Apple has been growing leaps and bounds recently, capturing more than a 7% share of the home computer market in the USA. Thousands of people are going out, buying Mac computers and discovering the joys of OS X. However, there are also thousands of people who are discovering how relatively easy it is to get OS X working on standard Intel-based personal computers.

There are arguments both for and against the practice of building a so-called Hackintosh. Proponents of the OSX86 community claim that Apple computers are just too expensive, a claim that may have some merit, depending on the configuration you are looking at. A very popular story on Digg this week claims you can build a working machine for about $350. After reading the article it becomes clear that the author of this story was not purchasing OS X Leopard but using a pirated, modified version. Not only did Apple lose revenue in a potential hardware sale, but the OS was also stolen.

Another claim made by some OSX86 users is that the ability to use OS X has lead them to eventually purchase genuine Apple hardware, and that Hackintosh computers actually help increase Apple’s market share in the long run. Others claim they have actually purchased OS X, to give credit to the developers. While this may be true in some cases, what real incentive is there to purchase an Apple computer when hacking the operating on to non-Apple systems has become so easy? Apple is foremost a hardware company, and there is a growing community of people that are skipping purchasing the hardware altogether. This does not look good for Apple’s business model!

What can Apple do to stem the tide of cheap, yet working, Hackintosh machines? In the past, they’ve tried licensing Mac OS to third parties, and it almost killed the company since nobody wanted to pay the higher prices for genuine Mac hardware. Another alternative is to implement some sort of activation scheme similar to Windows, which would backfire greatly. Many legitimate Mac users, myself included, switched away from Windows because of such nonsense and simply would not stand for it. And I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for hackers to bypass the activation, anyway.

Or, they could just do nothing, and watch their profits disappear as more people illegally install OS X on standard hardware.

The solution is a simple one. Apple needs to sell a midrange, upgradeable, headless desktop computer. The Mac Mini is too crippled by the fact that it’s essentially a sealed system, with onboard graphics that are not upgradeable. The Mac Pro is simply overkill for most people, and priced too high for the average home user. The iMac suffers the same issues as the Mini, in that it has components can’t be upgraded by the average user. I, for one, also don’t like the idea of sending my entire computer in for repair if the display goes out.

People want to purchase a computer knowing it won’t become suddenly obsolete with the next killer app that requires a faster processor, graphics card or more memory. Remember, most switchers are coming from the Windows desktop world, where such upgrades are commonplace and easy. Most consumers desire having access to hard drive bays and memory slots, and don’t like being treated like they are too incompetent to swap out the components themselves. People are quickly coming to the realization that there is nothing magical about Apple hardware, and you don’t need to be a Genius to add more RAM.

Let’s take another look at Apple’s desktop lineup and prices, in US dollars: The Mini starts at about $600, the iMac at double that at nearly $1200, and the Pro at a whopping $2800. Apple needs to sell this new mid-range desktop computer for around $800, which should be easy considering many OSX86 builders are accomplishing the task for less than half that. I’d love to see a midsize case, with a release handle on one side for easy access to the internal components similar to the later G3 and G4 towers. The processor should also be midrange, yet easily replaced, as with the PCI-Express graphics card. The optical drive should be standard sized and swappable, along with the hard drive.

People are falling in love with OS X, enough even to run it on unauthorized hardware. The economy is nearing recession, and many people aren’t willing to spend thousands of dollars for hardware that is overkill for their needs, and are also unwilling to spend hundreds of dollars for a computer that can’t grow to meet their needs.

I urge Apple to acknowledge this growing segment of the market and develop hardware that people actually want, at a price they can afford. The alternative outcome is not a good one. Let’s do this, Apple!