Mac Clone Psystar Open Computer is the Real Deal
Fist it was: Psystar who? Followed by: Psystar wherefore art thou? Then nipping on those heels came: okay, I see it, but I don't believe it. Now the latest installment in the Psystar soap opera has us eating crow, because Engadget actually has a preliminary hands-on review of a Psystar Open Computer, including video and benchmarks.
"As far as benchmarks, it doesn't exactly blow Apple's gear away, but it definitely holds its own -- and the GeForce card just destroys the integrated graphics in the MacBook / Mac mini."
It works, but it's not perfect. Apparently the system fans stay on all the time and they are loud. Plus every fifteen minutes they had to manually reset the DHCP lease.
At the end of the day the big question is: is the system a better value than one from Apple? It's always good to have choices, and one could argue that competition actually helps drive innovation and better pricing. But is Psystar really in this for the long haul? Can they successfully fend off the Apple legal juggernaut? Are you willing to invest in hardware that might not be supported and may stop working properly following a system update?
To use a tired cliché, time will tell. In the meantime, Psystar couldn't pay to get the kind of publicity they've been getting in the tech press about the Psystar Open Computer. Full disclosure: HotHardware is contributing to the fracas.
