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OWC Tips & Deals 1/5/2009
Intro: A heart hello from San Francisco! As the final hours and minutes tick down, the team and I are all ready to go and looking forward to the opening of the Expo tomorrow at 11AM. Apple's keynote, as has been the tradition - and looking like for the last time, will officially start the expo tomorrow. This is the first year, since Steve Jobs came back to Apple, that it won't be Mr. Jobs talking up all that Apple's ready to show off and hype to the world. We hope Mr. Jobs is in good health and that other pressing matters are the reason for 'Phil' giving this years opener. Who knows, maybe he'll still drop on by with some kind of appearance. Given that Apple has announced this to be their last year participating with the Expo, you'd sure think they'd be going out with some kind of bang. We'll see. **Breaking News(click for full story) - Steve Jobs advises his health is good - has suffered weight loss due to a hormonal problem that has been identified and treated. He stated that doctors expect him to recover back to his normal weight by spring*** Although Steve Jobs isn't on the keynote schedule, am very pleased to be able to say that Apple co-founder and just awesome all round guy Steve Wozniak will take the stage with Axiotron in their booth #502 at 12PM on Tuesday to be a part of a new product unveiling. OWC is the exclusive US Distributor for the Axiotron Modbook - the only OS X Tablet in the world - and Steve Wozniak, a member of Axiotron's board of advisers, brings a wealth of ingenuity and experience to the table - words don't do justice. The Modbook is the real deal, and a real deal this week - as for orders placed now and until January 15th - an instant rebate takes $100 off your custom configured Modbook or ModService (convert a MacBook you already have). Check it out! You'll find the OWC team and I at booth #2218 and NewerTech just next door at #2322. We got lots of great presentations, new products to show, and more. You'll see this more than once in this email... visit Macworld Expo Page for a schedule of presentations, Macworld expo Web specials, etc. Also - while the free pass offer is over, you can still save $20 when you click the register link via our page there. Also this year, you can stop by our 'satellite booth' #215 take a load off and, compliments of OWC and TrueToniqs, enjoy a free can of Brain Toniq. I've been a fan of this all natural product since my very first gulp. I enjoy the flavor and really seems give that extra go and without the crash as this beverage doesn't use caffeine and the like for that boost. Time is running by - still got rumors, deals, and more to hit on... time to get to that. Macworld 2009 Rumors and Guesses Last year something in the air was the MacBook Air.... That pretty well dominated the 2008 Macworld expo. This year, it does seem likely we're going to get a lot more on the core Mac front. 2009 top predictions include: New 17" MacBook Pro Unibody model will complete the Unibody line up. Now.... if it's got one of the new QUAD-CORE processors inside - or the option for, that would be incredible. Hopefully it's at least got all the ports as the current MacBook PRo 17". No doubt the Dual-DVI display port will be replaced with the new 'Display-Port' open standard display connector... but at least keep all our FireWire ports. It's been a real aggravation to the long term users for FireWire to have been removed off the 13" Macbook and only a single FireWire 800 port (used to be FW400 + FW800 ports) on the 15" MacBook Pro unibody models. New Mac mini - if any system is long overdue for an update, it's the Mac mini. Rumor has it that Apple stopped delivering units to some retailers as far back as October. It's possible they'd planned an earlier introduction, but that inventory lasted longer due to the situation with the economy. I no longer hold my breath for a 'mini-max' with real upgradability, but here's hoping it's a good bump in performance without any price bump and maybe even a cut. New update to the AppleTV is also rumored. Last year the update was all software to v2.0, something that all Apple TV owners benefited from. The current AppleTV uses an IDE/ATA 2.5" hard drive and for that reason alone it makes sense for a revision/update. Not for performance reasons, but because there is now only one company still making IDE/ATA drives (WD) and SATA 2.5" is far more cost effective as well as with higher capacity options. If you have a current Apple TV, you might check out our 250GB Apple TV HD Upgrade program... 250GB is the largest capacity possible for the current AppleTV model... and that is a big jump for the 40GB, 80GB, or 160GB you'd have right now. New Mac Pros - the current Mac Pros are already super speed demons with 8-cores... But now 12-core is possible and a good chance of what will soon to be flagship for the Mac Pro line up. We know it's coming, just a question of whether or not it will be a Macworld release. As an aside... even in the current line up, you pay a hefty price to get just a little more processor speed. If you need all those cores and that speed, it's also likely that you're working with heavy duty applications doing major processing on video, photo, music/audio, etc. If so - before spending thousands to upgrade to a new Mac Pro or even when considering the cost difference between processor speed configs - make sure you are going to get the most from any current or future investment. Maxing out to 32GB or memory (if not at least 16GB) as well as upgrading to a performance hard drive RAID is extremely economical vs. cost for faster processor core speeds + provides a boost of 200-300% even which can have that Mac Pro running circles around a system that's not so well equipped - even if it has the most and fastest cores around. Check out the Mac Performance Guide that really shows ya what more memory and HD RAID can do for Mac Pro performance. We always want faster, just need to make sure we're aware of the best options to satisfy that need for speed. New iMacs - in addition to moving to an updated architecture with faster video chipset, rumors of possibly even a 28" model. Such a beast could double as a HDTV as well. If there are new iMacs, in the least would expect to see them move to the LED backlit display technology and faster processor speed at least. Blu-Ray!?!? In my opinion, it's far overdue. Sure there's those HD downloads from the iTunes store, Netflix, and more and more each day... but, those highly compressed downloads just don't match up with the version you get on a 50GB Blu-Ray disc. Not only are Blu-Ray discs coming down in cost, but even better - you can get them without additional fee from Blockbuster, Netflix, etc too. We're only talking about playback so far.... How awesome to be able to burn up to 50GB of data on an optical disc for easy transport, archive, etc? Heck - burn a single BD that has hours and hours and hours of your home movies, photos, etc for easy playback? While you can't currently play Blu-Ray discs on your Mac (unless you bootcamp boot it up into Windows - which, ironically, does have good Blu-Ray sypport in the latest), you can use Toast to burn Blu-Ray DATA discs... + with a hodge podge of Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro you can actually encode and burn playable video Blu-Ray discs, except you still have to watch them on something other than your Mac booted to OS X. Hopefully Apple has navigated the Blu-Ray seas and will have at least some entry point to add at least some decent level of support for the dominating HD media format. Whenever that happens, we're at the ready with Blu-Ray Reader/Super-Multidrive CD+DVD burners now from $114.99. :) Bigger and better Cinema displays? With Apple moving to this open source (read - royalty-free) DisplayPort display connection, seems like it's only logical that they'll be some kind of update to the Cinema Display line if only to change to that port type. The Apple 30" model is also unchanged since its introduction several years ago, so time may be ripe for a refresh. Who knows, maybe even an even bigger display too. :) Then we have those application suites with years after their name. While Microsoft can go years without introducing a new version (Office 2004 was the current till Office for Mac 2008 came out last year... Office 2007 is still the current version for Windows), Apple - so far - keeps those year versions turning. Although not always released at Macworld, new iLife 2009 and iWorks 2009 suite versions wouldn't be a huge surprise. Last but no least... can certainly expect some kind of update on the progress of OS 10.6 aka Snow Leopard. Not meant to be revolutionary, 10.6 is supposed to be be the faster and bug zapped version of Leopard 10.5. The focus being not about new features (the feature set is already great), but rather optimizing and eliminating the bugs of the current OS. And One More Thing... The MacBook Wheel - "one button with endless possibilities". A breaking sneak peak reported by the Onion. Couldn't resist slipping it in. This is the Macworld Expo... so - going to skip rumors of iPhones and iPods. other than to say - 32GB iPhone... maybe... :) For the fun of it - lets take a quick score on the 2008 Expo Rumors: #1 **Winner** Mac Pro 8-Core with new 1.6GHz FSB Xeon architecture. Close enough... New Mac Pros introduced at 2008 CES, just before Macworld. #2 ***Winner** SuperSlim MacBook Pro 12" laptop. Close enough, new MacBook Air with 13" display. #3 ***Still Waiting*** Blu-Ray Video Play-Back support introduced for Macs. We actually had a supply of Blu-Ray optical drives in our booth expecting this last year. I would never have guessed this would still be in limbo. #4 ****Errrr*** Macbook Docking Displays - Not at MW2008 and not quite yet... getting closer though. While the 24" LED display Apple introduced in November/08 doesn't let you dock your MacBook, it does have an integrated MacBook/MacBook Pro magsafe power adapter to save a cord + leave you with an extra one. #5 ***Winner*** New and greatly improved AppleTV - AppleTV v2.0 update released that 'cut the cord' so to speak and let the Apple TV operate independently from a computer. #6 ****Dare to Dream*** A pipe dream it's been and a pipe dream likely to remain, but there has been some additional chatter lately about a possible $1000-1500 headless Mac. Analysts note that there is demand for this and that Apple would benefit by providing a line that eliminated this blind spot. Don't want to get my hopes or yours up... but the dream lives on. **While Apple may not fill this gaping whole in their line up... it's possible that they won't have to... stay tuned.** Some rumors are driven by leaks and sneak peeks into production, others are driven by customer wishes. I hope we see more of the latter in sync with what those sneak peaks and leaks reveal. Even though it's not Jobs giving the keynote, all hopes that what does actually go from rumor to reality blows all these rumors away. Macworld Expo: Schedule, Notes, and Special Deals Officially the Macworld conferences started today, but it's at the Expo, which opens up around 11AM after Apple's Keynote, where all the latest and greatest are put on display. Whatever Apple announces, what's new from OWC & NewerTech, and all the Apple dedicated have their there to see, touch, and play with from Tuesday through Friday. Come by our booth #2218 and check out a variety of technology displays as well as our 'main stage' 'Technology Theater' hands on presentation schedule. We'll be showing off all our latest new gear + you'll have multiple hands-on opportunities to learn first hand how to do various upgrades to your Mac. If nothing else, hope you'll come by if only just to say hi! Might add... by stopping by, you'll be able to gain access to 'floor only' specials exclusive for those attending the expo. NewerTech is on display with their latest in performance storage solution, Wireless, and the gamut of iPod, iPhone, and Laptop batteries + accessories. An easy visit after OWC as they're right across the aisle at booth #2322 At our 'satellite' booth #215, you can stop by for a time out and enjoy a can of Brain Tonic with our compliments and courtesy of Brain Tonic. This year, we will not be selling on the show floor. We will, however, be offering free installation of OWC supplied memory, hard drives, and/or optical drives to demonstrate our new repair and upgrades service. There are only a limited amount of time slots, first come first reserved - bring in your MacBook, PowerBook, iBook, Mac mini, etc + OWC supplied upgrades - and we'll put them in your Mac right on the spot. If you were/are still undecided, but happen to be in the area and the latest and greatest becomes a must see - by all means, hope to see you there and you can use our referral code to to save $20 off the otherwise $45 pass. The best part of the show is our opportunity to spend time with you. Always a pleasure putting more faces to the voices/e-mails from the wire + especially great seeing the familiar faces too! Be it at the show or watching the news flow from it, well - do enjoy! MacWorld Expo Special Offers & Savings Hand in hand with Macworld comes Macworld Expo special offers. This year we've got some of the best ever too. Not only great specials on OWC & NewerTech products, but OWC partners including Hitachi, Matias, BookEndz, High Point, IO Gear, and others have really stepped up with some great OWC exclusives. Those products on special all can be found on our MacWorld Expo Specials Page. These offers include: Get $30 back on 1.0TB Hitachi 7K1000 SATA 32MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drives, $20 back on 320GB Hitachi 7K320 SATA 16MB Cache 7200RPM Notebook Drives + up to $120 back on select OWC and NewerTech solutions featuring these drives. These new Mail-In rebates valid though January 15th, 2009. Check out the savings on 26 different drive and solution options! Up to 40% off Matias Laptop Armor carrying cases! This is huge, even below our normal cost super special Expo Savings! Super Savings on IO Gear KVMs - including hundreds off their Dual-DVI KVMs for sharing those monster 30" displays between multiple Macs. If you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro and use it on the go + connect it up at 'home base' to external display, KB/Ms, etc - I believe Bookendz to be priceless! These awesome docks (Unibody versions will be out in 4-8 weeks, these are for the pre-Uni models only) are not inexpensive, but with savings of up to $50 off normal - they are a great deal. Worth every penny, imho, even without the savings. I speak from experience - and I know my Macbook Pro ports + device cables are all 'appreciative' as well. We've got special discounts on some of new stuff, our classic stuff - all good stuff. It's more fun to check out the stuff right on that MacWorld Expo Specials Page. :) Don't forget, there's always a great selection of Reader Specials our Tips n' Deals Readers too! Intro Closing: Getting this out on the eve is a rush every year... so please accept my apologies, in advance, for any typos I may have missed. It's amazing how easy it is to gloss over word omissions, substitutions, etc- when you're the proofer is the writer.... who knows what is supposed to be written and sometimes may not notice a glitch or two in what actually is put to the page. Sometimes a little rambly, but hopefully always with enough good info to make worth the read. Either way - certainly want to make sure this is delivered before there's nothing still left to expo speculation. :) In just a few short hours, at least a part of all this will become obsolete. Rumors won't be rumors anymore as we'll either be looking at new products or we won't. That which is new, well - as always, looking forwarding to delving into the details and sharing our vantage point on those latest and greatest. Thank you for reading and a Happy New Year too! Hope to see ya at the Expo, but either way - the very best always to you and yours! We Support our Troops The 'fine print': Contact Information+ ++++++++++++++++++++ Sales: sales@macsales.com or 800-275-4576, International 815-338-8685 Customer Service: custserv@macsales.com or 800-275-4576 / 815-338-8685 Tech Support: Online Tech Center or 815-338-8685 Please feel free to e-mail any comments or suggestions to:suggestions@macsales.com You may ALWAYS reply to our OWC Tips and Deals e-mail at owc@macsales.com with any questions or comments as well - PLEASE change the subject to reflect your e-mail question/comment to ensure a speedy reply! Other World Computing div. of New Concepts Development Corp. 2650 Bridge Lane Woodstock, IL 60098 815-338-8685 This is a free subscribed E-Mail Newsletter that can be joined via our website. This e-mail is only received if you have joined our list. 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