But Psystar isn’t selling Mac clones. They’re selling PCs for which they claim they’ve carefully hand-picked hardware that works better as a Hackintosh than some other PCs, but we’ll see how good they are at that. This hand-picking may also narrow your hardware choices, possibly more than using a Mac tower.

The process of installing OS X onto a PC, is not exactly easy for the non-hacker. One of the first steps in the process, involves installing EFI emulator software onto the hard drive, written largely by a person named Netkas, which then allows you to install OS X. The resulting Hackintosh has a number of limitations that a real Mac, and any theoretical Mac clone (which currently don’t exist), wouldn’t have.

But in Psystar’s own words: “Psystar has assembled a system that is completely operational with Leopard.” Well, that’s not true–”completely operational” would mean that, after you (or they) go through all the extra steps to install Leopard (they haven’t tried earlier versions of OS X, and make no guarantees about trying them), that all of Leopard’s features would work exactly as they do on a Mac, without any extra work on the user’s part. But as it stands right now, Leopard’s Software Update feature can’t be used on an Open Computer, for OS X updates (and maybe other updates as well), since that will break your installed copy of Leopard–it either won’t start up, or will start up but won’t run properly. Merely installing a single-point update of OS X (for example, from 10.5.1 to 10.5.2) requires more extra steps than most non-hackers will want to go through (http://netkas.org/?p=50). So, before you can install OS X updates, you’ll have to wait for Psystar, or Netkas, or someone else, to figure out a workaround method to install Apple’s updates.

Even if Open Computers were “completely operational with Leopard”, they’re not completely operational with Apple’s tech support. This isn’t a problem for people who can supply their own tech support, but forget about calling Apple for tech support, even if all you need is help with OS X–one of the first questions that Apple tech support asks, is your Mac’s serial number, and when you tell them you don’t have a Mac, I doubt if they’ll be willing to help you.

There’s also the issue of tech support from Psystar. They’ve already stated their support is limited to replacing the hardware–they’re not offering any OS X tech support at this time, and have no announced plans to add it in the future (optimistic people can hope that they will, but don’t count on it), not even to help you, or even tell you how, to reinstall OS X if you need to (and a not-small number of people have to do that, to fix various OS X bugs). A MacFixIt reader, Tim Thomason, received an email from Psystar, stating:

“We absolutely do not support customers attempting to install the Leopard operating system on our Open Computer themselves. This is due to a difficult process that we go through to get Leopard to function on our computers. We encourage you to purchase an Open Computer, and select the option to have Leopard Pre-installed.”

When Thomason asked, how then to get OS X reinstalled on an Open Computer, Psystar responded:

“Currently, (shipping the computer back to us) is the only option available. If the HDD dies, you can ship it to us for $50 plus shipping, so we can replace it for you.”

This does not seem convenient for most people. Shipping costs are not cheap for a larger item like a computer, unless you’re willing to wait for ground transport, and have an extra computer to use in the meantime. It’s unclear from the email they sent Thomason, whether if your hard drive is physically OK, but needs an OS X reinstall, whether they’ll do that for you, allowing you to just send them your hard drive, or just buy a new drive from them with Leopard pre-installed–probably not, since legally they have to sell you each copy of Leopard they install. So, many Psystar users will have to get familiar with the OSx86 project, and its methods for cramming OS X into a PC.

At first, Psystar claimed people wanting to run OS X on an Open Computer, could buy an Open Computer without asking Psystar to install Leopard onto it, pay the base price of $399 for the non-Pro version, and install Leopard themselves. You can still do that, but now, for some people who tell Psystar that they want to run OS X on an Open Computer, Psystar has become somewhat insistent that you allow them to do the Leopard installation, since they’re now admitting that the process isn’t as easy as they may have implied at first. So one of the audiences they tried to target at first, average people who just wanted a lower-cost computer that could run OS X, aren’t a proper target. This will cost the user $155 more than the base price of $399 (if you have them install Leopard, you have to buy that copy of Leopard from them). Letting Psystar do the Leopard install is a good idea if you’re not a skilled hacker, but Psystar has been promoting their Open Computer as being a low-cost alternative for the average user too, which we now see it’s not.

Psystar’s non-clones are starting to not look like such a good deal for average users of OS X. Open Computers may be fine for Linux and Windows, but not for the average Mac user.

The only way Psystar’s Open Computers will amount to anything more than any other well-chosen PC that you can turn into a Hackintosh, is if Apple gives in, and removes the software restrictions for running OS X on PCs, or if this goes to court, and the court rules against Apple, requiring them to remove the restrictions. We’ll see if Jobs is in a generous mood all of a sudden, or whether the courts will force him to do Psystar’s bidding. Either situation is technically possible, so we’ll see. Psystar’s Open Computer could be seen as premature (maybe the court case should have been brought first), or one of the best ways to force Apple’s hand. But it’s important for potential buyers to know what they’re getting into, as things stand right now.