Germany’s PearC Rolls Out Mac Clones

By Geoff Duncan Published February 9, 2009

Germany — Image used with permission by copyright holder

So far upstart Florida computer maker Psystar has had a corner on the Macintosh clone market, continuing to gamely sell Macintosh clones despite a daunting legal onslaught from Apple itself alleging violation of the DMCA, breaking licensing agreements, among other charges. Now Germany’s PearC is trying to get in on the act, offering three models of severely generic-looking desktop systems running a version of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system.

The three models are offered as starter, advanced, and professional systems with prices ranging from €499 up to €1,499. PearC is offering several built-to-order options, including cranking the systems up with Intel Core i7 processors (up to 3.2 GHz), Blu-ray burners, and pre-installing Mac OS X Leopard.

Recommended Videos

Apple’s license agreement for Mac OS X prohibits users from installing the operating system on non-Apple hardware; no doubt anticipating questions from potential customers (and possible legal action from Apple), PearC claims that German laws favor end-users, and that it believes the PearC Macintosh clones are legal in Germany.

Apple has so far declined to comment on PearC’s offerings.

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

Adobe Firefly AI is now live publicly, hoping you’ll talk to an AI and get work done

Firefly AI Assistant can to handle your entire creative workflow

adobe-firefly-ai-assitant-public-beta

Adobe just opened up the public beta for Firefly AI Assistant. It is a conversational AI agent that sits across your entire Creative Cloud suite and handles multi-step workflows on your behalf.

You just have to describe what you want, and the assistant will figure out which Adobe tools to use and in what order, including Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, Firefly, and others.

Computing

Meta’s latest outrageous deal is getting solar power beamed even at night from satellites

Meta's deal with Overview Energy isn't just about clean power. It's a preview of what keeping AI running sustainably at planetary scale is going to require.

Satellite by Starlink

Out of all the things Meta has ever been accused of, thinking small hasn’t been one of them.

The company that owns the most popular social media and messaging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, is now looking at beaming sunlight from space to the Earth’s surface for powering its AI data centers after dark (via TechCrunch).

Computing

Intel Wildcat Lake chips cost a pretty penny, but tests show they can’t touch the MacBook Neo

Intel's fanless chips are here, but the price tag might make you cry.

Text, Credit Card, Number

Intel's Wildcat Lake is the company's attempt to go toe-to-toe with the Apple MacBook Neo. The chips are tiny, featuring two performance cores, four efficiency cores, and a mini integrated GPU, and they're efficient enough to run completely without a fan.

That's a genuinely exciting proposition for a Widows user who wants a slim, quiet laptop, but doesn’t want to switch to a new operating system. But it’s not all moonlight and roses, as the new chipsets come with a big catch.