Psystar Debuts New, Sleek OS X Hackintosh

Psystar’s headlines as of late, okay, for the last year and a bit, have been about the company’s legal battle with Cupertino-based Apple. Today the company has a bit of good(?) news for the masses: A new addition to its Mac clone line.

The company is calling the latest Open computer, the Open (3), “Smaller, Faster and Sexier” and says it will include Intel’s E7400 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo making it 50 percent faster than previous models. Processor aside you’re looking at 500 GB HDD, 8400GS graphics unit and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. If you’re willing to go over $600, optional features include upgrading to a Core 2 Quad, GeForce 9500GT 512 MB (DVI + VGA), a Blu-ray burner, Firewire, Bluetooth, wireless and extended warranty.

While the base specs are great value for the price, almost everyone who’s shopping with Psystar is only interested in one thing: the fact that the computer ships with Mac OS X pre-installed. This little perk is something that landed the company in trouble with Apple and the two have been fighting it out in court since this time last year. It’s one big mess of counter-suits and appeals but it hasn’t stopped one German company from coming out with their own Mac clone, which it claims is perfectly legal. Apple’s beef is that the OS X EULA states that the software can only be installed on an Apple branded machine. Germany-based Hypermeganet says that because of German law, Apple’s EULA is void. The company’s main argument is that since the customer can’t read the EULA before purchase (it being sealed inside), it’s not valid.

Check out the Psystar website for ordering and preordering. No word on UK pricing yet, unfortunately.