrypted HD DVDs, since they're the same basic file structure as the Apple DVD Studio Pro-created high-def DVDs, but it won't play either HD format's encrypted version.) (Yes, I plugged my Xbox 360 HD DVD drive into my Mac. Works like charm for raw data reading.)
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You beat me to it, you can already do all this with a normal OS X machine. Why Psystar keeps drawing attention to itself like this is beyond me, its like the drunk teenager that dodges trucks on a busy highway on purpose. If they'd just sold EFI capable machines then that would be it, they could sell their Mac clones and the customer could do what they wished with it (ie - install Leopard themselves). I can only assume that they're doing this on purpose to get a settlement from Apple (huge gamble...).
 
I'd attribute that to Microsoft already having their products in everyone's home. :p Apple's growth should only go up considering how low their market share is. But mostly, I'd say it's want-to-be-trendy freshman liberal arts college students that are making a positive impact in sales for Apple. I can't go anywhere on campus without seeing some kid in a fidel hat using a mac.
 
w1retap said:
I'd attribute that to Microsoft already having their products in everyone's home. :p Apple's growth should only go up considering how low their market share is. But mostly, I'd say it's want-to-be-trendy freshman liberal arts college students that are making a positive impact in sales for Apple. I can't go anywhere on campus without seeing some kid in a fidel hat using a mac.
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I had no idea the trendy freshman market was so massive! I need to start selling things to them! :p :rolleyes:
 
w1retap said:
I'd attribute that to Microsoft already having their products in everyone's home. :p Apple's growth should only go up considering how low their market share is. But mostly, I'd say it's want-to-be-trendy freshman liberal arts college students that are making a positive impact in sales for Apple. I can't go anywhere on campus without seeing some kid in a fidel hat using a mac.
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Werd.
 
these guys really need to make "i m a psystar" commercials, even just for youtube.
 
I don't think the Mac people will see the value of their favorite OS in a better machine.
 
Recently a prof of mine specifally stated that all assignments are to be handed in a .doc format. And then he asked, Any Mac users in the class?

Out of 30+ people, only two painted up goth chicks in ripped pants put up their hands.
 
Vorazan said:
Recently a prof of mine specifally stated that all assignments are to be handed in a .doc format. And then he asked, Any Mac users in the class?

Out of 30+ people, only two painted up goth chicks in ripped pants put up their hands.
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Why would you teacher ask about mac users in regards to turning in .doc files? Office is on the mac as well and last i checked Openoffice can save to .doc just fine.
 
Vorazan said:
Recently a prof of mine specifally stated that all assignments are to be handed in a .doc format. And then he asked, Any Mac users in the class?

Out of 30+ people, only two painted up goth chicks in ripped pants put up their hands.
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And 27 others just dropped there heads in shame.


Are these Psystar computers even worth a damn? I remember when IBM clones starting showing up, they were cheaper then the IBM machines and just as good if not better. If Psystar could sell a computer that is just as good but alot cheaper then I could definatly see the market potential, as cost is one of the big reasons people shy away from apple, all jokes asid its probably the main reason they don't sell better. but then again, its probably why apple has more in hand cash then Microsoft, they sell less computers/software, but they make alot more per unit.
 
Diablo2K said:
And 27 others just dropped there heads in shame.


Are these Psystar computers even worth a damn? I remember when IBM clones starting showing up, they were cheaper then the IBM machines and just as good if not better. If Psystar could sell a computer that is just as good but alot cheaper then I could definatly see the market potential, as cost is one of the big reasons people shy away from apple, all jokes asid its probably the main reason they don't sell better. but then again, its probably why apple has more in hand cash then Microsoft, they sell less computers/software, but they make alot more per unit.
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I took a look at what they had and thier pretty overpriced. The basic mac model is pretty wimpy and thier $1500 "gaming PC" is pretty wimpy too.
 
i say psystar should start selling mac clone boxes with pirated leopard!!! that'd really stick it to mac, and bring it into fair competition with microsoft's over-pirated software... :D:D:D:D
 
Vorazan said:
Recently a prof of mine specifally stated that all assignments are to be handed in a .doc format. And then he asked, Any Mac users in the class?

Out of 30+ people, only two painted up goth chicks in ripped pants put up their hands.
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My school is inundated with mac users. Hell, even the professors use them. Its not even an art school or anything, just your standard under-funded state school.
 
uhh there is one problem. There is NO blu-ray playback software for OSX. And I bet HDCP might hate you for trying to run parallels.
 
I love my PC and I love PC games. Play wow all the time. I just picked up Fallout 3.

I've never been a fanboy of anything. Pretty open minded. With that in mind, about 3 weeks ago I built me a Power Mac for around $900 dollars using a EFi-X usb dongle.

http://www.efixusa.net/

Used a old Lian-Li case I had, dvd burner, 8gigs memory, gigabyte board, intel quad extreme I bought 2 years ago for $1,000 dollars thats running at 3.2ghz, wireless card, blue tooth dongle and a 9800GT that just replaced a 8800gt. Same card I think, just different model number. It runs absolutely beautiful. Everything is native to the os, no hacks needed. I can update anytime I want. I've even ordered some apple stickers along with the wireless mouse and keyboard off the net to try and give the case / comp more of the Apple look.

How do I like it? Well, I'm not a fanboy but to me, it's easier to navigate and a joy to use. In fact, my PC has been under my desk just idle. I installed Fallout 3 on it and played it a bit but that's been as much as the PC has seen lately.

For those that are tired of the Windows look and feel, build one using the EFi-X.
 
burnin8r said:
these guys really need to make "i m a psystar" commercials, even just for youtube.
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LOL! That's a great idea!

MAC: I'm a Mac.
PC: I'm a PC.
Psystar: I'm a Psystar.

PC: Oh great, there' two of them now.:(
MAC: Who the hell are you?:eek:
Psystar: I'm your replacement!:D

Mac and PC cry on each other's sholder. Psystar smiles and camera fades to black.
 
Chiplg said:
LOL! That's a great idea!

MAC: I'm a Mac.
PC: I'm a PC.
Psystar: I'm a Psystar.

PC: Oh great, there' two of them now.:(
MAC: Who the hell are you?:eek:
Psystar: I'm your replacement!:D

Mac and PC cry on each other's sholder. Psystar smiles and camera fades to black.
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that right there is classic!! :) Nice one i LOLed at it hehe

 
Serpico said:
You must have missed the part where Apple's sales growth dwarfs Microsoft's, where they have more cash on hand than Microsoft (25 billion vs 20 billion), and where their cash on hand exceeds Dell's current market capitalization (if they managed to buy based on Dell's current book value, they could do it and still have a billion left over). Somebody's buying their stuff. ;)
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I have two words for you. Profit. Margin. It is well known that Apple rakes in more profit per product than it's competitors. If they DIDN'T have huge piles of cash laying around, something would be wrong.
 
Chiplg said:
LOL! That's a great idea!

MAC: I'm a Mac.
PC: I'm a PC.
Psystar: I'm a Psystar.

PC: Oh great, there' two of them now.:(
MAC: Who the hell are you?:eek:
Psystar: I'm your replacement!:D

Mac and PC cry on each other's sholder. Psystar smiles and camera fades to black.
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Dont forget the behind the scenes part where the psystar guy gos to walk off the stage and is greeted by a team of lawyers wielding giant dildos.
 
DeaconFrost said:
I have two words for you. Profit. Margin. It is well known that Apple rakes in more profit per product than it's competitors. If they DIDN'T have huge piles of cash laying around, something would be wrong.
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Profit margin means nothing without actually moving a lot of product, which my post was in response to. :)
 
True, but having a huge profit margin per product means you don't have to move as much product as a company selling a competitor, with a much lower profit margin. They are no doubt selling at a decent rate. but you can attribute quite a bit of that to fads and marketing. It's "cool" to have a Mac laptop now, as opposed to a boring, cheaper Dell or HP.
 
DeaconFrost said:
True, but having a huge profit margin per product means you don't have to move as much product as a company selling a competitor, with a much lower profit margin. They are no doubt selling at a decent rate. but you can attribute quite a bit of that to fads and marketing. It's "cool" to have a Mac laptop now, as opposed to a boring, cheaper Dell or HP.
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Dell and HP should be doing a better job to retain customers then. This is capitalism and competition is a good thing. Either way, none of these are points that I was arguing, I'm simply pointing out statistics from their SEC filings last week (calling their YoY growth "decent" is a huge understatement, btw). I know its the internet and all, but personal opinion really has nothing to do with it.
 
Serpico said:
You must have missed the part where Apple's sales growth dwarfs Microsoft's, where they have more cash on hand than Microsoft (25 billion vs 20 billion), and where their cash on hand exceeds Dell's current market capitalization (if they managed to buy based on Dell's current book value, they could do it and still have a billion left over). Somebody's buying their stuff. ;)
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But all those facts and figures of mainstream PC software and hardware retailers/manufacturers doesn't cover the PC's that are custom built, and don't use an M$ product (or a legit copy of one anyway), there are still more PC's (270 million last year) being bought every year than Apple systems...unfortunately individual components don't get counted for PC's being bought.
 
Outamyhead said:
But all those facts and figures of mainstream PC software and hardware retailers/manufacturers doesn't cover the PC's that are custom built, and don't use an M$ product (or a legit copy of one anyway), there are still more PC's (270 million last year) being bought every year than Apple systems...unfortunately individual components don't get counted for PC's being bought.
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This is partly true. I myself have been building my own PCs for over 13 years or so at this point. That said, Windows installations are a pretty good indicator of sales. Piracy happens but in the end it is a pretty small percentage of users. I've bought every single copy of Windows I've ever used (albeit at deep deep discount from my friend who works at Microsoft).

And in the end, piracy and such is really irrelevant since we're just talking about pure sales numbers, not lost sales. If a massive number of PC users truly are running pirated copies of Windows (which btw I do not believe is the case, as I haven't seen any numbers to support this outside of the Far East), that is an indication that the PC business is fundamentally broken, in that they can't make profit from their own work. The number of users means nothing if it doesn't mean profits for the companies that are selling to them.

In any case, we are talking about actual sales and year-over-year growth, not sales lost by illegal activity. Momentum is clearly on Apple's side as proven by continued and accelerating growth, high return on investment (each dollar of R&D spent at Apple manifests itself as much greater actual profit than most companies out there), sales at retail (Apple currently has the highest net profit per square foot of any retail chain in the country, period), its complete lack of debt, and cash on hand (again, more than Microsoft's, and enough to buy Dell with). This is why Wall Street likes the stock. With no immediate end in sight to its growth, we're talking about a company that can potentially have a market cap to rival Microsoft's in a couple years.

Again, I understand what you're saying but quantity of sales is mostly irrelevant, it is rate of growth and profit margins.
 
Serpico said:
You must have missed the part where Apple's sales growth dwarfs Microsoft's,
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Errr, wait, so the company that has near 100% penetration is somehow supposed to grow faster then the market itself grows? Maybe they should start selling 2 copies with every computer... Apple's market share is riding on the back of Microsoft. The only reason Apple's market share has grown is because you can now have Windows on your Mac. Beyond that, 1) Microsoft is a software company. 2) Microsoft only very marginally competes with Apple (Why do people even compare the two?) 3) The growth of Apple's market share is huge.... as long as you ignore the mind-numbingly immense number of business computers, which bitch-slaps Apple's share back down to a few %. 4) Apple's sales growth is mostly driven by their toy division and not their computers. The number of computers they sell is dwarfed by their toy division.

Serpico said:
where they have more cash on hand than Microsoft (25 billion vs 20 billion)
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We both know MS could have collected 100bn in cash had they wanted to. There's no reason to. The point of cash is to be able to finance operations without having to borrow if you don't want to. 20bn covers anything they could possibly want to finance.
 
Nemesis999 said:
We both know MS could have collected 100bn in cash had they wanted to. There's no reason to. The point of cash is to be able to finance operations without having to borrow if you don't want to. 20bn covers anything they could possibly want to finance.
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Not Google... :cool:;);)

Seriously though, on a PC industry view APPL is irrelevant. Their toys is only what is driving them right now. And Serpico, I wish APPL's stock price shared your's and wall Street's optimism. I know the market is bad but $104 after the greatest quarter ever? They are still down like $80 from 3 months ago.
 
XamediX said:
Not Google... :cool:;);)

Seriously though, on a PC industry view APPL is irrelevant. Their toys is only what is driving them right now. And Serpico, I wish APPL's stock price shared your's and wall Street's optimism. I know the market is bad but $104 after the greatest quarter ever? They are still down like $80 from 3 months ago.
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Yup, and I've been shorting the crap out of and buying put options on everything since Labor Day. Stocks, currencies, commodities, I've been short on it all and this has honestly been the easiest trading of my life. :) It doesn't matter how good your company is doing, how cheap your commodity is, how oversold your currency is, its getting hammered.

For proof of Wall Street's view on AAPL, you only need to look back one week. On a day when the averages lost 7% (this is a market index we are talking about, just massive), Apple was actually up 5%, one of the few gainers. This is on the same day where other big techs like Microsoft and Research In Motion got absolutely clobbered (you want to see a brutalized stock, RIMM is worth 1/3 of what it was this summer).

I get it though, you like to buy overvalued stocks near the top and sell undervalued ones near the bottom, gotcha. ;)
 
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