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Apple has grown to be one of the most valuable companies in the world thank you in part to the tight integration of hardware and software. Unlike Google or Microsoft, you can simply go Apple'due south software if yous buy its hardware. That hasn't stopped some companies from trying to sell so-called "Hackintosh" computers with custom hardware and Apple'southward software. This has not worked out for said companies in the past, simply a new outfit called OpenCore Computers has taken up the Hackintosh drape with the Windows-macOS hybrid "Velociraptor."

If y'all want a Windows x PC, y'all can get i for as little as a few hundred dollars. Still, Apple's computers toll considerably more. The cheapest route is the MacBook Air for $1,000. To get the full desktop feel, the new Mac Pro starts at $half dozen,000. OpenCore, on the other hand, offers the Velociraptor for a mere $2,200, and information technology's no slouch.

The Velociraptor is a fully configurable PC in a mini-ITX instance with a pair of SSDs — one with Windows ten and the other with macOS Catalina. The base model offers an 8-core Ryzen 3700X with 12 (3900X) and sixteen-core (3950X) upgrade options. Y'all can also choose betwixt multiple CPU coolers, GPUs, SSDs, and more. You tin spend over $four,000 on a fully decked out Velociraptor. Each computer is a custom build, and OpenCore requires you lot to pay 30 per centum of the toll when y'all place your order.

Apple's Finish User License Agreement (EULA) restricts the sale of third-party computers running macOS. Indeed, other companies have tried to sell Hackintoshes just to be smacked down in court. The virtually famous was Psystar, which launched a custom Hackintosh PC in 2010. Apple tree's lawyers had completely shut the company down but a few years later and secured a $2.7 million penalty.

All this to get macOS on custom hardware.

OpenCore seems acutely enlightened of the legal peril. Considering of Apple's EULA, the company can't rely on any conventional payment processors. Therefore, information technology's simply accepting payment for computers in Bitcoin with an escrow system chosen Bitrated. Yes, this does come off equally somewhat shady, but this is a company willing to knowingly violate Apple tree'south EULA.

OpenCore has 2 more Hackintosh systems listed on its website, just information technology won't reveal them for a few months. Apple might try to drown OpenCore in legal filings before that happens, though. Keeping its funds in Bitcoin might assist it continue the lights on, just Apple isn't likely to let this slide.

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