In April this year, the enigmatic company Psystar began offering for as little as $399 an OpenMac computer that ran OS X Leopard and was a cheaper version of Apple’s Mac Pro. After the Mac clone became the favorite subject of all newspapers and rumors about a legal matter with Apple started to appear, Psystar defended its actions by claiming Apple had created a monopoly and the matter should be settled in court (wish granted!)
The problem is however that if Psystar won’t get crushed in court, and we do mean crushed, Apple will probably have to deal with a lot of rebounds in the future, when others might also be tempted to bet on the same card in order to make an “honest” buck.
Cheap parts, poor support, various functions DOA. Part of Apple's complaint was a bunch of horror stories from customers.
These two brothers are NOT selling an "Apple" computer for $399. They are selling a basic box that runs a crippled version of Apple's OSX without permission.
In addition, the Psystar Mac clone is not $399. That gets you their base machine, minus monitor and operating system. The cooling fans are not controlled so they run at full speed and full noise level to allow for cooling in case the processor is called on to really work. To call it a Mac clone you have to add OSX for $155, bringing the Psystar Mac Clone price to $554. Then you might want to add other little necessities such as WIFI and Bluetooth... and a Monitor.
Apple could sell a Mac for $554 but they choose not to compete in the junk computer market. Instead, they offer an very well engineered Mac for $599, the Mac Mini, which is totally silent. it also comes with the iLife suite of applications which Psystar does not include.