PC – Page 3 – CyberSurge

Psystar’s President Says That The Company Is The Real Deal

Forbes managed to get an interview with the man behind Psystar. You remember Psystar as that seemingly crazy hardware vendor that has decided to start selling “OpenComputers” with Apple’s OS X preinstalled, a well equipped one can be had for only $555.

Psystar’s President Rudy Pedraza insists that his company is the real deal. “It’s not that we can’t provide the product or [that] Apple can stop us from providing the product. The truth is, we can’t process your credit card.” This was said in response to the fact that Psystar’s payment gateway disappeared late last week when news of fraudulent dealings swarmed around the internet. Pedraza says that they were able to process a large number of orders before their payment system was put on hold and that they just moved into a new facility after a few address changes on the Psystar website.

I’m not going to tell anyone that they should purchase a computer from Psystar, in fact I would rather people wait a bit until some reviews of units actually start to come out, or some actual proof that they are going to ship them starts to materialize.

Forbes

Picture above is from Gizmodo, and is of the Psystar sign in the new facilities window.

HP Mini-Note 2133 Unboxing Pics

An Engadget reader received his HP Mini-Note 2133 in the mail and sent them some great unboxing pics. I’ll tell you what, I would really enjoy having one of these computer. It’s a great design and looks like it has excellent build quality, much better than the Asus Eee PC.

HP Mini-Note 2133 Unboxing Gallery

I figured I’d also throw in a video from LaptopMag showing off the HP Mini-Note 2133.

Psystar Seems To Be Some Sort of Hoax

So Gizmodo decided to do some investigative reporting and looked into what is actually at the supposed location of the Mac clone making Psystar.

First of all, the address on the website did change at some point in the past couple of days from a residence to the address of a USA Koen Pack. Yes, that’s right, so if this company actually does exist either they are very secretive about their location or USA Keon Pack acquired them for an untold sum of money.

So now that this is know, if you were thinking about buying the OpenMac, don’t because who knows what they are going to do with your credit card information. If you want a cheap headless Mac, just buy a Mac Mini and deal with the lower powered computer, it isn’t that big of a deal, I’ve been running on a MacBook (which has incredibly similar specs to the Mac Mini) for over a year now and it runs just fine, not the speediest thing on the block (or in my house) but it does all that I need it to.

Gizmodo

Asus Eee PC 900 Shown Off on Video

Here’s a pretty early video of the Asus Eee PC 900, you know the one with the 8.9″ screen. This version has a 900MHz Celeron M processor running at the full 900MHx (as aposed to the previous version which only ran at 630MHz).

The 900 also runs Windows XP which seems to work pretty good on that little notebook.

More on the Psystar vs Apple OpenMac Issue (1,000th Post)

First I want to say that this is the 1,000th post on CyberSurge. I’ve been blogging on this blog for one year 2 months and 15 days and I’m still having just as much fun as I was having on day one. Thanks to everyone who has been here since day one.

Psystar, you know, the OEM offering Leopard pre-installed on generic PC hardware, is claiming that Apple’s EULA violates US monopoly laws because it restricts you from installing Leopard on any hardware on made by Apple.

The first thing I want to say is that it doesn’t violate monopoly laws because Apple doesn’t have a monopoly, maybe if Apple had 90% market share in the personal computer space it would be illegal but since they don’t, it is clearly not illegal.

But, the fact that it isn’t illegal aside, in an interview with InformationWeek, a Psystar employee named Robert openly attacked Apple’s EULA:

But Psystar said Monday that the company believes Apple’s terms violate U.S. monopoly laws. “What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” said a Psystar employee.
The employee, who would only identify himself as Robert, said Apple grossly overcharges for the hardware on which its operating systems, including Leopard, come preinstalled. “They’re charging an 80% markup on hardware,” Robert said in a brief phone interview.
He also said Psystar believes Apple’s prohibition against third-party installations might not hold up in court: “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?”

I actually don’t believe that Apple hardware is overpriced at all, if you compare two computers, one made by Dell and one made by Apple they would be very similarly priced, now I’m not talking about the low end, I’m talking about computers priced at $1,000+ (everyone knows that the Mac Mini is a little overpriced, but I’m not sure if it is really 80%, that seems a bit excessive).

The Honda remark doesn’t make any sense at all, it would make more sense if Honda sold you a car stereo that could only be used inside of a Honda, which in my opinion, would be perfectly fine.

Psystar to Sell “OpenMac”

Psystar, a company from Miami, Florida, is selling “Open Mac,” a Mac clone with Leopard pre-installed for $554. The computer has a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, Intel GMA 950 graphics, DVD+/-RW optical drive, and 4 USB ports.

The Mac clone looks like it would be a pretty good performer, but if you want something a little bit more beefy you can add $110 to the price and get a Nvidia Geforce 8600GT and/or for another $50 they will add in FireWire.

Now remember that this does violate Leopard’s EULA which says that the software can’t be run on hardware that isn’t Apple branded. OpenMac says that the computer is a “configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels.” But they also say this:

“Can I run updates on my OpenMac?
The answer is yes and no. No because there are some updates that are decidedly non-safe. Yes because most updates are not non-safe. It’s best to check on InsanelyMac for this information but when in doubt don’t update it. You may have to reinstall your OS X if it is a non-safe update.”

I don’t expect this company to continue to sell the OpenMac for very long, I’m pretty sure Apple is willing to pay their lawyers a lot more than Psystar can and therefore I’m sure Apple will sue them to a pulp.

Psystar

HP 2133 Mini-Note PC Coming This Month For $499

HP is expected to launch its new HP 2133 Mini-Note PC at the end of this month for $499. The notebook weighs in at a mere 2 pounds and features a 8.9″ 1280×800 LCD screen, VIA C7-M ULV CPU, full QWERTY keyboard, Wifi, Bluetooth, and an integrated web cam.

I absolutely love this little notebook, it looks awesome and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Hopefully since HP is a little bit more popular in the retail market (through stores like Circuit City and Best Buy) I may actually be able to play around with one in a store.

All of these new ultra-portable notebooks have what I’ve always wanted in a notebook computer, light weight, small screen, very portable, and fairly decent battery life. That is all I’ve wanted and I’m glad these manufacturers are finally figuring it out.

Press Release

Asus Releasing Eee PC 900 In May

According to DigiTimes Asus is pushing their upcoming Eee PC from June to May to help fight off some of the competition coming from the likes of Acer, HP and everyone else.

Remember that this isn’t set in stone yet but it would make sense that Asus would want to get their second generation product out as soon as possible so that everyone else would be on their first generation of this style notebook.

I’ve heard many people talking about how they aren’t really sure that this part of the notebook market would really pan out as all of us geeks are expecting it to. I hope that they are wrong, especially since, in my opinion at least, most people don’t need any more power than they would find in an Asus Eee PC and it would be much smarter for the average user to purchase a $400 Asus Eee PC and spend $800 on a desktop from someone like Dell than to spend $1200 on just a laptop. In this situation the $800 desktop will have about the same amount of horse power as the $1200 notebook but you would also be able to purchase a $400 Eee PC.

DigiTimes

Asus Eee PC Now Available With XP Preinstalled From Best Buy

Best Buy has added a product page for the Asus Eee PC with Windows XP preinstalled.

This version of the Eee PC has a 900MHz Intel Celeron M Processor
512MB DDR2 memory
7″ 800×480 LCD
4GB solid state drive
Intel UMA graphics
Built in web cam
3 USB ports
802.11b/g
Priced at $399.99

The specs are identicle to the similarly priced Eee PC 4G, but this one has XP. Currently Best Buys website says that the Eee PC is in stock and ships within one business day.

This, in my opinion, is a much better option for most users, I know that this will make a lot of you linux guys upset but for the average user Windows XP is better, they are more familiar with it.

Eee PC on BestBuy.com

Desktop Eee PC Gets Pictured

So in the past I posted about some pictures that showed up online of a Asus PC that had “Easy to Play. Easy to Lean. Easy to Work” written on the feature card but unfortunately that wasn’t the desktop Eee PC that we would soon be seeing as the official desktop Eee PC.

The desktop Eee PC will first ship in black or white with the possibility of more colors down the line.

Asus has said in the past that the desktop Eee PC would ship with an Intel Celeron processor and soon afterwards transition to the Atom processor. Asus also said that they would be pushing for a price somewhere between $200 and $300, with the goal being to get the cost down to $200 over time.

First thing I want to say about these pictures is: Nintendo Wii.
The second thing I want to say is: I WANT ONE!

Desktop Eee PC Photos Show Up Online

The EEE PC has become an incredibly popular little laptop and desktop versions of the Eee PC are going to be coming soon. The photos are from French-language site Matbe.com, and show a PC by Asus that doesn’t come right out and say Eee PC but it does have the words “Easy to Play. Easy to Lean. Easy to Work” written on the info card.

The desktop was shown off at CeBIT and was said to be running “Eee PC Linux OS.” Asus has said that when the desktop Eee PC will debut in April or May for $200-300.

Here’s the pics:

Asus Set To Begin Selling Eee PC with 9 Inch LCD In Mid-2008

Asus will be showing off the “New Generation” of Asus Eee PCs at Cebit 2008 and it includes an Eee PC with a 9″ LCD screen, 2″ (diagonal) larger than the Asus Eee PCs that are currently being sold.

The impact on the battery this new, larger LCD panel will have is said to be negligible, the Eee PC is going to have 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life.

The 9″ Eee PC is set to begin hitting store shelves in the middle of 2008 with a €399 price tag, which comes with a 12GB flash drive. There will also be a 8GB version, no US pricing has been found at this time.

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