• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

EFI-X USA Gets Canned

ViRGE

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
It looks like Art Studios, the guys who make the EFI-X, canned EFI-X USA(the USA distributor) two weeks ago. They're citing USA's efforts to get in to making clones and being an otherwise crappy company as the reason to drop them. They're even dragging USA's butt in to court (if this document is to be believed) to recover the unsold inventory.

However if you look at the new guys, ExpressHD, it's deja-vu all over again. They're using some of the same website templates, they're selling the exact same prebuilt Hacks that USA was going to sell, and their business is based a whole 20 minutes away from where USA was (although it looks like they have a strip mall office, a distinct improvement over USA, which was registered at a house). This isn't of particular concern to me, but EFI-X's USA operations are getting increasingly fishy. I mean who fires their old distributor and then hires the same guys to do the same thing all over again?
 
Do you know that they hired the same guys, or just provided the same templates to a new guy? I think part of the problem is that EFI-X is a global company, but is based out of Europe and not America. So it's probably a bit difficult to get a good distributor set up over here, especially one willing to take as, um, risky of a product as this one. The EFI-X USA website is funny...it's saying that it's an Antec 300 case, when it's clearly showing a Coolmaster 690 case...shady lol. I think that would constitute false advertising...showing one thing as the product and then sending you another.

As far as the chip goes, it's pretty good. Their latest firmware updates has solved a lot of problems and added more support. If you want an easy Hackintosh, just buy an EFI-X chip.
 
I think it's reasonable to assume they're the same guys given the recycled template, the business location, and the fact that they're selling exactly the same Hacks as USA. They even list the Macintouch review as being for their product, and Macintouch's review has been updated accordingly.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
I think it's reasonable to assume they're the same guys given the recycled template, the business location, and the fact that they're selling exactly the same Hacks as USA. They even list the Macintouch review as being for their product, and Macintouch's review has been updated accordingly.
Click to expand...

Well that's just dumb 😛 If you click "Images" it shows 3 products shots of a CoolerMaster case, and yet they advertise that it's an Antec 300. That's just plain stupid! Completely false advertising, however minor it may be.

I priced out their $1050 "Express PC" system on Newegg and it came out to $750 (with the GOOD components, which cost more), so they're making at least a $300 profit per machine. The computer does NOT come with an EFI-X chip for $1050. They are playing it smart by (1) not pre-installing Leopard, (2) not including a Leopard DVD, and (3) not even including an EFI-X chip. It's "just a computer", with a tidy profit margin. Sheesh, save yourself $300 and buy a screwdriver.
 
Originally posted by: Kaido
Sheesh, save yourself $300 and buy a screwdriver.
Click to expand...
Oh I agree, there's no sense in paying someone else to do something that's more fun to do by yourself.😛 All I'm saying is that EFI-X's distributor situation is wonko; however good their product is, the guys they have selling it in North America are crooks, morons, or a combination thereof. :frown:
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: Kaido
Sheesh, save yourself $300 and buy a screwdriver.
Click to expand...
Oh I agree, there's no sense in paying someone else to do something that's more fun to do by yourself.😛 All I'm saying is that EFI-X's distributor situation is wonko; however good their product is, the guys they have selling it in North America are crooks, morons, or a combination thereof. :frown:
Click to expand...

Yeah but who else are they going to get to do it in the US? You'd have to be a bit off your rocker to sell a system that allows you to run Mac software on a PC, especially after what happened to Psystar. You'd lose so much money just fighting them in court, even if you did win! I'm not saying it's not a cool product, because it is, but I'm sure it's hard to find good help for a product of this nature.
 
Originally posted by: Kaido
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: Kaido
Sheesh, save yourself $300 and buy a screwdriver.
Click to expand...
Oh I agree, there's no sense in paying someone else to do something that's more fun to do by yourself.😛 All I'm saying is that EFI-X's distributor situation is wonko; however good their product is, the guys they have selling it in North America are crooks, morons, or a combination thereof. :frown:
Click to expand...

Yeah but who else are they going to get to do it in the US? You'd have to be a bit off your rocker to sell a system that allows you to run Mac software on a PC, especially after what happened to Psystar. You'd lose so much money just fighting them in court, even if you did win! I'm not saying it's not a cool product, because it is, but I'm sure it's hard to find good help for a product of this nature.
Click to expand...


Wasn't Psystar's main problem that they were installing it in violation of the EULA?

Though I guess a chip that lets you install it sounds like a slam dunk DMCA / circumvention case.
 
Originally posted by: tefleming
Wasn't Psystar's main problem that they were installing it in violation of the EULA?

Though I guess a chip that lets you install it sounds like a slam dunk DMCA / circumvention case.
Click to expand...

Exactly - there has to be some sort of decryption or workaround for Leopard's encryption on the EFI-X chip to make it work on non-Mac hardware. Even if they have a full EFI system onboard and not just an emulated one, I'm pretty positive they don't have an Apple license for their implementation of the Apple EFI sub-system, so either way it's cirvumenting the protection scheme. But legally, they are not selling systems with Leopard on them already...it's kind of like selling a gun but not killing anyone with it - it has the potential to do so, and that's exactly what it is designed for, but if they're not selling the dead body with it, legally there's probably not much they can do 😀
 
Originally posted by: Kaido
Originally posted by: ViRGE
I think it's reasonable to assume they're the same guys given the recycled template, the business location, and the fact that they're selling exactly the same Hacks as USA. They even list the Macintouch review as being for their product, and Macintouch's review has been updated accordingly.
Click to expand...

Well that's just dumb 😛 If you click "Images" it shows 3 products shots of a CoolerMaster case, and yet they advertise that it's an Antec 300. That's just plain stupid! Completely false advertising, however minor it may be.

I priced out their $1050 "Express PC" system on Newegg and it came out to $750 (with the GOOD components, which cost more), so they're making at least a $300 profit per machine. The computer does NOT come with an EFI-X chip for $1050. They are playing it smart by (1) not pre-installing Leopard, (2) not including a Leopard DVD, and (3) not even including an EFI-X chip. It's "just a computer", with a tidy profit margin. Sheesh, save yourself $300 and buy a screwdriver.
Click to expand...

Yup. No OS. No EFI-X. Just a barebones computer. At least their Q9550 computer lists the Antec 900 and shows the Antec 902.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top