Psystar Software Will Make Your PC Run OS X

By Marcus Yam
published

Psystar fears no Apple.

Apple is a company that likes to control the experience of its customers. It likes to craft its products from top to bottom, both in hardware and software.

Ever since Apple went with Intel processors, the hardware differences between Macs and PCs became minimal. The software that runs on the hardware, however, remains very different mostly due to Mac OS X.

Windows runs natively on a Mac thanks to Boot Camp, but the relationship is mostly just one way. In Apple's EULA, it states that its Mac OS X software may only be used on Apple hardware – something that PC enthusiasts find unfortunate and restrictive.

Psystar, seemingly fearless in its technological adventures hackintosh-related, has released a new software tool called Rebel EFI that advertises the ability to install any OS on PCs with Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem CPUs. Of course, by "any OS," the company is clearly pushing Mac OS X.

If you've been wondering what all the fuss is about surrounding Mac OS X, this could be one experimental/economical way to find out. Psystar currently has a time-limited demo available for download for those to try out in order to decide if it's effective enough to be worth the $49.99 purchase price.

Check out all the details here, download links included.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
79 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jrsdav
    It works, and it's worth it.
    Reply
  • PodSix
    Gentlemen, start your attorneys.
    Reply
  • cybrcatter
    In Apple's EULA, it states that its Mac OS X software may only be used on Apple hardware – something that PC enthusiasts find unfortunate and restrictive.

    I see nothing unfortunate. I must be in the minority of pc enthusiasts.
    Reply
  • kyeana
    Didn't psystar get caught a while ago simply ripping off open source projects and selling them as their own?
    Reply
  • 08nwsula
    psystar has always seemed a little shady, but I give them credit for sticking it to apple. If apple wanted such exclusivity, they should have stuck to their own hardware instead of copying windows machines.
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    That was EFI-X...
    Reply
  • props for them sticking it to the man
    Reply
  • Hellbound
    I smell a law suit..... Tomorrows story "Apply Sues Psystar Over Patent Infringing Software".
    Reply
  • Yoder54
    08nwsulaIf apple wanted such exclusivity, they should have stuck to their own hardware instead of copying windows machines.
    That is one of the stupidest statements that I have heard in quite sometime. Copying Windows machines? The Apple I was the first with a single circuit board used in a computer. The first home computer with a GUI or graphical user interface was the Apple Lisa. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made the first ready-made personal computer. The Apple II was one of the first computers with a color display. The Apple Newton MessagePad is one of the first-ever Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) - a term coined by Apple's then-CEO John Sculley. Then there is the iPod and all of the "firsts" that came with it.

    So what is it that Apple is copying from the "PC"?" Please don't say the OS.

    pple was the company that made personal computing affordable and they have always been knocked for being so proprietary. If you are referring to the OS, well you need to read about the OS wars and learn who stole what from whom.
    Reply
  • Honis
    I'm running AMD machines... Damn!

    As much as I dislike Apple, I do want to learn how to use OS X cheaply.
    Reply