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OWC Tips & Deals 02/05/2005
Intro: Hello from OWC on this fine Super Bowl Weekend! It's going to take some time to get all the Macworld Expo stuff sorted through, but we're working on it. Plenty of current events too to keep things busy too. Lately, there is just no dull day in the land of Apple. Mac Mini: Talk about speaking too soon. Seems like just after I sent last week's newsletter, Apple revised some wording on user upgrades and Mac Mini warranty. Whereas before, there was strong language indicating the voiding of your warranty if someone other than an Apple Authorized Service Provider opens the machine - the wording is a tad different today... Now this page, for example, says you 'should' have it installed by an Apple Rep without note of any issue if you do it yourself. The Mac Mini is selling like hot cakes, already beating estimates and making for a current 3-4 week backorder estimate. I am glad Apple seems to have eased up on what users are 'allowed' to do with this nice machine. New PowerBooks: This time, it's definitely more than just a speed bump - which I'll get to - there has definitely been an overall enhancement to the entire line. For starters, all models are now equipped with a 'Sudden Motion Sensor'. Seen those IBM commercials where they drop the laptop? That's what I'm talking about - when an unsafe motion is detected, the heads on the hard drive get parked so a potential jarring impact doesn't get to jar your data. All models now have built-in (not an extra cost option) Bluetooth 2.0 Enhanced. Works with all those BlueTooth goodies + works even faster with those with the 2.0 EDR support. All models now ship stock with a Superdrive. This used to be an upgrade option on all except the higher speed 15" and the 17" models, now it's standard. You can opt to save $150 to back down to a combo drive on the 15" and 17" Powerbooks, but no optical downgrade option is offered for the 12" model. Apple has upped the memory too... All models now come stock with 512MB vs. the 256MB that was standard before. And a nicety - in the 15" and 17" model, that is done with (1) 512MB module, so you have one slot to upgrade with. Unfortunately in the 12" model, it's still 256MB soldered and they are stock filling the one slot with another 256MB to get to the 512MB. So you'll be pitching that 256MB from the 12" if you want to upgrade later. Of course, you can get a 1GB SO DIMM from us, for any of these machines, for about $200 less than Apple charges just to go from 512MB to 1.25GB. Finally - the hard drives get a bump too! Still standard with a 60GB or 80GB capacity, but with a 100GB upgrade option - all of the drive options are now 5400RPM vs. the stock 4200RPM offered before. We did benchmarks with the Mac Mini comparing its 2.5" 4200RPM vs. 5400RPM options and that's a good illustration for the performance difference this means to PowerBooks too. With all these improvements, who needs a speed bump? Just kidding! Not only do they come with more standard, the speeds have been increased and the entry price either stayed the same or went down! These are a better value than ever before. PowerBook G4 12" base was 1.33GHz for $1599, now $1499 @ 1.5GHz. PowerBook G4 15" base was $1999 for 1.33GHz, now same for 1.5GHz, option to upgrade to 1.67GHz w/Dual DVI Support. PowerBook 17" base was 1.5GHz for $2799, now $2699 @ 1.67GHz with Dual DVI Support standard. Dual DVI Video Support lets you connect up a 30" Cinema Display for the ultimate... If you don't mind spending more on a display than any of the PowerBooks cost when loaded to the gills. Check out Apple's site for more info on all these PowerBooks and maybe read Apple's Press Release too for some more detail. Napster: Seems Napster going after Apple/iTunes with a pricey Super Bowl ad. A 'do the math' campaign about having thousands of songs for just $14.95 a month vs. paying $0.99 per song. Well, that's nice and all - except you have to use a Napster supported device + you stop paying that monthly fee and it's all gone. Most of us already have quite a music collection and probably are fairly selective about what music we buy and thus own as well. I agree with the Register article - Napster isn't a deal. At least not for the average consumer that Napster needs to woo in order to be successful with their service. If Napster does make this fly, in my opinion it will be because people really -aren't- doing the math. ATI: The much talked about ATI x800 for PowerMac G5 is now shipping and in stock at OWC. As previously noted, XLR8YourMac has a nice review of the x800 and you can now check it and the full line of ATI Video Cards - online & in stock at OWC. Processor Upgrades: OWC Mercury Extreme G4/1.467-1.5GHz is now retail at $459.99, down from $479.99. New model revision too featuring the same plug n' play smart bus sensing technology standard on all other Extremes as well. BTW, reader exclusive price on this up to 1.5GHz model is $439.00, a $20.99 savings. Blast from the Past Repost: For those of you that encountered an error accessing the 1984 Steve Jobs Mac 128 'intro keynote' video, this link is now good. Was certainly fun and exciting 20 years ago and still exciting today as well. Intro Closing: This is the shortest month in the year, so will be doing my best to get plenty of good stuff covered none the less. There's almost too much, but you know - that so very much beats the alternative. We've got some more on the Mac Mini for our Quick Tip this week, some updates to your Exclusive Specials, and Roger's latest Music on the Mac article too. Thanks for being an OWC Tips n' Deals Subscriber. Have yourself a great Super Bowl Weekend. Even if your team isn't in it, heck - even if just not into the game, it's still about the only time we actually -want- to watch the commercials. :) Brief Messages from our 'sponsors': Quick Links A better Apple/Macintosh ISP at a better price - FasterMac.Net From $8 a month, get nationwide dial up or DSL just for Mac Users - that includes 24/7 1-800 support, anti-virus blocking, powerfully effective and fully customizable anti-spam tools, web space, 5 e-mail accounts, and more. You get more and pay less with FasterMac.Net. Just what does OWC do with trade-ins, open box items, discontinued goods, etc.? We put 'em up on our Clearance Deals Page. Goodies added all the time - First come, first served - always limited supply. Upgrade the Mac you have or get a new one? OWC's exclusive Benchmark Reporting System helps you answer your own question. Compare various stock Macs vs. New Macs vs. Upgrades - you pick the Macs to compare and from up to 15 different tests we've completed. Use Apple OS 9.2.2 & Apple OS X on Macs Apple doesn't support because OWC does with OS 9 Helper and Xpostfacto! Quick Tip: Mac Mini - Again w/Video too There is not a whole lot you can do in terms of upgrades inside the Mac Mini, but the three upgrades that you can - can do a lot. Apple charges $325 to upgrade from 256MB to 1GB, OWC charges you $187.50 for 1GB and you can keep that extra 256MB module. Apple offers an upgrade from the Combo Drive to a Superdrive 4X DVD Burner for $100. For $159.99, you can get a 100% plug n' play 'Superdrive' Pioneer 8X DVD-Burner that also does up to 2.4X Dual Layer burning. And.. The you can keep your Apple Combo Drive, sell it, or trade it in to us for a $50 Rebate. Apple ships with 4200RPM Notebook drives to keep the cost down. You can get a good speed boost by upgrading to either a 5400RPM or a 7200RPM notebook drive. Check out the benchmarks with links to those faster drives. Want to know how to install all these goodies? The new OWC Mac Mini Video found here, just completed by Jamie, shows the take a part and installation for all three of the internal upgrades it's possible to do. :) It's good to see Apple loosening up on the user installations. A good portion of the Mac Mini buyers are from the PC world - and it'd be a heck of a turn off to both them as well as us if these upgrades couldn't be user performed. :) See past Quick Tip topics online in the Quick Tip Archive Great Buys and Featured Exclusive Specials for OWC E-Mail Subscribers: Find all the deals reserved just for Readers on your Tips n' Deals Exclusive Specials Page. What follows next is just a sampling of this week's highlights. El Gato Eye200 TV/DVR Deal Watch TV, Digitally Record, Edit, and playback at will - all on your Mac with this great FireWire Solution! Normally $309.00, $275 just for readers Watch TV, Digitally Record, Edit, and Playback with an internal PCI Card. Compatible with PowerMac G4 and G5, Miglia Alchemy TV DVR, with remote control - $135.00 Import Audio/Video & Playback through with plug & play FireWire device - ADS Pyro A/V FireWire Device for most any A/V Source - $149.00 FireWire Hot Deals 60GB 4200RPM OWC Mercury On-The-Go, Reader Special $150.00 80GB 7200RPM OWC Neptune FireWire 400 Solution, Special $109.00 200GB 7200RPM OWC Mercury Elite 800 Pro 800/400 Solution, Special $225.00 OWC Mercury Elite Oxford911+ 3.5" FireWire 400 Enclosure Kit - $65.00 Upgrade to the latest Apple Cat - OS X Panther 10.3.x for just $49.00! Get the full Apple Panther 10.3.x DVD Installation Set for just $49.00 Save $10 when you purchase this Panther DVD Set and any model OWC Mercury Extreme G4. Checkout online or give your rep coupon code 'EXTREME103' Processor Upgrades Mercury G4 Extreme for all PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics/Sawtooth, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, and Quicksilver models. 30 Day Money Back + 3 Year OWC Warranty Extreme @ 1.2GHz, $289.00 Extreme @ 1.4GHz, $379.00 Extreme @ 1.5GHz, $439.00 PowerLogix PowerForce55 G4 Upgrade for all PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics/Sawtooth & Gigabit Ethernet Models. Reliable, low cost speed bump with 2 Year PowerLogix/OWC Warranty + 30 Day Money Back! PF55 @ 900MHz, $175.00 Video Card Deals The best prices ever are now available for ATI 9000/9200/9600/9800/x800 MacEdition Video Cards. The full line is now in stock and starting from $99.00. Listen to your iPod on the Road from $9.99 NewerTech RoadTrip! FM Transmitter really works - and works GREAT. Doesn't cost a lot, but it delivers clean, dynamic audio that smokes products costing 3-5 times as much! Instead of lowering the price, we might have been better to increase it - as a lot of you have a hard time believing something so cheap really works. Well, it really works! RoadTrip! FM 87.9MHZ and 107.7MHz in stock for $14.99 While they last - Discontinued RoadTrip! FM 87.7MHz is $9.99 You can still save when you purchase any RoadTrip FM! and one of our NewerTech Batteries using coupon code 'HighRoad' too. Save $5 with purchase of 3G 850mAh or 1G/2G 1800mAh, $10 with 1G/2G 2100mAh. Power Up your iPod, PowerBook, or iBook with NuPower! NewerTech internal battery for 1st and 2nd Generation Apple iPods: 1800mAh version, 46% more capacity - $29.95; 2100mAh for over 70% more $39.95 NewerTech internal battery for 3rd Generation Apple iPods: 850mAh version with over 30% More capacity vs. Apple's - $25.99 From $119.99, check out the longest lasting NuPower Batteries by Newertech four your PowerBook or iBook too! As much as 50% more capacity vs. others. Genuine Apple Superdrives from $75.00 Get the Apple Genuine Pioneer DVR-106 up to 4X DVD, up to 16X CD Burner for $75, Pioneer DVR-108 Dual Layer up to 16X DVD, up to 32X CD Burner from $91.95. Value Bundles with DVD Media, CD Media, and/or Software start from just $79.95 to save you even more! Check out our SuperDrive DVD Section. Those above install internally - but you can go external FireWire/USB from just $149.99. Memory Specials & Price Trend Report: 2/05/2005 update: Seems the memory market has softened just ahead of the Chinese New Year. In years past, this Asian holiday has often caused price increases due to the supply disruption that occurs. This time around it seems the market is well prepared and advance stocked for a smoother time this time around. As always, for the performance it brings - memory is nearly always worth the price paid at the time of need. 256MB SDRam for all PowerMac G3 Models and PowerMac G4 'Yikes PCI $25.00 256MB PC133 CL3/PC100 CL2 SDRam for PowerMac G4s AGP Models 350-1GHz & Cube $32.50 Or, top things off with 512MB Modules at $83.75 1GB PC3200 DDR Upgrade Kit (2x512MB) for all PowerMac G5 & iMac G5 Models $159.00 Really hungry for memory? 2GB PC3200 Kits (2x1GB Module) special $399.00 For that 1GB set, that's nearly $70 less than Apple charges just to change from 256MB to 1GB. And for the 2GB Set, the same 256MB to 2GB from Apple is over $700 more. Get your Mac from Apple and your memory from OWC. Oh, and you'll also have that extra Apple 256MB to spare too. :) 1GB Module for PowerBook G4 AL 12/15/17"; iMac G4/1.0GHz+, iBook G4s $237.50 Get a 1GB from OWC vs. what Apple charges to add just 512MB! Visit our Mac Memory Section to browse the full selection of memory we offer and/or use our online memory guide to get the right memory for the Mac(s) you have. You'll find more great deals, updated regularly on your Tips 'n Deals Reader Specials Page, check it out! Music on the Mac 2/05 - M-Audio's 'Black Box' Greetings from www.macsales.com/music We are starting the year of with an exciting new product from M-Audio called the Black Box. This intriguing device is several products rolled into one. It is a guitar amp modeler that features the modeling of 12 different classic guitar amps ranging from Fender to Marshall to Mesa Boogie and more. It also has 43 different classic and unique effects available that range from tremelo to chorus to wah and lots more. What's even more exciting is the fact that this device was developed in conjunction with Roger Linn Design. This unit has many of the same "beat sync" effects as his popular Adrenalinn device. Many of the effects such as tremelo, filters, auto wah, etc. can sync their effect to the built in drum grooves (99 of them) and also to your sequencer via USB. It even works as a stand alone guitar amp modeler that you can use live. It also has an XLR mic preamp/input! Did I mention that it has a built in USB/Audio interface too ! As a guitar player myself, this sounds like a winner to me. I have only had a chance to hear some audio clips since this is such a new piece of gear and it sounded awesome. We will have this in stock shortly..I will keep you posted! -- Please mark your calendars for Wed. March 9 at 7 PM and Monday April 4. I will be doing more in my series of monthly presentations at the Apple North Michigan Avenue store in Chicago on GarageBand, the iGuitar, my CD made with GarageBand called "the garage album" and more. The John Lennon Tour Bus will be there on April 4th! The CD is available at www.thegaragealbum.com where you can also download the GarageBand tracks for each song and find out about the fantastic OWC Mercury Extreme Firewire drive, OWC Processor upgrade and OWC RAM used when creating the album. Roger Adler Music Product Specialist We encourage you to visit our Mac Music/Audio Forum for all your musical needs and to share your questions and info with all! Check out a Sample from Roger's upcoming GarageBand produced music album! Also, visit our website to view all of Roger's other OWC Music on the Mac articles online! About our Music Guru: Roger Adler is a 4 time EMMY nominated composer/producer/performer. You may have heard his music in his role as Music Director for the A&E TV Series "The BEST of COMIC RELIEF" starring Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. He also appeared in and played on the soundtrack for the hit movie "GROUNDHOG DAY" starring Bill Murray and Andi MacDowell. He is the Music Director for the popular TV Series "WILD CHICAGO" now in it's 15th season on WTTW in Chicago. In 2001, he traveled to Antwerp, Belgium to produce and perform in the annual meeting for Philips Electronics. He recently composed and performed two TV commercials for WRANGLER JEANS, currently airing on ESPN. Closing: I really thought this was going to be a quick edition. That quickly changed with so much to talk about on the PowerBooks, Minis, etc. Again, good days when so much is going on out there and we're just scratching the surface. Macworld pictures are coming. More processor upgrades and a new, improved benchmark reporting system too. Onward and upward. Have a great weekend and hope the team your pulling for wins.... If it's the same one I'm pulling for. :) If anything enjoy the commercials. Thanks for being a Tips n' Deals Subscriber! 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. 1004 Courtaulds Drive Woodstock, IL 60098 815-338-8685 This is an free subscribed E-Mail Newsletter that can be joined via or website. This e-mail is only received if you have joined our list. 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