It isn't an issue. I spent £130 and put a blu-ray burner in my PC. I use it to watch BluRay movies, do large backups, and archive photos/videos incase I have a crash, and a backup crash.
Job's claiming it's a world of hurt is a complete and utter lie. Those words were like a smack in the face to be honest. They were the point at which I decided I just don't like Apple anymore. No bluray, no higher res screens, , extortionate prices, proprietary display ports requiring £90 of adaptors, dumping a $1 part like the remote, glossy-as-hell displays, no firewire etc etc etc. AND pretending there's some 'hurt' reason why they can't do Bluray. Robbing us, giving us sub-grade products, and lying to us. All this stupidity and so many many reasons not to buy Apple...and just ONE...OSX...to buy. So that is why, as it is possible to do so, I am prepared to buy the OS, but no longer I am happy to buy the hardware.
Enough is enough.
I certainly agree with
djellison.
I am
not a consumer, i am a mac
user. A mac user, not an Apple user. Psystar is not a company of criminals. They managed to find a way to build their own machines so that they are compatible with the OS X. The OS X is not stolen. There is nothing wrong with this. They would be liars if the performance of their systems (incompatibility issues, hardware problems, global reliability) was really problematic. So far, i am rather convinced for the opposite.
If someone commits a «crime» this is Apple who «attacks» thru lies (yes lies) and nasty monopoly tactics against our pocket. If Psystar can make a really decent machine with about
$700 (€550) and a super tower with less than
$1600 (€1300) then it is Apple the bloody liar of the whole story. Why? Because Apple can produce the
same machines in almost
half price than Psystar. And this is where the scandal lies.
Because Apple has the
know–how, the
human resources and of course the
financial potential to make
similar systems to psystar ones
even cheaper or alternatively
more beautiful machines of equivalent power at the
same price.
The answer to «how?» is obvious. Psystar is a small company (wish they will grow soon though) that can sell so far just few thousands computers in a year. So, when they need to buy parts to build their computers (and they do buy really good stuff) they dont buy the same quantities wholesale as Apple does. The more motherboards, the more cpus, gpus, hard disks etc you buy from vendors like Intel, Nvidia, Ati, Seagate, WD, etc the
bigger the discount you get is. Simple economics.
If Apple was just reducing a bit their huge appetite for large profits and sell just a wee bit cheaper machines then companies like psystar wouldnt have a good reason to exist. They couldn't be competitive. Apple is just a carnivore multinational beast of profit and lost the character and the personality it had gained thru 80s and 90s. The «made in Asia» (there is nothing wrong with Asia but with companies who moved to Asia; am certainly not a racist) apple desktops and laptops cost just a few hundreds of $$ and are sold 2 times up.
Furthermore, after the recent crappy laptops crop from Apple, i start to hate their hardware. I need
flexibility,
freedom (no more adaptors and special ports please!) power and of course a
reasonable price. Apple's hardware is not attractive at all (am not talking in terms of aesthetics but globally as a solution for my personal needs), Apple is not hearing any more all these creative amateurs and pros who supported it during really tough years and i feel that most of Apple machines right now are just a nice and spectacular bubble without substancial content. A bad joke.
Mac mini? No thanxs, psystar is cheaper and 40% faster! And it can take a good gpu like 8600, a second 3,5" hard drive (not the crappy 80gs of 2,5") and everything can be customised there.
A mac pro?
No thanx. It is extremely expensive with lots of restrictions in some cases. The standard gpu is not something exceptional. The best card they offer is still 8800. The memory modules and any add–ons (hard disks, optical drives, pci cards) bought thru a customisation scheme from Apple store is ridiculously expensive.
I never expected from Apple to sell its products the same price with Dell or Hp. i can understand that they can be 5 or even 15% more expensive than major pc makers cos they are a software company too and they need extra money to develop OS X and applications. But, ok, i am not keen at all in paying 50%-90% more just because Apple has an «army» of
blind die-hard supporters who temporarily are feeding Cupertino by giving them their $s or €s or £s or whatever so lightheartedly. And by the way, most if not all these supporters follow the fashion and if a company like Sony or HP invents a new gadget,say, like the ipod they will be the first who will quit Apple's boat. Apple became Apple we do know today because thousands of students, scientists, graphic designers, sound engineers, typographers, engineers, architects and lots of other creative people were working on Apple compatible Software for years and years.
Most serious mac users, amateurs or pros it doesnt matter, were and still are mac users. They do like the OS made by Apple and their software. They are not Apple users anymore. Apple reduces itself to a company of american lifestyle and glamour.
With all these in mind, i welcome machines from companies like psystar as long as they have a decent performance and they don't sell lies to people. Am really angry with mr Jobs; his presentations could impress barbie–doll teens, but not me. Above all a mac is a computer and i am computer user. Not a silly consumer. Hope my next machine will be the Open Pro from psystar, since Apple intentionally ignores voices of people like me. Am really feeling nostalgia for the clones era with brands like Umax, Daystar and Power Computing.
PS: The fact that there is Vista or Linux around can only pose pseudodilemmas of they type: "ok, if you dont like Apple, go windows". It is not like this though. Enough is enough with Apple. They must change their policy dramatically.
