To date, two methods have been used to make a personal computer, not offered by Apple, but able to run a Mac operating system: either create a Macintosh conversion or build a Macintosh clone.
Unlike Mac clones that contain little or no original Apple hardware, Mac conversions are essentially modification kits that require the core components of a previously purchased, genuine Apple Mac computer, such as the Macintosh ROM or the motherboard, in order to become a functional computer system.
This places the commercial production of a Mac conversion under the protection of the first-sale doctrine in the U.S. and similar legal concepts in most other countries.
Since the early days of Macintosh computers, manufacturers have sought to fulfill the needs of customers who wanted to have a computer with Mac OS, but with a functionality not provided by Apple’s existing Macintosh (later called Mac) lineup. Companies making Mac conversions start with a previously purchased, genuine Apple Mac computer, and use them in combination with their own manufactured components to assemble their custom Mac solution. Modifications can be as minor as the addition of a touch-sensitive display bezel to an otherwise factory standard iMac to create for example a kiosk system, [1] [2] or as extensive as the complete replacement of a MacBook's laptop enclosure to create a Tablet Mac. [3]
While this business model of aftermarket modification is most commonly used in the car industry, with one of the most famous examples being the Shelby Mustang, a high performance variant of the Ford Mustang, it has been applied with equal success in the Mac market.
Whereas Mac clones typically aim to compete directly with Apple's solutions through lower prices, commercial Mac conversions rely on offering features/solutions not available from Apple, and where the need for that particular Mac solution is high enough to justify the combined cost of the full price of the Mac donor computer plus the price of the conversion kit and labor. [4] Commercially successful Mac conversions were discontinued when Apple introduced products with competing features. [5]
By definition, a Macintosh conversion is an aftermarket modification of a previously purchased, genuine Apple Mac computer or laptop, while preserving the core components required to run the Mac operating system, such as the donor Mac's motherboard. Conversions are thus completely compatible with Macintosh software, [6] and avoid any of the copyright misuse, DMCA or Mac operating system licensing issues that form the basis of the legal threat unlicensed Mac clone manufacturers have to face.
Apple's 1986 agreement to sell Macintosh computers to Dynamac at a discounted price indicated the former's tolerance of the latter company's conversions. Other companies stated that they were also negotiating with Apple, but would continue to purchase Macs at retail for conversion without such an agreement. Apple only sold complete computers for conversion, refusing to sell individual components such as motherboards [7] despite conversion vendors' wishes, [8] although inviting them to become value-added resellers. [9] The performance of aftermarket modifications is in the U.S. protected by the First-sale doctrine and similar legal concepts in most other countries. [10] [11] Its legality has been tested through litigation, most notably in the automotive industry, where automobile manufacturers have attempted to hinder or suppress automotive aftermarket businesses by means of copyright and/or patent infringement lawsuits.
The application of the aftermarket process makes for a critical legal distinction between Macintosh conversions and Macintosh clones. Whereas none of the Mac conversions of the companies listed below have seen legal action, Psystar, an unlicensed Mac clone maker, was sued by Apple in federal court within months [12] of the introduction of their first Mac clones. [13]
The following companies have created commercially available Mac conversion solutions:
Axiotron, Inc., was founded as a Delaware corporation in 2005 [14] with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. It was acquired in 2008 [15] by the publicly traded Toronto, Canada-based Axiotron Corp. (TSX-V: AXO) and dissolved in 2010. [16] [17] The company was the first Mac conversion manufacturer to create a pen-enabled tablet Mac computer. [18]
Notable products include:
Founded in 1982 [22] by Chuck Colby and operating out of Fresno, California, Colby Systems, Inc. launched its first Macintosh portable computer in 1987, [9] after attempting to negotiate purchasing Macintosh components from Apple. [8] [7] In 1991, after introducing but never shipping its final portable Mac solution, the company left the Mac conversion business to work with video technology [23] and was dissolved in 2016. [24]
Notable products include:
Dynamac Corporation, out of Denver, Colorado, also known as Dynamac Computer Products Inc., was founded as a Delaware corporation in 1970 [35] and offered Mac portable computer systems between 1986 [36] and 1991. [37] In 1986 it became the first Mac portable vendor to purchase Macintosh computers from Apple at a discounted price. [7]
Notable products include:
Intelitec Systems Corporation, based out of Fairfield, Iowa, offered Macintosh portable computers from 1987 [9] until 1989 when the introduction of the Apple Macintosh Portable made their product obsolete. [46]
Notable products include:
Founded in February 2012, Modbook Inc., a privately held [47] U.S. company based out of Los Angeles, California, [48] was a Mac conversion manufacturer. The company offered mid- and high-end pen-enabled Tablet Mac solutions for creative professionals.
Notable products include:
As of July 2025, not a single system has been delivered to backers with the last update posted to the WeFunder website page for the project by Andreas Haas (CEO, Lead Engineer and Owner of Modbook Inc.), being on August 3, 2018. Another update on the page, posted around July 2023, from Mark "Merc" Mercer, Director of Experience for WeFunder states "Hello Investors, We hope this message finds you well. We wanted to let you know that we've been trying to reach out to this company for an update but haven't yet heard back from them." [55]
Outbound Systems Inc., based in Boulder, Colorado, and founded in 1989, [56] offered Mac portable computer systems between 1989 [57] and 1991, [58] and left the Mac conversion business in 1992 to build windows-based PC solutions. [59] [60]
Notable products include:
Sixty-Eight Thousand, Inc., a California corporation based out of Scotts Valley, operated between 1987 [67] and 1994, [68] offering performance-enhanced tower workstation solutions for the high and top-end professional Mac market.
Notable products include:
Touchscreens and kiosks utilizing Apple's consumer products seem to be a booming industry. Last month a company called Third Stream Media announced plans to roll out its Touch Stand retail kiosk based on iMac systems and Termimac Informations systems unveiled their own line of iMac-based information kiosk systems
The branded kiosks feature touchscreen-equipped iMac systems, as well.
If your favored input device is the pen, then this is the Mac tablet solution for you
just introduced a IIfx version of the Dash 30. For $11,500, you get a Mac IIfx (40-MHz 68030 CPU and 68882 math chip), 8 MB of high-bandwidth main memory and a 180-MB disk drive rated for 15-ms access time
Ultimately, the inexpensive, sleek and lightweight PowerBook 100, co-designed by Apple and Sony, forced Outbound out of business
It seems to me that when one is considering machinery which is not the subject of any patent protection, it is unnecessary and may be misleading to introduce the concept of an implied licence. The owner of a car must be entitled to do whatever is necessary to keep it in running order and to effect whatever repairs may be necessary in the most economical way possible. To derive this entitlement from an implied licence granted by the original manufacturer seems to me quite artificial. It is a right inherent in the ownership of the car itself. There is an inconsistency between marketing cars and thereby creating whatever rights attach to their ownership on the one hand and acting to restrain the free exercise of those rights on the other. The law does not countenance such inconsistencies.
Every owner of a car has the right to repair it. That right would be useless if suppliers of spare parts were not entitled to anticipate the need for repair. The right cannot, in my view, be withheld by the manufacturer of the car by contract with the first purchaser and cannot be withheld from any subsequent owner.
On July 3, Apple filed suit in the Federal District Court for Northern California, asserting that the Florida-based company had breached its trademark agreements by selling non-Apple hardware, including servers, that could run modified versions of the Mac OS X Leopard operating system.
A company called Psystar announced ... that it has created a Mac-clone for $399 that will run Apple's OS Leopard
Delaware Corporation: AXIOTRON, INC.; File Number: 3908075; Founded: May 1st, 2005
Axiotron Corp. (AXO - TSX Venture) ... today announced that it has closed its ... acquisition of ... El Segundo, California-based, Axiotron, Inc.
was dissolved today upon a unanimous vote by its shareholders, following foreclosure against all of its assets by its secured creditors
Trading in the Company's shares will remain suspended in accordance with a general cease trade order issued by the Company's principal regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission, on June 23, 2010
It's the first pen tablet-based Mac.
ModBook the First True Mac Tablet
Modbook Product Specs
Modbook Product Specs
California Corporation: Colby Systems Inc.; File Number: C1129026; Founded: 12/01/1982
Colby left the Macintosh development world to work with video technology.
California Corporation: Colby Systems Inc.; File Number: C1129026; Dissolved: 02/09/2016
Colby SE Product Specs
Colby WalkMac SE Product Specs
Colby WalkMac SE-30 Product Specs
Colby WalkMac SE-30 Product Specs
Colby Classmate Portable Product Specs
Colby WalkMac SE-30 Product Specs
Never reached the market
Delaware Corporation: DYNAMAC CORPORATION; File Number: 750817; Founded: May 1st, 1970
Dynamac said its first machines, also called Dynamac, will be available for sale early next year
January 22, 1991 Dynamac shows Laptop
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Details, Dynamac
The following Dynamac was used by Niel MacDonald and others at Apple, and traveled all the way to Signapore [sic] once.
Introduction Date: September 20, 1989
Dynamac EL Specs
Introduction Date: September 20, 1989
Dynamac offers Portable Display
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The Dynamac IIsf
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The Dynamac IIsf is a leather-cased portable with an LC motherboard and a 640 x 480 pixel, 16-gray backlit, flat-panel display. It includes a touch pad, has a battery life of three hours, and comes with 2 megabytes of RAM and a 40 megabyte hard-disk drive. The IIsf can drive Apple's 12-inch RGB and monochrome displays.
Introduction Date: September 20, 1989
a privately held company ... today announced that it has successfully secured private equity funding
California Corporation: Modbook Inc.; File Number: C3438933; Founded: 2/2/2012
Modbook Online Store
Amazon: Modbook
Project Page
[85.4% voted to] getting the Pro X compatible with the latest Touch Bar MacBook Pro generation and fill your Kickstarter rewards with those.
Introduced the Modbook Pro X, World's First Convertible Tablet Mac
The new Modbook X is based on a MacBook Pro 15 "2017 and transforms it into a tablet
founded in 1989
It was announced in August 1989
Outbound Adds Classic Support
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Outbound Systems has used its experience making Macintosh-compatible notebooks to create an Intel-based miniature computer
Outbound Systems Inc. (Boulder) is ceasing production.
Outbound Laptop
Outbound Laptop
Outbound Laptop
Outbound Adds Classic Support
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)It uses camcorder batteries
Product Specs
California Corporation: Sixty-Eight Thousand, Inc.; File Number: C1417299; Founded: September 10th, 1987
In June 1994, Sixty-Eight Thousand, Inc., a company which made Macintosh compatible workstations, filed for bankruptcy protection in San Jose, California (Case No.: 94-54123)
Sixty-Eight Thousand, Inc. released earlier this month a 68030-based workstation
Product Specs
The company has just introduced a IIfx version of the Dash 30
Product/ Service Evaluation Magazine/ Journal article
Press release
there was also a machine called the 40Q, which was an overclocked quadra 950 in a very very large case. We used to sell them as an upgrade for the quadra 950
Product Specs