• Intro: More on MBPro SD Card Slot, Storage Reviews, WWDC 'Part 3' 10.6 Look over
• Reader Specials: Hard Drives, Video Capture, Memory & More
• Quick Tip: Find Regular Tips on our OWC Blog
• Closing
• The Fine Print

Hello from Woodstock!

As promised, will wrap up the Apple WWDC coverage with a good look at what Apple's next gen OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' is promising to bring forth. The first part of our WWDC coverage went over all the new Macbooks that were debuted. The second part looked at the new iPhone 3GS model and v3.0 iPhone software + went in to greater detail 'discussing' Apple's choice to replace ExpressCard expansion slots with SD Memory slots. Steve Jobs may have been in recovery (and we wish him the best, glad he's getting back to normal duties), but that didn't seem to impact the mass of new updates, etc released by Apple last month.

More on the MacBook Pro SD Slot vs. ExpressCard Slot change out
I know I am beating this to death... Of all the different things Apple has done, this is being met with the most feedback and concern. Sometimes in huge leaps and sometimes smaller, Apple has been on an overall trend towards Steve's original goal of seeing computers treated like Toaster Ovens when it comes to upgrade attainability. That being the viewpoint that you don't upgrade a toaster, you buy a new one if you need it do more than it does out of the box. Ultimately, that seems rather expensive and non-consumer friendly IMHO.

There are some of you who've emailed me to say that the SD Card slot is a great thing to have... and for those who need the ability to swap SD memory cards from various devices, etc - no doubt it's nice to have - but you could have that just as easily via an expresscard. Significant noise was also made by those who currently have cameras that use high-speed compact flash cards. While you can add high-speed readers via an Expresscard slot, being forced to USB2 is an inconvenience and a slow down too. Most of all is the general understanding that a significant upgrade path is now gone. The less than 10% that use that slot today include a good number that take advantage of that slot as a way to add high-speed eSATA to their MacBook Pros... That's driven by a specific need and isn't the only one... many also use that slot to add additional FireWire and USB2 ports as to not have to daisy-chain (and split bandwidth) or use hubs. In the future though, a whole lot more of you are likely going to be using those ExpressCard slots and those without them will wish they could. There are things like USB3 on the horizon that within 1-2 years will be very common and with real benefit, but laptops without the expresscard slot won't have such option to upgrade. The hardware for services such as 4G wireless that's seeing wide service roll outs over the next 12 months and is likely to have built in support with future Apple laptop models - In the now, those of us with models that have an ExpressCard slot will still have the option to add such on-the-road wireless capability conveniently and unobtrusively... The rest will have options to hang something off a USB port. The point of the slot is to be there so you can expand.... without, you'll either be doing without or find yourself compelled to purchase a new laptop that has the latest new interfaces, etc already standard included.

You can read our blog posted summary of my detailed ExpressCard Rant online and I'd welcome additional feedback on this too. Really hoping Apple re-thinks this one and with your help they might just. It's just plain messed up that Dell has laptops from $449 that not only have the ExpressCard slot - but have the built-in card readers too that read more than just SD as well. We pay a premium to have Apple's total package and it's money that is typically well spent, no argument there - but not so little subtractions like the ExpressCard slot just not sitting well out there.

NewerTech Voyager Dock - High-Performance Storage w/easy HD Swappability
The NewerTech Voyager continues to receive rave reviews with the latest covered in our OWC Blog. Available from $37.49 for Readers, these solutions let you add your own 2.5" or 3.5" hard drive interfaced via your choice of high-performance FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB2, and/or eSATA. Bundles with up to a 2.0TB drive are also available. There are some cheapo docks out there, in fact some that are cheapo built that sell for even more than our solutions. NewerTech Voyagers get the thumbs up vs. competing docks because of better parts going in with the result of higher performance, reliability, quality construction, for a significantly better solution.

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 Rave Review
When you need mass amounts of high performance storage with peace of mind data redundancy capabilities that protect against data loss, the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is a real winner! Sven on Tech recently completed a month long review of our latest Removable Tray, 4-Drive/Bay storage solution and called it "one of my favorite external drives to date". Supporting up to 8TB of capacity with FireWire 800, Firewire 400, USB2, and eSATA + with data rates of up to over 220MB/s + hardware RAID 0,1,5, and 10 support - this sleek desktop solutions packs a lot of bunch. The review noted high marks for Ease of use, speed, Hardware RAID options, and overal quality set the Qx2 apart when it comes to a starting price of $379.99 for 0GB and solutions from 2TB to 8TB avalable starting from $579.99. BTW, when you follow those pricing links to our site - as a reader you'll actually see the pricing on the 0GB kit to be at $339, $40 off. Anyway - for high performance, plug & play, high capacity with hardware RAID these solutions get it done.

Across the board with all of our OWC and NewerTech Storage lines it's a focus on quality, reliability, and high-performance that sets us a part. You have a choice of lots of different competing storage products out there. When it comes to the components, engineering, and chipsets we select for our products - we have a choice too. Having said that, we consistently choose to design and engineer with the best 'ingredients' going it our brand solutions as to help make our products the clear choice when it comes to storage. Few of our competitors disclose what's inside their solutions as some often change parts regularly as it's all about what's cheapest at that particular time. By contrast, we build from a different perspective and are happy to list in detail what you'll find inside our solutions. We may not always be the lowest price, but there is a lot of difference as what typically makes an OWC or NewerTech product the significantly better product and value. There are certainly options that we do feel match up reasonable to our own, and perhaps with the much higher costs paid for such - just further illustrates the value you're truly getting with our OWC and NewerTech lines.

WWDC Coverage 'Part 3' - Apple OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
Steve Job's originally introduced the now soon to be relased Apple OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' at the June/2008 WWDC. Although the version change does represent a significant rewrite of the OS, the intent with 10.6 is not so much to re-invent the wheel with significant new features (although there are some), but rather to improve the performance of that which we already have. This new 'cat' should be leaping is currently planned to set loose sometime in September (just a couple months) and will cost only $29 for anyone who already has 10.5.x installed on their Mac ($9.95 for customers who bought a Mac after June 8th). Will drive down Leopard Lane and try to break out some of the key points.

10.6 requires an Intel Processor
Although there appeared to be some hope that PPC would have continued support, it appears that Apple decided not to complete the code needed for operation on PowerPC G4 and G5 systems. Short of Apple completing said code, it is highly unlikely 10.6 will ever run on PowerPC models. OS X ceased to have an open source version after 10.4.11 which makes it all but impossible for a third party to independently code this support as well.

10.6 is a true, clear and through 64 Bit OS and it is FAST!
While Apple OS 10.5 does support 64 bit applications, both 32 and 64 bit applications are running there on top of a 32 bit core. Maybe not the most accurat analogy, but imagine a having a powerful V8 engine (your computer's 64 bit processor) - but the computing controlling it, while it does use all 8 cylindars - isn't able to use them all at the same time and thus you don't get the full power output that the engine is capable of.

For those with a qualified 64 Bit based Core 2 Duo or Xeon based Mac model, you'll see a huge performance benefit with this new OS. Even on systems that will need to run in 32 bit kernal more, such as those with 32 bit Core Duo processors, 10.6 does provide a good performance boost none the less.

With the exception of Apple applications such as Safari and iLife, there really isn't much software out there written to 64 bit standards and hadn't been a reason either. Given reports of how much faster ALL applications are running on the 10.6 OS, not only are we in for a nice performance boost with 32 bit versions of 3rd party applications we use today, but a future gain as developers release these in full 64 bit versions.

10.6 requies 1GB minimum, with 2GB minimum recommended
More memory for nearly any Mac and any OS has almost always made a difference and certainly so where starting with 1GB or even 2GB and less. Under current Apple OS Versions, at the very most, application have been able to directly utilize a maximum of 4GBs of memory. But even so, the Apple OS itself uses additional additional free memory to cache and optimize processes which is why you see substantial, individual application performance benefits even now as memory is increased beyond 4GB. For applications that do substantial amounts of processing (Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, etc), these benefits are measurable right on up 32GB of memory installed on such memory capable Macs.

Having more memory has pretty much always been a good thing, but with the new, full 64 bit kernel of OS 10.6, applications will be able to directly take advantage of as much additional memory that's available. Instead of depending on the OS to provide indirect performance gains, developers will be able to speed up their applications through this direct memory allocation and use with such optimized specifically for the application's behavior. Outside of Apple's own applications (Safari, iLife, etc).

The Hidden Power of your Graphics Processor(s)
Today's graphic chipsets are truely amazing in the processing power they offer. And unless you're playing the latest 3D games or doing substantial image rendering work, you're hardly tapping that power. The new 10.6 OS introduces Apple's Open CL technology that unleases this additional GPU horsepower beyond just pure video/image processing. In addition to be 10.6 widely making use of available video card/graphic chipset processors, Open CL makes it easy for developers to integrate such utilization right into their applications. This is a seamless, automated technology too - this technology simply enables applications to call through the OS use of additional processer resources when they are present. Right now two Macs that are otherwise equal, except for their video card, have applications that run identically in terms of performance. After 10.6 is loaded and as applications are updated - the Mac with the higher end video card or video cards (Open CL takes advantage of multiple video processors when present) will now show a benefit.

QuickTime 'version X' - Not just for video playback anymore
Included with 10.6 is the uber powerful QuickTime X application. The player element has new, superficial bells and whistles that make it look even cooler - and function that enables heavy-duty playback capabilities via a codeset fully optimized to use all the latest that 10.6 and current hardware have to offer. Able to utilize video card processors for more of it's functionality, it also leaves more primary processor power available for other applications you may have running at the same time.

The real news is that it's now a video capture and light editing tool as well. You can directly capture audio and video on Macs with a built in web cam and directly save into the file types optimal for YouTube or iPhone, iPod, etc. Video you capture can be trimmed/light edited via Quicktime as well. We have to wait until 10.6 comes out before we test and advise QuickTime X working with non-Apple built-in cams, although do not anticipate there being any significant issue there.

Microsoft Exchange Support Added
Love 'em or hate 'em, Microsoft has a strong position with applications strongly established in business enterprise. Microsoft Exchange Server is a widely depended on email server solution and just as Apple added support to the iPhones, Mac OS 10.6 now brings this support directly integrated as well. Where lack of such support has easily been a deal breaker in some businesses who don't want to mess around with work arounds (and can't argue with that), this is one more hurdle eliminated for such environments.
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In summary, if you have an Intel Mac - this is going to be $29 you can spend very happily. This is a major rewrite with major enhancement benefits that line up to Job's 2008 statements of a focus on enhanced performance. OS 10.6 takes all the good of 10.5, but adds a turbo boost as well as other nice additions. Due to certain restrictions on what I can actually publically write about, I had to step things back and refocus on the core. FWIW, the above info more than justifies the $29 cost IMHO. If you've been happy with 10.5.x, you're going to love 10.6!

Apple TV gets a software update
Recently covered in detail by 'TheAppleBlog', the latest updates bring the Apple TV up to v2.4 and the Apple Remote application to v1.3. Some of the most notables include reports of substantially improved menu responsiveness + substantially enhanced remote operation via iPhone and iPod Touch Remote application.

Also, in case you're interesting - while the AppleTV is only available with up to a 160GB hard drive, OWC offers upgrades that put up to a 320GB drive neatly inside. In fact, for just a little more than the $100 difference Apple charges to go from their 40GB to 160GB equipped model today, you can use our turnkey upgrade w/freight included to go 250GB or 320GB instead. These upgrades are offered/available for every AppleTV Apple has shipped to date.

Reader Special Deals and Deal Highlights
We've pretty much completed the change over to a new method that helps make sure you're always getting the reader special pricing you're entitled to. All of the products with special pricing can now be viewed on your Reader Loyalty Specials page. In addition, as long as you have hit this page first (or followed other links from the newsletter where I've embedded 'loyalty promo code'), you will also see your special pricing called out anywhere you browse on our website. This is handled with a cookie and, as it has been for the last decade, our site does need cookies on for actual shopping/checkout. The bottom line is that you'll get the bottom line deals whether it jumps out on your specials page or if your just browsing though the site. We appreciate your business and letting us send you our newsletter(s), so we're making sure you're taken care of. Thanks!

For a summary of all our latest feature offers, check out the web posted July 15th Deals Blast.

OWC QuickTips: Now Posted Regularly via our online Web Blog
We are very lucky to have an extremely talented and dedicated group of Mac users on the OWC Team. These guys and gals have years of experience, not just working at OWC - but working with Apple computers in general. Through their own personal experiences as well as experiences with the needs of you, our customer, they've got a lot of great ideas and information to share. In addition to other news and general information pieces, tips and tricks authored by members of the OWC team are now regularly posted to the OWC Blog. Our blog entries are open to and welcome your comments as well sharing you might do via twitter, facebook, etc. We're still getting ourselves all up with these various social network channels - but I believe our team has a lot of helpful information to be shared and with your help, even more users can benefit from it. Some of the Most Recent:

Synchronicity - Any backup is better than nothing, but using multiple backup options can give you the best results and with the least downtime.

The Golden Rules of Upgrading- Weighing your options, goals and having a good plan of attack are keys to success.

A little bit Mirrored, little bit Striped- Plain English explanations and look at the major RAID modes.

All the latest tidbits and tips you'll now find posted via the OWC blog. I will of continue to call them out here - but feel free to bookmark and frequent our blog to see such hot off the press. We've also got an extensive collection of tips and such that are in our 'old format section'. This Quick Tips & Reviews archive will no longer be updated with our new blog posted tips, but remains with a substantial number of articles that are still of use today. We use these Macs just like you and being able to share what we know and learn through the process, we're glad to do so.

Quick Links
Online Installation Videos, PDF Docs, FAQ & more in OWC Tech Center:
From installing memory to ipod batteries, installing processor upgrades to Optical and Hard Disk Drives - you'll find help in the OWC Tech center. Tips on setting up hard drives, creating raids, proper memory handling, network setup, basic trouble shooting, and just a whole lot more. We're always adding new information, videos, etc - a wealth of information we're happy to share!

There's lots of things you might pay someone to do for ya... with a little help from our Tech Center, you may learn and find out first hand how easy a lot things can be done right at home.

Get your domain names, host your website, and high-speed internet access & email from FasterMac.Net - Great Prices for Great Mac Knowledgable Internet Access & Solutions, nationwide.

For Fun and of Interest
What's a browser anyway? (Thanks Michael T.) - while in the land of Mac, I think we're pretty attuned to a browser's including the likes of Safari, FireFox, etc.. Seems the average person off the street thinks of the search engine they use as the web browser. When you think of 'browsing the web' literally, I can completely respect how that might be thought + further consideration to the fact that Windows and Mac OS both include one standard web browser, it's easy not even to consider that application vs. sites you use on the web for navigation. Anyway, found this to be interesting.

This is some pretty neat time-lapse photography of our 'galactic core'. Really neat time lapse imagery with a hi-res camera (all the details posted). Enjoy!

When I was a kid, I probably watched the reruns of the original Star Trek series several times each. Since then I've, for the most part, enjoyed the new Star Trek series and movies as well. I'm not the only Star Trek fan at OWC and many of us were pretty excited for the new movie that hit theaters back in May. As such, on the first Thursday it played - we made it an OWC event with employees and family invited. We had substantial turnout and good thing we got our tickets in advance with our 'extended family' making up about 90% of the crowd for that showing. It was a lot of fun and we've even got a blog entry and photos of some of our group in costume for this special event. :)

And that's going to do it for this edition...

We'll be back pretty soon, always more to share. One feature of the next edition will be Solid State Drives (SSD). These are really moving to a point of making better sense in terms of capacity and cost. There are some new options just coming into play and with such we're about to substantially expand our SSD line up. There's a few things you should know about SSD first and we're going to give that some detail.

I didn't so much get to say so before, so want to express that I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day and 4th of July Holidays. The Freedom and Liberty we enjoy is not without a price. On these 'holidays', we get have the opportunity to spend extra time with our family and loved ones hopefully remembering and recognizing the sacrifices of others that are the reason for these nationally recognized days. July 4th recognizing the birth of our nation and the Memorial Day remembering all those who have died to protect what this country stands for. We remember and on Memorial Day it's an honor to lower and raise our US Flag at OWC in proper accordance. When it was time to raise the Flag back up, my family was in attendence and my wife took a a nice picture of me and the kids. While my kids - Larry (4yrs), Julia (2yrs), and Devin (1yr come July 30th) - don't yet understand what this is all about, they will as they get older. The state of affairs in the US of A and even globally are certainly challenging right now, to say the least... but that doesn't change that which has importance and and so much that we have to be thankful for.

Something else that is coming right along is our Wind Power Project. The site is being readied and if all goes well, we'll see the completion of this project - now over 2 years in the making - come the end of next month. One of our local regulars was kind enough to take some photos of the site from his ultralight. The first two photos have our OWC HQ off to the right and you can make out the site towards the left with the third photo being specifically over the site. A huge thanks to Tim Whiston of Wauconda for sending these in - really neat to see these shots from the air. Looking forward to having shots with the turbine all up and running too.

I'd like to further clarify and add some insights as to why we've built a 'green' building, are putting up the wind power, and have been working towards zero waste in general. You can probably tell from the photos that we're in an area that still has a lot of open 'country space'. I grew up in the country, less than ten miles away from where OWC is located today, and was raised to respect the land and 'waste not, want not'. I started OWC over 20 years ago and make choices with a long term vision applied. From where I sit, the government shouldn't be so much as mandating various green energies as helping spread good information on, yes, the long term cost benefits of making 'green'choices. We made our choices well before it started to get turned into another big business with certain key proponents/players standing to benefit. Having incentives to go green are nice - but when it comes to decisions made from a long term perspective - not only is there the benefit to our quality of air and conservation of drinkable water through 'green choices', but the additional expense to 'go green' does ultimately pay for itself financially as well. Choosing to make these long term investments helps OWC and I do our part to conserve what we have today for the future generations, but it further helps OWC maintain another competitive edge in terms of operational costs. It's unfortunate that special interests with a substantial financial interest are now the driving force in today's politics as such tends to narrow the opportunities in what is certainly an emerging industry. I mean, imagine what our computer industry would look like if Uncle Sam jumped in to mandate things back at the dawn of personal computing in the late '70s - an established few would have been the only mainstream and likely there'd be no Apple today. It's not a perfect analogy, but I for one believe in the free market system and the innovation and creativity that evolves from such. Green technologies continue to evolve and as they are now making economic sense, the choice becomes pretty easy to make....When you're looking long term, investing to be energy efficient and independent is a choice of spending, say, an extra dollar today to then save an extra 10 cents a year... sure you don't get to spend that dollar on other things, but like any good investment - it generates returns every year well in excess of the initial outlay made.

As always, thanks for reading and for 'indulging my rambles' (if ya do :) in the closing portion. We'll have our next newsletter edition out more or less by the end of the month with the SSD look over and more of the latest. The best always is wished for you and yours! Thanks again and have a great weekend.