Germany’s PearC Rolls Out Mac Clones

By Geoff Duncan February 9, 2009

Germany

So far upstart Florida computer maker Psystar has had a corner on the Macintosh clone market, continuing to gamely sell Macintosh clones despite a daunting legal onslaught from Apple itself alleging violation of the DMCA, breaking licensing agreements, among other charges. Now Germany’s PearC is trying to get in on the act, offering three models of severely generic-looking desktop systems running a version of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system.

The three models are offered as starter, advanced, and professional systems with prices ranging from €499 up to €1,499. PearC is offering several built-to-order options, including cranking the systems up with Intel Core i7 processors (up to 3.2 GHz), Blu-ray burners, and pre-installing Mac OS X Leopard.

Apple’s license agreement for Mac OS X prohibits users from installing the operating system on non-Apple hardware; no doubt anticipating questions from potential customers (and possible legal action from Apple), PearC claims that German laws favor end-users, and that it believes the PearC Macintosh clones are legal in Germany.

Apple has so far declined to comment on PearC’s offerings.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

How to take a screenshot on a Mac

The keyboard and trackpad of the MacBook Pro 14-inch.

For most new Mac users -- especially if they're coming from Windows -- one of the first questions they need to ask is how to take a screenshot on a Mac? There's no dedicated Print Screen key like there is on Windows, but there is keyboard shortcut, and if you want something more akin to Microsoft's Windows Snipping tool, there are some great screenshot apps you can use, too.

Here's how to take a screenshot on a Mac in a few different ways.
How to take a screenshot using keyboard shortcuts
MacOS keyboard shortcuts are the quickest ways to take screenshots, whether you're capturing the entire screen or just a portion. By default, Apple's methods save your screenshot to the desktop, but if you want to copy the screenshot to the clipboard, there's a keyboard shortcut you can use instead.
How to capture a selected area

Computing

Forgot your Mac password? Here’s how to reset it

A person plays Stray using a PlayStation controller on a silver 13-inch MacBook Air.

We all forget a password once in a while. It’s really just a fact of life at this point, but things are a little different when you forget crucial login info for your go-to computer. And if you’ve ever forgotten your MacOS password, you’ll know just how frustrating it is to be locked out of your do-everything PC. But even if one of your Mac or MacBook’s system-stored hints isn’t enough to jog your memory, there’s a couple of ways you’ll be able to reset your MacOS password.

Computing

I was wrong about using Stage Manager on Mac

Stage manager in macOS Ventura.

Stage Manager is one of those software features that has had a rather bumpy road since Apple launched it in 2022. The unique multitasking feature has landed itself in a heap of criticism over its short lifespan.

I, however, was not one of these critics. I was super excited by Stage Manager and the promise it contained. It was something new and shiny, here to shake up macOS in a fresh and different way. Even after using it myself, I foresaw it fundamentally changing the way I used my Mac.