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Build Your Own Mac With CoreCrib Kit 361

Posted by pudge from the i-want-a-laptop-version dept.
Mark Dobie writes "I just put up a quick review of the CoreCrib kit I purchased. It is an inexpensive solution to building your own Mac." See our previous Core coverage.
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Build Your Own Mac With CoreCrib Kit More

Build Your Own Mac With CoreCrib Kit

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  • Please explain... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gricholson75 ( 563000 ) * on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:20PM (#5904640) Homepage
    the popularity of these systems. I can get a emac 800Mgz/256MB/40GB for $849, and it comes with a monitor and better graphics, and the operating system. If I was going to build a linux system, you get better bang for the buck from x86 hardware. I don't understand. FP?

    • Re:Please explain... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thadeusPawlickiROX ( 656505 ) * on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:24PM (#5904684)
      The reason this kits are gaining in popularity is that you build the system. You don't go out and buy an eMac, or buy a tower, but you put exactly what you want in it. It's something that PC users have been doing for years, and some Mac users as well. It's not about "better bang for the buck," it's just to say that you custom built your Mac.
      • Well I guess that I understand the desire to build your own system, but not when it seems to cost signifigantly more than buying a comparable sytem pre-built, which seems to be the case here.

      • Re:Please explain... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ilsie ( 227381 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:43PM (#5904884)
        You don't go out and buy an eMac, or buy a tower, but you put exactly what you want in it. It's something that PC users have been doing for years

        Yes, but in contrast, the typical custom PC is built to accomplish three goals as opposed to buying a prebuilt desktop:

        1. Look better
        2. Higher performance
        3. Cheaper

        These mac clone kits accomplish none of these things.

      • Re:Please explain... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by drgroove ( 631550 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:47PM (#5904925)
        It's not about "better bang for the buck," it's just to say that you custom built your Mac.

        I agree completely. FWIW, if you're looking for better bang for the buck, would you really be use Macintosh in the first place? (That is NOT troll or flamebait...keep reading :) )

        Apple's own Mac systems aren't pitched as 'best bang for the buck' - these are highly integrated, highly specialized computers, designed to 'rise above the masses' of wintel machines. The concept behind the 'build your own' PC follows a different set of rules when its applied to a Mac, because the Mac itself follows a different set of rules. Its great that more companies are offering customizable Mac systems - there is a market for this sort of thing!
      • No doubt, however one can get the same motherboard in a G4 case for the same (if not less) amount of money on ebay. The only benifit I see to these machines are the extra drive bays.

    • Re:Please explain... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by eXtro ( 258933 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:39PM (#5904849) Homepage
      Don't compare these to an eMac, compare them to a G4 tower. For $849 you get a tower including PCI slots and and AGP port. If you're looking for a Macintosh that you can throw a couple of PCI cards (maybe a couple of SCSI adapters, whatever) but can't justify the price of a new Apple G4 system then maybe this is for you. For instance a dual 1.25 GHz Apple G4 tower costs $1999 with 256 MB RAM and an 80 GB hard drive. The site just stopped responding so I can't determine the price but presumably a dual 1.2 GHz their would be less than 2 grand.

      • Re:Please explain... (Score:2, Informative)

        by eXtro ( 258933 )
        The price of the dual 1.2 GHz kit is $1349, you could throw in 256 meg of ram and an 80 gig hard drive in for around 120 bucks, probably less.
        • The price of the dual 1.2 GHz kit is $1349, you could throw in 256 meg of ram and an 80 gig hard drive in for around 120 bucks, probably less.

          $120 sounds about right. That makes it $1470. Let's toss in some other essentials:

          • keyboard and mouse - a decent pair might cost $50.
          • MacOS X - $130
          • Combo DVD/CDRW drive - $60
          • Radeon 9000 Pro (64 MB) - $76

          which brings us to $1786. Compared to the $1999 Apple box, the savings are just over 10%, ignoring all the non-downloadable software that the Mac comes with.

      • $1349 for dual 1.2ghz, FYI

      • it actually seems to be cheaper... (Score:4, Informative)

        by vena ( 318873 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @06:00PM (#5906078)
        CoreCrib Dual 1200 Computer for $1799.99

        CoreCrib Fully Assebled System
        G4 Dual 1200Mhz 2MB cache
        1024MB Memory
        52x CD-RW
        120GB Harddrive
        Geforce4MX 32MB ADC DVI and DVI-> VGA Adapter
        2 Firewire, 2 USB Ports, 10/10/1000 Ethernet, Audio in/out
        Front Firewire, 2xUSB and Audio OUT
        Just Add keyboard, mouse, and OS
        ATA, Power Cable and Fans/Heatsink are included.
        Just plug in, add keyboard/mouse, boot from OS Install CD and install your OS. No hardware Installation!

        you're losing .05 ghz of speed (like you'll notice) but gaining ram and hd space for $200 cheaper
    • Please explain the popularity of these systems. I can get a emac 800Mgz/256MB/40GB for $849, and it comes with a monitor and better graphics, and the operating system.


      How upgradeable is your eMac? How important is that to you?

    • hmm what is this about emacs? isnty it GNU/emacs?
    • The eMac screen is a cheap, crappy triangular dot mask CRT, not even a Trinitron. Using it for 20 minutes gives me a headache. Hence my only option was to pay more for an iMac.

      Now, as it happened, I could afford to pay the extra. However, many other people can't or won't pay more for a flat panel, and would quite happily get by with a $100 Trinitron CRT or a monitor they already have. Except the cheapest Apple machine that'll let them do that is $1500.

      • Re:eMac screen suXX0rs (Score:2, Informative)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        However, many other people can't or won't pay more for a flat panel, and would quite happily get by with a $100 Trinitron CRT or a monitor they already have.

        Step 1: Put the eMac under your desk or wherever.
        Step 2: Plug the monitor you have and like into the video out plug (yes, it takes standard VGA connections).
        Step 3: There's no step three.

      • Actually, it's a little more than half that. Look here [apple.com] (at the bottom of the page).

    • Re:Please explain... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by alienw ( 585907 ) <alienw.slashdot@NoSpam.gmail.com> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @08:37PM (#5907079)
      All in one systems are shit. What if the monitor dies in your eMac? What if you want to upgrade the CPU or videocard? After all, not everyone wants to run with a shitty soldered-on radeon 7500 when you can get an 8500 for $20 or $30. The system may very well be fine, but you will have to junk it or perform an expensive repair job.

      I know several people with all-in-one iMacs that have a dead monitor. As a result, the systems are worthless -- unless you want to pay somebody to try to fix the monitor piece. Besides, the monitor that's built in is tiny by modern standards. Today, 17 inches is the absolute minimum, and 19 inches is the only truly acceptable configuration. 15 inch monitors are really passé.

  • DIY Mac.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:20PM (#5904647) Homepage Journal

    A Do It Yourself Mac seems tantamount to a Do It Yourself Mercedes..

    These will be popular among the geeks, but the Mac masses will stick to boxes from Cupertino.
    • Its done because it can be and is something to brag about to your mates

      Rus

    • Re:DIY Mac.. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by bytes2bu ( 669941 )
      The mac is suppose to be for those people who don't want to (or can't) build their own computer. Everywhere you look you see this distinction being made that macs are for people who get work done with the computer instead of working on their computer. This just seems a bit out in left field for the whole mac "idea". But then, that's just my opinion.

    • Re:DIY Mac.. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Well that depends. I guess if you have some outdated Mac hardware lying around, you have a choice - ditch it all or upgrade it somehow. If upgrading turns out to be feasible via cards or a new box, why not do it? And if the cheapest way happens to be some clone kit, it sounds a reasonable option assuming it has the proprietary ports such as the monitor connection and works out of the box with OS X.

      Now obviously if it's approaching the cost of a real mac, it isn't worth it, but if it were 2/3 the price, I'

  • Hmmm. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Phroggy ( 441 ) * <slashdot3@NospaM.phroggy.com> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:21PM (#5904657) Homepage
    So, it's a G4/800 tower, for $775 plus extra hardware (hard drive, etc.) plus software (Mac OS X, applications). In contrast, the eMac is a G4/800 for $799 and includes a 17" monitor, 40GB hard drive, CD-ROM, Mac OS X, and a handful of software (AppleWorks, Quicken, World Book Encyclopedia, etc.). Oh, and a full 1-yr warranty from Apple.

    Of course, the eMac isn't expandable (you can upgrade the RAM and add an AirPort card; everything else has to be external, and you can't run a split desktop on dual monitors). Still, compare to eBay [ebay.com]...

    • Re:Hmmm. (Score:3, Informative)

      by anonymous loser ( 58627 )
      Apparently you didn't read the company story [2khappyware.com]. If you did, you would realize that the original goal was to get a mac that didn't come bundled with a specific monitor, etc., so you could mix and match the system as you see fit. As stated in the linked page:

      just didn't like that if I wanted a 21" monitor and wanted to purchase Apple Macintosh, I needed to put down $1699.99 regardless if all I wanted to do was surf the web, check e-mail or purchase off ebay with a larger monitor and low cost processor like i

  • Ellen Feiss (Score:5, Funny)

    by SHEENmaster ( 581283 ) <travis.utk@edu> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:21PM (#5904658) Homepage Journal
    isn't endorsing this one. I don't think it'll do that well.

  • You just put it up, (Score:4, Funny)

    by The_Sock ( 17010 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:22PM (#5904662) Homepage
    And we just put it down.

  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by NETHED ( 258016 ) * on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:22PM (#5904669) Homepage
    Before it went KABAM, I made a quicky mirror

    here [cofc.edu]

    • Re:Mirror (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:40PM (#5904856)
      1) upload slashdotted .com website with megatonage of images to own homepage account on university webserver
      2) watch own homepage account thence university webserver slashdotted to death by largest geek website in the world in 1 minute flat
      3) see smoke coming out of cheap server PSU and hear teenage girls using IE on campus saying "who turned off the internet I need to google for my term paper"
      4) hope university is more charitable towards having lart student homepage account burn 1000s$ of bandwidth & take down university network than towards P2P file-sharing bandwidth $$$
      5) have 56k modem on hand when dean demands network card confiscated
      6) ????
    • I'm the admin of the server, thanks, I just restarted Manila, the weblog server that site is using, and it's back in action. It'd already taken at least 65,000 hits, and was still trying to serve before it died. :)

      I'll keep an eye on it, and try to keep it functional, but mirrors are certainly appreciated. :)

  • Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:4, Informative)

    by aSiTiC ( 519647 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:25PM (#5904696) Homepage
    Personally I'm waiting to switch for the release of the PPC 970 to switch from my Windows box to a OSX box.

    Can't wait to get away from x86 micro-ops translation to RISC and into the world of straight RISC.
    • I completely agree. The problem in Mac-land right now is that while they have superior software (in just about every thing I can imagine), the hardware is so far behind.... This has been stated so many times but never hit home as true until Paladium started becoming a worrisome thing for me. Personally, I'de love to move to a Mac, but it's just out of the question to pay that much for hardware that I'm locked into for a long time. They have came a long way with standardization and upgradibility, but it's

      • Re:Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:4, Informative)

        by discstickers ( 547062 ) <chrisNO@SPAMdiscstickers.com> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:44PM (#5904895) Homepage
        Steps to take:
        1) Buy old(er) G4 tower
        2) Replace graphics card with said 8500Pro
        3) Install hard drives
        4) Theres no step 4!
        • Step 1: Wake Up
          Step 2: Take Over the World
          Step 3: There's no step three! There's no step three!
      • I'd already moderated one post, but I just had to reply..

        I've an off the shelf Maxtor hard drive in my older iMac; naturally, there's no room for three of them, but a PowerMac could hold them. You can also use PC USB mice and even keyboards with a Mac if you wish, though I'd recommend a Mac keyboard since there's a FEW differences in the keys used. The PowerMacs also have AGP for video cards, though you may need a firmware upgrade to use yours with a Mac; ATI's site should have more info on that.

        Apple h
      • Like this self-built box states, you _can_ drop in your own hard-drives, AGP cards, and everything.

        The only palces Apple breaks compatibility is where their tech is _better_. ADC is awesome, I wish PC manufacturer's would adopt - I have _way_ too many cables behind my computer desk. Some goes for their slick way of hooking the mouse into the keyboard (less cabling, again). You can get away with five cables from your tower (power, adc, keyboard, speakers, network), only one from your display (adc), a cab
        • ADC is awesome, I wish PC manufacturer's would adopt - I have _way_ too many cables behind my computer desk. Some goes for their slick way of hooking the mouse into the keyboard

          Plugging a mouse into a keyboard ought to be trivial USB functionality. I don't know what the big PC vendors are shipping because I don't buy branded systems from them, but I would be really surprised to learn that daisy chaining a mouse from a keyboard isn't commonplace by now.
          • PS/2-keyboards are 20 cents cheaper than USB-keyboards. Well, maybe not 20 cents, but cheaper. And you don't have problems with your old BIOS - that is cheap. You see, it all adds up.

      • Re:Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:4, Insightful)

        by RestiffBard ( 110729 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @04:49PM (#5905512) Homepage
        this is not a flame thing. these are some points about apples that informed my decision to switch.

        1. there are people that are still comfortably using older mac hardware.
        2. (I can't recall the exact numbers but...) a IBM compat laptop goes for half what an apple laptop goes for after 2 years.

      • Re:Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:4, Insightful)

        by GlassHeart ( 579618 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @05:18PM (#5905765) Journal
        I'de love to move to a Mac, but it's just out of the question to pay that much for hardware that I'm locked into for a long time.

        First of all, Macs tend to be usable for longer than PCs, so a slower upgrade cycle mitigates the higher upfront cost somewhat. Two, resale values of Macs are much better than PCs (check eBay, for example). Now, what you don't get is a new toy as often as you used to, but upgrade cycles can be terribly time consuming and tedious, and occasionally risky. It's also better for the environment to use your computer longer.

        Another question to ask yourself is, honestly, what do you use your computer for that you need all the power you can afford? What do you do that "last year's computer" (and Macs are not as far behind as many people think) really really won't do? Is the speed difference so crucial that it overrides all the other benefits you notice with Macs?

        Now, I'm not trying to conceal the raw speed problem with Macs. I'm just trying to promote a task-oriented view of computers. To give a fictitious example, if your PC is 10% faster, but crashes often and costs you about 50 minutes of productivity a day, then it's no faster than another computer that is more stable. The numbers are obviously made up, but try to think in that direction rather than just put specs up side by side.

    • Re:Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:5, Informative)

      by afidel ( 530433 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:46PM (#5904917)
      The PPC970 is not a pure RISC chip, if it were the decode stage would be unnecessary. There are a number of instructions that break down into two or more internal operations that the execution units have to deal with. From the IBM POWER whitepaper "Cracked instructions flow into groups as any other instructions with one restriction. Both IOPs must be in the same group. If both IOPs cannot fit into the current group, the group is terminated and a new group is initiated. The instruction following the cracked instruction may be in the same group as the cracked instruction, assuming there is room in the group. Millicoded instructions always start a new group. The instruction following the millicoded instruction also initiates a new group." This is much closer to CISC->RISC translation that happens in all modern x86 cpu's then it is to a traditional RISC design.

      • Re:Waiting for PPC 970 (Score:3, Informative)

        by 0rbit4l ( 669001 )
        As I'm sure has been pointed out, you'd still need a decode stage in almost any but the most useless risc architecture - got to convert those opcodes to control lines (regwrite, memwrite/read) and register fields. This doesn't come "for free", even with simple risc architectures like MIPS. Ergo, you need a decode stage. More complexity simply means more stages dedicated to decode (a la x86, power series.)

        Another point: POWER is not the same thing as the PowerPC ISA. POWER (which is cisc) supports som

  • In other news.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:27PM (#5904715)
    You can build your own Ford by ordering all the parts from Ford and assembling them yourself.
    • You can build your own Ford by ordering all the parts from Ford and assembling them yourself.

      people build shelby cobra "do it yourself" kits all the time using ford parts. i bet you could build some supermac using apple parts

  • Cardboard mac? (Score:3, Funny)

    by NivenHuH ( 579871 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:28PM (#5904725) Homepage
    Hey.. maybe you could convince the people out of the earlier story [slashdot.org] to build you a cardboard case for your mac? =)

  • SLASHDOTTED (Score:3, Informative)

    by rkz ( 667993 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:28PM (#5904731) Homepage Journal
    Here is a mirror: Click here [spaceports.com] I couldnt get all of the images though.

  • good product for me... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by clmensch ( 92222 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:29PM (#5904736) Homepage Journal
    I have an aging B&W G3 and a bunch of old PC parts. I don't need a monitor. I already own Jaguar, and I'll still utilize the single user license by not running it on my G3 anymore. This looks like a good solution for me until the second generation Powermacs with the IBM 970's are available. (I doubt I'll be able to afford the first gen ones.)

  • Of Subject, I know (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    But I'm very impressed by the website designer(desginer?) getting the spelling to 'Designed' wrong.
    • Much like a spell checker, you seem to be good at correcting spelling but you cannot handle correctly spelled words used incorrectly.

      I believe the subject of your post should say 'Off' not 'Of'.
  • I love the PowerPC architecture and would gladly pay the apple tax to get my hands on a TiBook, but whats up with a DIY barebones kit that sticks you with only PCI options for video? If I'm putting the thing together I want more bandwidth to my video card.

  • The case does not look like a Mac (Score:3, Insightful)

    by YllabianBitPipe ( 647462 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:42PM (#5904869)
    That's the bottom line here ... hardly anybody I know who owns a Mac is gonna want a case that looks like a PC. A fair amount of the fun of having a Mac is the wow factor when people come over and look at it. Superficial, yeah, but if you're gonna plunk down bucks to get a Mac you want it to LOOK like a Mac. My suggestion to whomever makes these cases: make it look cool and Mac like. Don't make it look like PC. Even them AlienWare designs ... not good enough. Make it a big globe or a cylinder ... anything but a copy of a PC case.
    • It's hard to beat having a G4 Tower, Apple Cinema Display (22") and an all wireless setup.

      Everytime I forget someone hasn't seen my apple setup they always say "Damn, what the hell is that thing? A TV?" I just have to laugh.

      I got the new iBook 900 and I'm waiting on the new 15" Powerbooks and the 970's. Until then I'm set.
  • Took some pictures too. More coming tonight...

    http://www.sadistech.com/newbox/ [sadistech.com]

  • I mean, really, look at some of these responses.

    On /. of all places we see people crying "Why would you want to do this?". Or, "What's wrong with the eMac?"

    This is only the first (or one of the first) homebuilt Macs. If enough people jump on the bandwagon prices will eventually drop. As it is now, the price is competitive with a brand new eMac, the comparable version of which was only introduced days ago.

    I want to see PowerPC chips on PriceWatch. I want to see different people competing to do motherb
    • At risk of getting modded down as a troll, I'd have to agree with you on this.

      There is something to be said about having the ability (be it a good idea or not) to build your own machine. As an ex-mac user myself, I gotta say that the first time I built my own x86 PC, I felt great. Definitely more rewarding than the sensation of opening up a carton and putting the Mac on the desk. Sure, it's not rocket science, but the sense of accomplishment has to be worth something.

      If I still wanted a Mac, AND I could
    • I mean, really, look at some of these responses.
      On /. of all places we see people crying "Why would you want to do this?". Or, "What's wrong with the eMac?"

      It's not so much a "thin skin" thing as a reflection of the fact that slashdot isn't a homogenous group. Some people are going to want to do it because they can. Some people are going to want to do it to reach a new level of hardware customization. Some people are going to want to do it to have the level of configurability/performance that they could g

  • I considered corecrib (Score:4, Informative)

    by OmniVector ( 569062 ) <seDALIe my homepage minus painter> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @03:59PM (#5905046) Homepage
    But then i found out about this site: www.purchaseprogram.com. I haven't bought a system from there yet, but even after you pay the $250 fee, and tax, and shipping, you can still get a kick ass dual 1.25ghz powermac for less than the spare parts that corecrib offers.

  • Bait and Switch? (Score:2, Informative)

    by mkarpinski ( 409464 )
    One MacNN poster claims that this is nothing but a bait and switch scam.

    The forum guys (and gals) discuss...

    iBox is a bait and switch scam! [macnn.com]

  • Main text (sans pictures) (Score:4, Informative)

    by mrklin ( 608689 ) <ken.linNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @04:01PM (#5905059)
    from the /. page:

    My first Mac was a Beige G3 junked from work. I upgraded it to the max, but found it lacking the speed needed to run OS X. I started looking into buying a Power Mac but I was turned off by the inflated prices. $1500 for a box w/ no monitor? Insane. I like Apple's constant innovation but their prices are way too high. I finally came across this story about John Fraser, and his idea to sell a Mac kit aimed at do-it-yourselfers. I've built quite a few PC's but never a Mac. I decided this was the route for me.

    My core crib arrived on Sat. May 3, 2003.

    As you can see, it arrives in a non-descript brown box from USPS.

    The packaging was done well. The CoreCrib was secure in the box and was not damaged. Contents include, power cable, tower case, Apple Gigabit Ethernet motherboard, Apple Power Supply and blue/pink LED case fan. This is a very barebones kit. Provide your own IDE cables, drives, processesor, memory, video card etc....

    I had an old Beige G3 I decided I'd rob parts out of. Most of what was in that box was old PC hardware I had laying around. At first, I could not get the Crib to boot, I checked the support forums and noticed that the only other person who had received a CoreCrib kit said you "HAD" to update the firmware on the motherboard. I assumed this was my problem. So I put the Crib aside and tried to track down an older G4 processor.

    On Tues. May 6 another post arrived in the forums that the firmware was not needed to run newer CPUs. I then decided to investigate on my own. After an hour of testing, my problem was solved. The PC100 memory I tried to use from the Beige G3 did not like the faster G4 800 Giga Designs processor. I put a stick of PC133 memory in and the Crib instantly booted.

    Here are some pictures of the box itself.

    Here are some photos after my parts were installed:

    Back plane is missing. Personally I don't care, I push it under a desk.

    The Crib has changed colors and price. It is now available as Pro model and comes in a nice gmono white case. http://www.2khappyware.com/corecrib.html

    My current expense list:

    CoreCrib kit: $379, Gigadesigns G4 800 cpu, $275, 256mb pc133 $20, ATI Radeon PCI 7000, $100 The other parts I installed were extras from upgrading PC's. I've spent $775 on this machine and it runs OS X smoothly and without problems. I did purchase OS 10.2. I forgot to include that in the price. 2khappyware also sells complete and custom systems, you can add whatever parts you want if you don't want to buy them on your own. This case is expandable, you can add up to 5 hard-drives and multiple optical drives. Which is much different than the new Mirrored Power Macs. My next stop is to add the Radeon 8500 AGP card, the PCI card doesn't do Quartz Graphics.

    Overall I'm extremely happy with the Crib. The noise level is very low. No windtunnel noise going on here. It is upgradable to dual CPU's if you want to spend the cash. A new Support Forum has started flourishing, so help is available. I highly recommend buying this kit.

    Parts purchasing:

    http://www.macsales.com

    Information:

    http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/
    - Permalink
    Posted by Mark Dobie on 5/7/03; 11:36:45 AM

  • Apple sells refurbished Macs (Score:5, Informative)

    by Andrew Lockhart ( 4470 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @04:22PM (#5905254) Homepage
    It's silly to compare these kits to a brand new Mac when Apple themselves sell refurbished products [apple.com].Keep in mind that the refurb'ed PowerMacs already come with ram, an hd, graphics, a superdrive, an os, etc. Oh yeah, they also have a one year warranty from Apple and are still eligible for their AppleCare Protection Plan. Two things that I doubt these kits have.

  • This machine will only interest /. types (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cenonce ( 597067 ) <anthony_t AT mac DOT com> on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @04:26PM (#5905292)

    The CoreCrib will only interest ./ build-your-own-PC types.

    First off, anybody who uses a Mac uses it because they don't want the agg of PCs and all of the various config problems with hardware.

    Anybody who "switched" sure as heck isn't going to suddenly decide they want to experiment by building a Mac. Heck, the whole reason they switched was to just use their damn computer!

    I just don't see this ever going any further than the techno inclined... and only to those who really want to run OS X. And let's face it, a Mac capble of running OS X nicely can be had for 500 bucks now! Anybody who runs *nix is going to build a blow-em-away x86 box for the same price as the Core and not deal with the "finding compatible hardware problem". Besides that, at least for Linux, you basically have a choice between YDL, Mandrake (and Suse?)... you got four times the distros for x86!

    I think this is a great idea, but for the price and maybe more importantly the warranty offered, I'd rather buy a used Mac from say Macofalltrades.com [macofalltrades.com]. I may not get a brand new machine, but I can get a system that is equal or better than the Core machine with a 30 day warranty (and an option of a one year warranty).

    I hope it catches on though and I hope Apple maybe throws these guys a little help!

    • The CoreCrib will only interest ./ build-your-own-PC types.

      Exactly. I'm not sure who this kind of system is really aimed at. If you want to hack together a system to run some kind of customised OS then Linux or *BSD on x86 hardware would be a better bet for you. If you want the Apple 'it just works' experience then buy from a vertical monopoly.

      One of the main reasons I'm considering swithcing to Apple is that all of their kit is designed and tested to work as a whole. You don't get that in the PC wor

  • Slashdot Headlines from the Future (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ink ( 4325 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @04:45PM (#5905480) Homepage
    Apple: CoreCrib Kit Website Taken Down
    Posted by smudge on Fri 09, 14:17
    from the apple-lawyers-strike-again dept

    Mark Dobie writes "I just put up a quick protest page against Apple's lawyers who demanded that the CoreCrib kit website be taken down. It's too bad that a company that makes such good products has such a fear of open hardware. [ed: see this [slashdot.org] story for more information.]

  • After I was done, this was the only case [lupo.co.jp] I could afford to house it in.
  • People wouldn't be going to such desperate measures as to build these special kits if Apple would simply sell their hardware at a more reasonable price. Yes, I'm aware that there are warranties, AppleCare, build quality, etc., but the fact is that the alternative - PCs - are a much better value overall. You can buy a PC with virtually all the features of a Mac that is far more powerful for less money.

    One of my current conundrums is whether I buy a Mac-based or PC-based video editing solution. Apple's
  • I dont understand, the home page has a cool looking slim machine pictured, but it just says its a "concept drawing".

    Then, when you go to click "purchase", it looks like any old clunky PC box.

    Whats the deal?

  • Real cost comparison or The myth of low cost (Score:5, Informative)

    by gerardrj ( 207690 ) on Wednesday May 07, 2003 @06:32PM (#5906335) Journal
    Using the prices the author posts in the review, adding in $120 for Mac OS X and $50 for labor the real cost for hardware for this machine comes to $944, and that doesn't include shipping. Let's assume $5 per item and that's another $20 for a total of $964 for this "low cost Mac"

    Okay, but Apple sells a spiffy new machine for $1,500. That's a difference of $536. Now the question is this:

    Are the "extras" you get with the new Apple Mac worth the extra $536? Lets look at the "extras":

    (numbers in parenthesis are estimated upgrade costs)
    1. Support and warranty. You have someone to point the finger at with hardware failures (priceless??)
    2. 200Mhz faster CPU speed ($225 assumes purchasing 1Ghz instead of 800)
    3. 33Mhz?? faster bus speed (can't upgrade)
    4. 2x faster memory (can't upgrade)
    5. 32MB more Video RAM ( $65 more than the 7000 for the Radeon 8500)
    6. GPU is about 2x more powerful
    7. FireWire 800 ($100 includes USB2)
    8. USB 2.0
    9. Built-in AirPort antenna
    10. AGP port is 2x faster (can't upgrade)
    11. A better looking case

    The things that can be upgraded will cost $390 to do so, and a total build-it-yourself cost of $1,356.
    And this machine still doesn't perform as well as the new system will, and would cost only $140 less than the new Apple PowerMac.

    I'll take the Apple eqipment for the extra $140.

  • Apple needs to recognize their new audience. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by corey18_70 ( 304047 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @12:51AM (#5908219)
    I'm more on the graphics side of things than most posters here, but I did start to play around with Solaris and LinuxPPC before Mac OS X, and I've noticed since the release of OS X that Apple has a growing contingent of people who want to be users but can't deal with their hardware restrictions. My thoughts on how they might feasibly begin to encroach on Windows/Intel/AMD/Linux.

    The need to address a new market. Currently their hardware appeals mainly to:

    1. Professional graphics dorks
    2. .edu (losing battle) and home users
    3. Some small business professionals - music, a few lawyers, etc.
    3. Servers meant for Pro use, but too pricey for pro-sumer or consumer use.

    But their new OS appeals to computer professionals, higher end educational and scientific professionals, and anybody else who wants to experiment with and learn about an OS from the ground up. The robustness of the OS is going to be fairly transparent to their current hardware purchasers, manifested by the fact that it doesn't crash and is easy to use (two things which should be expected). But the people who are attracted to the OS by its capability and flexibility expect the same from the hardware and Apple doesn't currently offer that.

    I say reconfigure the product line and the store. Keep the beautiful professional and entry level laptops. Keep the readymade economic and powerful desktop options. But give us one more category. The Tinker-Mac.

    -Appealing yet super-functional case. Easy to open. Designed more to the aesthetic of the Xserve than a desktop. Sleek, basic, tough looking.
    -"Apple" processors in several grades.
    -The option to add another processor.
    -Optional HD's. Space for 2-3.
    -Optional optical media.
    -Optional video board.
    -One Enet card + slot for at least one more.
    -As many open PCI slots as possible
    -Firewire, USB, etc (optional?) preferably on the front
    -Feel free to contribute what I'm forgetting.
    ~$400-500

    Apple needs to capitalize on the fact that many people who like to tinker with the OS and box love their OS, and want a box that's affordable enough to truly personalize. And I think they'd make a ton of dough by offering this option. They give us the option of an empty case with that's capable of running their OS on their processor spec, and accept that the people buying it are capable of researching compatible components on their own will not only sell a boatload of boxes, but persuade more HW developers to write drivers for OS X. Or the open source community will.

    Screw all this "port to Intel" crapola. Apple needs to accept that there are people who want to run their OS in a build-your-own manner, and they can build the bare bones machines for that crowd, make it a unique selling point, and still make their margins.

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