Is the time of the Mac clones nearing?

i’m so happy to find this heretical post. i, too, am wondering about the effects of the Intel Core Duo.

don’t get me wrong. i love macs. they are excellent machines. but too many mac fans flaunt macs for the wrong reasons… parang props lang for insecure egos. kung di ka tiwala sa fashion sense mo, buy a real Vuitton. kung gusto mong in ka sa advertising circle, flaunt a 17″ silver laptop, kahit na luma, at MS Office 2003 lang naman ang laman.

i’m not one of those pretentious people. i don’t care about vuitton and other status symbols. i use macs because i NEED to… because most of the software i use run only on macs. Final Cut, Shake, Maya… Some software, like Final Draft, don’t really NEED to be on a Mac, but are connected to professional-AV files that are most likely edited on macs and stored in Mac-formatted hard drives. so my hands are tied.

i understand paying P100k for original software, kasi ethical and NECESSARY. pero sa hirap ng buhay ngayon, there is something severely unethical about adding P150k more to my hardware budget para lang yung machine ko ay prettier or sleeker than i need it to be. there is something ethical din naman about having gorgeous mac hardware, tapos puro pirated naman ang software mo.

i’m not saying it’s unethical for Apple to charge a premium for beautiful hardware. i’m only saying that it’s unethical for ME to pay for hardware that are prettier than i need them to be.

so, for the meanwhile, my best compromise is a fully loaded 24″ iMac for P180,000. i haven’t bought it yet, and i’m postponing it for as long as i can; hoping for a sale or discout. but if i can find an equivalent intel Core Duo based PC that can run MacOS and read Mac-formatted external drives without corrupting the files, i’ll junk the Apple hardware anytime.

thanks yuga, for being heretical. sometimes, kailangan talaga ng heretics to propel dialogues forward. more power to you.

anyone can clone the macbooks! hehe, Anyways I saw a macbook not pro sold for 65K sa isang shop sa greenhills hindi po retailer pero core duo ang nakalagay eh.

i think people who lack an understanding about the mac architecture and its operating system shouldn’t go about spouting nonsense on the possibility of it getting cloned.

steve jobs has always stressed that Apple is not a software company – but a hardware company. Unlike Microsoft.

Then again, I do see it possible that the Mac could be copied one day.

But that would present several disadvantages to the clones since Macs will have better tech support via AppleCare. Or am I just rambling?

many has done that, buy a cheap duo core laptop (not the core 2 duo one) and turn it to a macbook.

it is illegal but it is cheaper.

It’s actually the image and look that Apple puts a premium on as opposed to the hardware. In reality Macs aren’t the fastest pc’s or laptops around, and they’re also not the most upgradable – but they look so sleek you wanna eat rice off em (if you can afford them).

The challenge in cloning the mac would be to get the look right and not the hardware. Apart from using EFI, GUID Partition Table, Trusted Platform Module; most customized pc’s and beefed up laptops will beat the Mac hands down in performance for the same price. Slap on a new nvidia 8800gtx card and an intel core 2 duo Extreme e6800 on a DFI 975X Infinity motherboard and watch it make the Mac eat dust for the same price. It may not have EFI but it is pure power at its rawest from.

That’s why you don’t see gaming enthusiasts on the Mac platform. But, on the other hand, you don’t see a lot of pc’s that can stand up to the image of a Mac. Even the newest Lian li tower cases or the fastest gaming notebook from alienware look like tin cans when placed side by side to their Mac counterparts.

Cloning a mac is about stealing the design and look of the Mac.

the chinese can CLONE anything. ;-) therewill come a time brand is no more important, just the specs. ;-)