October 29th, 2008
Psystar debuts Blu-ray, Nvidia 9800GT before Apple
If you’re keeping track at home: Psystar 2, Apple 1.
Psystar, that squirrely manufacturer of OS X-compatible PCs, has begun shipping PCs with Blu-ray disc drives and the nVidia 9800GT graphics card - before Apple’s own debut of the components in their own computers.
If you’ll recall, Apple shunned support for Blu-ray when Apple CEO Steve Jobs called it “a bag of hurt” to incorporate during the debut of the latest MacBooks. In a sniping press release, Psystar president Rudy Pedraza countered, saying that Blu-ray has already won the format war:
“Not only is there fully functional and mature support for Blu-ray in other operating systems but you can now rent Blu-ray discs from almost any rental chain. Blu-ray has become pervasive technology that is being widely adopted by consumers everywhere.”
Sure, but I think the “big bag of hurt” was more about licensing. Ignorance is bliss, no?
(Sure makes me wonder what kind of profit margins Psystar’s making.)
The new additions come at a price, however. I took the opportunity to load up a PsyStar OpenPro, and the upgrades weren’t cheap:
The nVidia 2x GeForce 9800GT 512MB was a whopping $400 more than the standard GeForce 8600GT 512M, and upgrading to a 6x Bluray Burner/16x DVD±RW DL cost a hefty $310 more than the default 20x DVD±RW DL.
Since the desktop itself starts at $1,154.99, that’s a 61% increase (final price: $1,864.99) for those two upgrades alone.
“Apple tax“? How about Psystar tax? Anyone?
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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