U.K. retailer PC World has made some incredible reductions to Apple’s last-generation Macs, with prices starting at just £379 (about $670) for a refurbished Mac mini. It also has MacBook Airs starting at £499 (about $790), and MacBook Pros starting at £649 (about $1,028) — that’s £350 (about $554) off the original price tag.
Mac and iOS users are strangers to NAND flash storage. After all, Apple has been using flash as a storage medium for years now. iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and some MacBooks all rely on NAND flash as a storage medium of choice. The success of those products has led Apple to be world’s biggest buyer of NAND chips and was no doubt a factor to mention the company’s purchase of Israeli flash memory firm Anobit.
Solid state storage based on NAND flash isn’t Apple-specific. Plenty of other companies offer flash storage in an array of form factors for a huge variety of uses including smartphones and mobile devices. Solid state drives (SSD) drives are available as options for a range of PCs. They’re also becoming common options for servers and network devices. For businesses looking to implement Lion or Mountain Lion, SSDs can be an attractive option. They can also be an expensive prospect, and there may be better ways to spend your business dollars.
Apple’s decision to cancel the Xserve unleashed a range of questions and concerns from Mac IT professionals. The Xserve was the best Mac server option that Apple had ever created and its 1U rackmount design was a perfect fit for any server closet or data center. The Xserve delivered a tremendous amount of power and flexibility including fibre channel connectivity – a key feature for managing Apple’s Xsan storage system.
Apple positioned the Mac Pro and Mac mini Server as alternate server machines, neither of which deliver the same combination of power, expansion flexibility, and standard network rackmount options as the Xserve.
Despite complaints from enterprise customers about the demise of the Xserve, it’s a forgone conclusion at this point that Apple will never revive it. Mac upgrade and peripheral maker Sonnet Technologies, however, may just have created a true Xserve replacement.
Samsung’s predilection for shamelessly ripping off Apple’s design is well documented at this point. Here’s Samsung shamelessly ripping off the iOS homescreen. Here’s Samsung shamelessly ripping off the iPod touch. Here’s Samsung shamelessly ripping off the Smart Cover. Here’s Samsung shamelessly ripping off the iPhone 3G. And here’s Samsung even ripping off an actress from an iPhone commercial.
If Samsung’s ever going to quit ripping off Apple’s design team and make their own damn products, they show no sign of abating, as the latest product design to be ripped off by Samsung is their new Chromebox, which looks almost identical to the Mac mini: a tiny aluminum box with a black circular opening at the bottom. Unbelievable.
Source: Dan Curtis
Apple has given its Premium Reseller across the United Kingdom authorization to discount £100 (approx. $160) off all Macs when customers trade-in their old machines. The Think Green scheme will run until June 17, and some believe it could signal Apple’s effort to shift existing stock before its next-generation MacBook Pros make their debut.
In what might be a move to clear out current inventory to make room for the upcoming line of Ivy Bridge Macs, Best Buy has slashed prices on all current generation Macs. Every single machine has been reduced in price, and while most discounts aren’t astounding, the extra $100-$200 saved on a new MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini, or Mac Pro, might be enough to entice customers who can’t wait another minute for a new Mac.
These type of discounts usually don’t happen without some involvement by Apple. It’s not uncommon for Apple to notify vendors of expected supply shortages before a transition to a new product line. Apple is expected to release new Macs this summer that utilize Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors, so buy with caution. You can purchase the discounted Macs at your local Best Buy, or online.
Here’s a break down of the discounts you’ll find online:
Think that Apple is already making Macs as tiny and tightly-packed as they possibly can? Think again. Intel is showing off a new demo spec that could shrink down Thunderbolt-compatible, Sandy Bridge Mac minis to the size of the current Apple TV.
Meet the G4 Apple //c. The coolest freaking Apple mod I’ve ever seen. This little puppy is a gorgeous Frankintosh project that houses a G4 Mac Mini in the case of an Apple //c. On the outside, the Apple //c hasn’t lost any of it’s retro charms. It’s like the ghost of Steve Jobs transported this cute little guy through time in almost perfect condition and decided to give him an update while he was at it.
The machine, keyboard, and mouse are all fully functional. Inside, the G4 Apple //c is rocking a 1.4GHz G4 with a gig of RAM, which is an insane upgrade from the 1MHz 65C02 and 128k of RAM it was cruising around with back in 1984.
Chances are, you’re already salivating to download the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, when it’s released later this summer. For a fair number of Mac owners, though, installing Mountain Lion is going to require buying a new machine, as Apple has abandoned support for Intel’s GMA 950 and x3100 chipsets.
Here’s a list of the machines that can run Lion that can’t run Mountain Lion.
It’s a great time to be an Apple employee. Not only is it the most successful company on the planet right now, but it’s also slashing the price of some of its most popular products as a thank you to its employees. According to one report, the Cupertino company’s CEO, Tim Cook, announced at an internal Town Hall meeting that staff could enjoy $500 off a new Mac, and $250 off a new iPad.
Apple has issued an EFI firmware update to its mid-2010 13-inch MacBook Pro which enables Lion Recovery over an Internet connection, allowing users to reinstall the latest OS X operating system onto their machine without the need for physical recovery media.
Have you checked out our new Instagram feed yet? It’s pretty sweet and we’ve been having a lot of fun seeing snapshots of our readers’ lives as well as giving you guys some behind the scenes looks at Cult of Mac. This week we were inspired by Austin Radcliffe’s blog Things Organized Neatly so we asked our Instagram followers to upload pictures of their Apple products organized neatly and include an #AppleOrganizedNeatly tag so we could share them with the rest of the world. Here’s a gallery of the best pictures we saw on Instagram this week:
The guys over at Macminicolo just celebrated their seventh birthday (Happy Birthday!), and took a look at some numbers. During those years, the humble Mac mini’s benchmarks have increased by some 1429%.
The biggest shopping day of the year is fast approaching. This Friday, countless retailers all over the U.S. will be slashing prices for Black Friday, causing a frenzy amongst shoppers who cannot wait to spend some of their hard-earned cash on discounted goods.
Apple famously recognizes the event by discounting some of its hottest products in the Apple online store for one day only, with savings to be made on new Macs, iOS devices, iPods, and even the latest accessories for your beloved Apple gadgets. This year will be no different, so based on the past few years’ reductions, here’s what to expect at the Apple online store on Black Friday.
Hot on the heels of the early 2011 iMac firmware update comes an EFI firmware update for the mid-2011 MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The new updates are labeled version 2.2 and 1.4 respectively. The updates are available via Software Update or direct download.
The updates address the following issues:
During the initial iPhone 4S buzz we told you that Apple’s newest smartphone is among a class of new devices with Bluetooth 4.0. Apple’s most recent MacBook Airs and Mac minis also sport the technology.
Bluetooth 4.0 has been rebranded as “Bluetooth Smart” and “Bluetooth Smart Ready.” The technology focuses on low-energy consumption and will be present in all kinds of consumer products moving forward.
Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge processor could finally bring Retina displays to our Macs, after the company announced support for ‘4K displays’ last week. That’s a display with a staggering resolution of 4096×4096 pixels.
Following the release of an EFI firmware update for its latest MacBook Air earlier this week, Apple has also prepared its Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pro and Mac mini with an EFI firmware update of their own. Now available through Software Update, the updates resolves issues with the upcoming Thunderbolt Display, and signals its release isn’t far away.
If you purchased one of Apple’s latest Mac minis to find you have a massive hatred for the new OS X Lion operating system, then you’ll be disappointed to find that you cannot downgrade to Snow Leopard. However, that may not be the case…
Mac sales are showing continued growth in the most recent business quarter of 2011, according to a new report from esteemed analyst Gene Munster.
As noted by market research firm NPD, Apple’s Mac sales are up 22% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2011. Strong sales are mainly attributed to the introduction of the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini models released in July.
Dying to get your hands on an iPad 2 before the weekend? Don’t order one from the Apple online store, then, because a whole host of Apple’s gadgets have had their shipping times mysteriously extended.
Following the launch of the new Mac mini earlier this year, the guys over at iFixit performed their customary teardown and revealed that the eradication on the system’s optical drive leaves room for a second hard drive. In order to make installing your own a great deal easier, iFixit has launched an awesome little kit that provides everything you need for the job.
Apple has introduced new recovery features available through a combination of new hardware and software. One of these new features is called Lion Internet Recovery which will allow you to start your 2011 MacBook Air or Mac Mini directly from Apple’s servers.
The recovery process starts when the Command+R option doesn’t work or when you install a brand new blank hard drive.
Here is a tip that will let you force your 2011 or later Mac to launch Internet Recovery on startup.
As you stare lovingly at your new MacBook Air before you go to bed tonight, caressing its smooth aluminum shell, know this: its Thunderbolt port is inferior when compared to that of its cousins.
Apple’s latest line of Mac mini compact desktops offer some pretty impressive specifications. What with those latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and the opportunity to grab a solid-state drive with a custom build, you can get a super speedy mini if you have the money.
One thing you can’t get for your new machine, no matter have much money you have, is 16GB of RAM… at least not from Apple.