OWC Tips & Deals 4/30/2008
Intro:
Hello from your friends in Woodstock! Now fully moved into our new 'green' headquarters, things getting back to something approaching normal again. It's such a weight to be shed with this building project complete (still some landscaping and little detail work being completed) and the big move now behind us. In addition to having well outgrown our prior main location, it's now the first time in about four years our entire local team is under same roof too. our team is here for you and it's a great thing to be in a place where our team can ever more excel to give you that best service possible.

We're always adding more installation videos, how to guides, and general technical resources to our online Tech Center. Our Intel Mac memory performance benchmarks, which originally was done to answer the question 'to pair or not to pair', is a pretty nice resource for comparing the real-world performance differences between both the different model generations as well as different models within each generation too. Whether looking for some extra information to help with a new Mac purchase, some assistance with installation, etc - these are resources freely available and there for your benefit.

When it comes to getting your goods from OWC, we've made some recent enhancements there too. For starters, our same day shipping cutoff has been moved up to 6:40PM CST- meaning can get that just in time stuff from us even when ordering late in the day... and we don't charge any rush fee for this either. Our UPS Ground service option now will provide the number of days to expect delivery within - both on the basket estimator and the final check out page, you can see how quick UPS Ground will be delivered to your location. We also have introduced and are expanding trackable UPS Postal Options for lower cost items as to provide a reasonable quick less than five day delivery option at a low cost for smaller items. It's all about giving you the best options possible and, again, there's more to come.

Enough about all that... got some new Macs and more to get on to. :)

New 500GB MacBook Pro 17" HD Option now available
Bigger and faster, that's what drives become as time goes on. Higher capacity of course is my meaning by 'bigger'. The latest is now a 500GB notebook drive we've got in stock from Hitachi at $287.99. This drive, unfortunately, is 12.5mm and only an option for MacBook Pro 17" Models, although we also offer it in a bus powered FireWire 800/400 On-The-Go solution as well.

Samsung is expected to soon have a 9.5mm 500GB model, which will fit in all the Macbook/MacBook Pros.... just a matter of time. And in the mean time, amazingly, we've got 320GB 9.5mm notebook drives now under $130!

Bigger, faster... and ever a lower price per gig.

New iMacs with 800MHZ memory and up to 3.06GHz Processors
Rumored that Apple was seeking to move out some of the prior iMac model inventory first, these new iMacs have been long anticipated! This is the first bump to the iMac line since August/2007 and looks to be pretty significant too.

Before getting to the actual systems themselves, it is important to note that these are the first Macs to spec use of faster DDR2 800MHZ SO-DIMMs. Where as all the prior iMacs (and all current and prior model Intel iMacs, Mac minis, MacBook, and MacBook Pro models) utilize 667MHZ DDR2 SO. What's very important is that the JEDEC (and Apple Spec) program for 800MHZ DDR2 SO-DIMM memory is not backwards compatible for use in 667MHz Core Duo/C2D Mac models. In short, do not purchase 800MHz DDR2 for a 667MHz Core Duo/Core 2 Duo model, not only is there no performance benefit - but it won't even work at all. This is unlike the FB-DIMMs for the Mac Pro, where it is ok to use 800MHz (although no performance benefit) modules in 667MHz systems. We are currently seeking additional information on the possibility for a dual 667/800MHz supported SO-DIMM for future offering. Yes, the iMacs take a new Memory Type (first time Apple has used that is) that's... different enough from the prior to need attention.

One additional note - all the Apple iMacs has the same 8X slot-loading double-layer Super Drive, 802.11n Airport Wireless, Bluetooth, FireWire 800, Firewire 400, USB 2.0, Keyboard, Mouse, built-in Apple iSight, and other features/equipment standard.

As before, the entry level is a 20" model for $1199. This $1199 models comes base with the same Radeon HD 2400XT 128MB Video, same 1GB of memory, same 250GB Hard drive - but is now equipped with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Processor. Faster memory bus and faster processor for the same ding to your wallet.

Just as before, we have the next model option that 20" and $1499. For $1499 you get a speedbump to 2.66GHz (was 2.4), hard drive moves to 320GB (was 250GB), memory base is now 2GB (was 1GB), and the video has been bumped up to a Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB (was 2400XT 128MB). More speed, a little more HD capacity, and a reasonable bump to the video too.

Like before, it's $1799 to get yourself behind a 24" display equipped iMac, but now it's at 2.8GHz vs. 2.4GHz. Everything else - 2GB memory, 320GB HD, Radeon HD 2600 Pro Video - that's all the same, at base. What's new is that for $200 you can upgrade to a 3.06GHz processor (was $250 option 2.4 to 2.8GHz on prior) and the standard Radeon 2600 256MB video can be upgraded to the much higher performance NVidia 8800GS 512MB for an extra $150 (no similar option on prior). The processor and video upgrade options are available only on the 24" display model.

Apple also straight lists what is a 'pre-configured' 3.06GHz model at $2199. Cost/features no different than starting with the 2.8GHz base and selecting the 8800 Video, the 3.06GHz processor, and 500GB HD upgrade options. Not really a '4th model' so much as an already configured presentation.

Across the line, you have the option for up to a 500GB internal hard drive. It's $100 upgrading from a 250GB, $50 from a 320GB equipped system. Given the difficulty with opening these iMacs - especially when you're starting from a 320GB based model, I do think the 500GB upgrade cost is reasonable. For the more adventurous, you can put up to a 1.0TB SATA drive inside yourself. Alternatively, it's easy to plug and play FireWire (or USB) externally for additional storage as well.

Memory is the main upgrade option across the line... and with that we hope you'll come to us. :). We offer our premium, lifetime advance replacement backed 4.0GB Upgrade set to you for $115.50. This compares to the factory upgrade from 1GB to 2GB costing $100, 2GB to 4GB costing $200 from Apple. In addition to the straight savings, you also get to either keep or trade in your existing 1GB x 1 or 1GB x 2 that these iMacs are factory base with.

We've just started performance benchmarks for these new models and so far have results for the new 2.66GHz and 2.8GHz posted. Not only does the new 2.8GHz model (with standard 2600 video) smoke the old 2.8GHz, even the 2.66GHz beats it. Not just faster processors for the same base costs, an improved platform providing more performance throughout that has these iMacs upping that bar further yet. Plenty more bang for the same bucks.

One quick brief.... no, despite our best hopes, Apple did not introduce Blu-Ray HD disc playback with this iMac update. Perhaps that's for WWDC... or something we'll have to do ourselves if not...

New Mac Clone Company?
We're watching this one pretty closely... if Pystar for real and this flies with Apple - both of question at this point - the door may soon be wide open for non-Apple Intel systems to be running OS X.

First off, if Pystar is a legitimate company - initial appearances were quite to the contrary. Between the multiple address changes (in the course of a couple days) and a representatives at on of the purported addresses claiming to have never even heard of this company... well, we're watching this one. To say the least, while they now seem to have yet another new address and this one with their name on the window glass, I am not personally ready to hand over my credit card information to them. Gizmodo is following this story and what we're still waiting to see are reports from people who have actually received a system. For that, stay tuned...

The next major issue here is Apple. They've thus far not commented on this company's announcement from several weeks ago. I'd suspect they may not do anything until after units have shipped to endusers - or maybe because it is an End-User License Agreement where essentially the enduser of the computer is who violates that agreement when putting OS X on to a non-Apple labeled computer. My personal view is that Apple ought to be offering a more hobbyist aimed model to begin with - kinda right in line with the models Pystar purports to offer - but that's been a pipe dream of quite some time. If Apple does start looking the other way of this kind of thing, perhaps it's relative to an allowance to fill in that niche they are choosing not to fill. In reality, a good percentage of the unit sales of these non-sanctioned systems (be it home brew or pre-configured) are likely to be purchased by customers not interested to buy from Apple's offerings. So long as a legal copy of OS X is purchased, this would be new found revenue for Apple and without warranty liability, etc.

This whole area is of significant interest and we'll be paying close attention to it. One issue that has repeatedly surfaced though has been with software updates. Each time Apple does an update, it's usually blown the hack that's made it possible to run OS X on the non-Apple 'hackentosh'. But, such has been repeatedly overcome and that little hassle would potentially be part of the joy and 'cost' of going the EULA (end user license agreement) violating route. Then... depending on how Apple addresses the Pystar offering, assuming people actually receive systems from them (I have not found discussion from a customer with one in hand out there), that in itself could set the precedent to make for a whole new selection of hardware choices to have OS X running from.

Big Intel Core 2 Duo Performance Gains with Low Latency Memory?
Somewhat recently, one of our competitors made claims of significant performance benefits with their new 'low latency CAS 4' 4.0GB memory kits. This included a white paper in which they claimed a 19% boost in a Photoshop test. While we found it interesting that their selected MacBook Pro test model was one that actually can't even fully utilize the full 4.0GB, still took it at face value.

We were caught us off guard and I was irked that we hadn't explored memory acceleration options ourselves. But this got us going and then we were really scratching our heads. Guess what - we couldn't replicate the claims they made, not with our own module programs and then not with their actual product, regardless of which Macbook Pro models we tested on - including the one identified in their 'official' white paper.

Enter the Mac performance testing website BareFeats. They attained these so called 'performance' modules and also let us send them ours too. Maybe we were doing something wrong, not doing the right tests - I mean - it's pretty bold for a company to make such claims with the intent of getting people to pay a real premium for that claimed benefit too. Well... guess what, they must have made a mistake in their test methodology (it's been suggested to me that they may have mistakenly re-ran a test where a prior run had cached work result and then reduced measured execution time artifically). The largest gains are about 5% to the actual max memory throughput which at best translated to less than a 1% benefit with real-world application testing. Well... of additional interest, that benefit is comparing their Cas4 product to our standard Cas5 product. While our OWC DDR2 modules are all premium grade major brand dram based, these guys use an OEM DRAM and whether it's the DRAM or something else - our standard CAS5 product tested a little more than 1% faster than their Cas5 product.... so I suppose, comparing their CAS4 to their own CAS5 - a little more benefit is measurable, although far far short of their claims that can only be based on erroneous testing.

The bottom line here? If you absolutely want the last millisecond in performance from your Apple Core 2 Duo iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, or MacBook Pro model that uses 667MHZ DDR2 - our premium CAS4 4.0GB kit for $117.99 is now available and delivers those extra drops. The cost is actually the same as the 800MHz 4GB kit we offer for the new iMacs (which need 800MHz) as both kits use the same 800MHz memory DRAMs. In the case of the 667MHz kit, those 800MHz are clocked down to 667MHz with the custom CAS4 low latency program that gives them the kick and within rated performance specifications of those DRAM chips.

That said - the difference is so small, such that is likely to rarely be actually noticed or of tangible benefit, for the vast majority - I'd recommend keeping the extra $28 in your pocket, our $90 Cas5 4GB Kit gives you 99%+ and probably 100% of what you'd ever actually realize. Mostly I feel bad for anyone who already had 4.0GBs of memory and got sucked into buying the new CAS4 set only to be let down when the promised gains we're there to be seen.

The real gains come when you upgrade your Intel Mac to 1GB, 2GB, 3GB or that current 4GB max. With just our plain to Apple Spec CAS 5 4.0GB Memory kit, the benefit vs. 2GB measures to be 30% or even more with a real-world representative Photoshop 21-Step action script test. Due to how the application operates, other things that go on in the system where the memory isn't the only element in play, our same testing with the CAS4 (ours and theirs) never showed a statistically measurable/relevant difference from the standard Cas5 spec memory we offer. You can review our memory benchmarks with nearly every Intel Core Duo/2 Duo model and the various stock and upgraded memory configs to see how more memory makes a difference for your machine.

I've gotten a bit long winded on this... More memory is what makes your Mac go faster. We ended up introducing our own CAS4 option because even with the actual expectations set, there is still a demand. We're very candid in our CAS4 product description on those results too. Personally? I'd love to sell ya those pricey CAS4s... but the smart money is sticking with the standard $90 set and that is what I recommend.

OWC & NewerTech products reviews
It's easy to toot our own horn, but it's a far better and I'd think respected situation when it's feedback from an independent reviewer we use to do that tooting. With several reviews to reference, going to share just that.

Not the typical site a Mac user would read, but it was pretty sweet to get a glowing review on our OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro from Club Overclocker who found our enclosure to be "of the highest quality" that he's seen. There's lots of mass produced... stuff out there. There is a difference in terms of our enclosures, Oxford based bridge, and the drives we put inside too - and it's one that is positive.

MyMac just finished a round up reviewingseveral of NewerTech's accessories for Apple's iPhone. They found our headphone jack extender ok with a 4 out of 5 rating... not the most exciting product, but it's the $7.99 solution if you want to use a product with a regular headphone jack that the recessed jack on the iPhone blocks. They really liked our Mic Extender, giving it a 5/5 perfect rating - this $14.99 product gives you an inline Mic that your existing head phones/earbuds then connect to. Not too excited for our Earbuds with built in-line microphone - they get the job done with a 3/5, but at $20 they are not made for great sound - although are definitely equal if not a little better than the included headphones for sound quality and the Mic works without issue. Finally, although other reviewers have raved about the $19.99 NewerTech Improved Bass Earbuds vs. the included Apple - they compared them to an 'under $50' set which, well, as you may expect gave more of an improvement. Having said that, where a $20 set of Earbuds better fits the bill or the wearer - they do offer a marked benefit compared to me stock iPhone buds. There's a 4 in 1 reviews for ya. :)


Featured Deals: Hitachi Rebates, Memory Movers, $35 for Watch/Record TV on Mac, expanded Laptop Stand deals, new clearance/garage sale postings + more
Access your Reader Exclusive Special's Page for all your specials.

Hitachi Rebates are back, now through May 23rd
Hitachi has been a great partner for OWC and has allowed us to be very competitive on their products both for internal straight drive purchases as well as our external solutions which use Hitachi inside. It's an added bonus when Hitachi tosses a rebate our way - making great deals even better. This time around, got a nice window for purchases through May 23rd. Prices displayed below are after applicable rebate:

Rebate of $30 per drive. Claim up to 5 Drives per name/family/address

200GB Travelstar 7K200 7200RPM 16MB SATA Notebook 2.5" HD - $117.99

1.0TB DeskStar 7K1000 7200RPM 32MB 3.5" Serial ATA HD - $207.99

1.0TB UltraStar A7K1000 7200RPM 32MB 3.5" SATA Enterprise - $279.99

OWC & NewerTech External Single Drive Solutions - $30 per solution. Claim for up to 5 units ($150) per per name/family/address
All below solutions include connecting cables, software bundle, & more

200GB OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro FW800/400+USB 2.0 Portable - $189.99

200GB OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro USB 2.0 + eSATA Portable - $149.99

1.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro FireWire 400+USB 2.0 Solution - $289.99

1.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA Solution - $319.99

1.0TB NewerTech miniStack v3 FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA + Integrated Hub $329.99

OWC & NewerTech External Dual Drive 1.0TB x 2 Solutions - $60 per solution. Claim for up to 2 units ($120) per per name/family/address.
All below solutions include connecting cables, software bundle, & more

2.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro JBOD/RAID Ready eSATA x 2 Solution - $489.99

2.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro FW800/400+USB 2.0 Performance RAID - $569.99

1.0TB + 1.0TB NewerTech Guardian FW800/400+USB2 RAID-1 Mirror $619.99

The full list of models with rebate offers, including our 4-bay RACK solutions with available $120 Hitachi rebate, are all viewable via this link.

Memory prices starting to move a little - still, 4GB for $90!
Previously have been reflecting on the huge losses DRAM manufacturers have been suffering in relationship to the ultra low prices that have been available for the last few months on memory. Today the cost of 4.0GB of DDR2 is well under what 2.0GB of the same was a year ago. These are super historic lows. Over this past month one of Taiwan's largest producers filed bankruptcy, another ceased DDR2 production, and the majors like Elpida and Micron are talking production cuts. They can't stay in business selling at a loss and if these things lead to a reduced market supply, we're likely to see a correction to memory prices sometime over the next couple months. But hey, what do I know (not messing) - this stuff could be free tomorrow the way things roll out there. :)

One thing I do know - more memory really kicks up the performance of OS X and applications. Maxing the memory of a Mac you already have can even give better performance than a new model with just the factory base standard memory - and we've got the benchmarks you can check too.

Max your MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac mini that's equipped with a Core 2 Duo processor to 4.0GB Kit - now for $90.00

Up to 32GB for Apple Mac Pro Xeon based systems from $36.25 per Gig.

Upgrade PowerMac G5 PCI-X Models up to 8.0GB, iMac G5 1.6GHz/1.8GHz/2.0GHZ Models to 2.0GB - $79.50 for 2 x 1.0GB Module Matched Pairs

Find all the reader special memory offers on your Reader Specials Pageand if not there, it's all listed in our online guide.

Tune, Watch, Record, Playback TV & Video on your Mac for $35

Miglia's TV Micro Express is a plug and Play via USB 2.0 and lets you tune analog TV or Cable right to your Mac. A great way to capture A/V from VCRs, and other devices too. Included software converts recorded video to iTunes so you can even playback on your iPod or iPhone too! Requires OS X 10.4 or later, an available USB 2.0 Port, and a Mac with a G4, G5, or Intel processor 1.25GHz or faster. Brand new with 2 year warranty. Reader deal at $35

We also have a wide selection of higher end options from both Miglia as well as Elgato. Models supporting Digital/HD, hardware encoding, etc. from $69.99.

New Clearance Items Just Posted
It's about this time that we put up those open box, used, discontinued, refurb, and other misc items to the garage sale/clearance listing. Such are priced to move out the door and as such these are a first come, first serve type of deal. By the end of day Thursday, there's going to be quite a bit more than what's initially online right now - but consider this a preview of some stuff, at least a couple items that are not likely to even make it to tomorrow night:

NewerTech miniStack v3 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Model - $199.99
$50 off original, brand new, replaced with new 32MB version.

Tested and OWC limited warranty Apple Memory Deals
Apple 1GB Intel Mac SO-DIMMs for $16.85
Mac Pro 667Mz and 800MHZ 2GB Kits from $95

Mac Video Cards from $89.99

2.5" SATA Notebook HDs 80GB to 200GB, $29.85 to $79.99

And a whole lot more you'll find listed over the next 24 hours. These items can go pretty quick... Worth doing a couple visits, just in case, over the next day or so. :)


For fun and of interest

Excluding Enterprise computer sales, Apple is estimated to now have 21% of the US computer market and 10% of the market worldwide in total. Sourced from this Fortune column, they note that roughly 70% of systems sold worldwide are enterprise with Apple as a whole then having 2.9% of the overall worldwide share for the year 2007. A couple things... Apple's 2008 computer unit sales growth has been 3-4 times that of the industry at large, so gains seem to be continuing. It wasn't that many years ago that Apple had less than 2% of US market - how far it's come to make up 2.9% in a world wide market place which is mostly not of the segment Apple has its current volume in. Oh... and despite the much large OS X footprint, it's still not been the successful target of virus/worm/trojans. Knock on wood. :)

The Modbook OS X Tablet solution is for real and we're nearly to the point of being able to fulfill new orders with in 24-48 hours of placement. We had over a year of backlog, but are currently within just 2-3 weeks of being 100% caught up. I can't say we didn't have our own frustrations with the elongated roll out, but we are pleased to say that our partner Axiotron most definitely has delivered to make it worth the wait. No corners were cut and the delivered product is a gem for those of you who have an application where the Pen to Display input gives you benefit for your work. Mahalo Daily did a pretty nice video on the Modbook with Axiotron founders giving some history and actual users demonstrating and commenting on how it works for them.

Wonder what's inside the Apple Time Capsule? Flickr poster 'nakedmac' has done a teardown photo series should just that. Of interesting note, while many had assumed that when Steve Jobs said the drives inside were 'Server Grade' that it was saying the same thing as the drives being enterprise drives - as are typically used in server solutions. I personally am a great fan of the Hitachi Deskstar 1TB, we currently use that same model in all of our Elite single & dual solutions and has proven to be of extreme reliability as well as high performance and cool running too. That said - this drive, found in the Time Capsule, is not the Enterprise version UltraStar that many assumed. It's a great drive none the less, but now it the Time Capsule pricing makes sense - which it did not when I did math from the cost basis of an actual enterprise hd being inside.

Should you have missed Google's April 1st announcement, well, it's downright scary. Adwords for conversation - to allow advertisements to appear during conversations you're having. Yeh it's a joke and all... but you know they'd sell the ad space if they could find a way to make it real. I enjoyed the TiSP 2007 4/1 release a bit more.

Closing:
I knew a new iMac was on the horizon, was just the waiting game for it to roll out. Had a newsletter planned for either eventuality this month, but glad to have had the new Apple hardware to cover none the less.

To that, well, seems like it's no longer just Tuesdays for Apple product releases. Was a real joy to have this on a Monday.... really... new Macs and that took a new memory type at that too. Oh the joy. What we're here to keep covered, but how I miss the Tuesday norm. We had to call in for some price protection on several recently purchased refurbs and even the Apple customer service department was in the dark until the Apple Store came back online Monday. All good - at the end of the day, well, always glad to see the new stuff come out.

Quick Tip Preview: Next newsletter we'll be featuring the what to do if your AppleTV HD ever dies, how to protect yourself now (and perhaps put a bigger hard drive in there too. :)

With that, time to conclude this latest edition. Best wishes and always the best to you and yours! Thank you for reading.

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