Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD upgrade boosts MacBook Air speed more than 3X
If you really want to turn your new MacBook Air out, OWC is offering up a new SSD upgrade option that promise up to 4X read/write performance (>500MB/s) over Apple’s factory installed SSDs. The SSDs, priced at $350 for 120GB and $600 for 240GB use a Sandforce 2200 controller.
• Tier 1/Grade A Toggle Synchronous NAND
• SandForce 2200 Series Processor• Offers nearly 4x factory SSD capacity.**
• Compatible with 2011 MacBook Air• Utilizes 6G SATA bus in 2011 MacBook Air to deliver over 500MB/s data rate performance
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In other OWC news, they mention that yesterday’s MacBook Pro update fixed lingering issues with the 6GB SATA port on the MacBook Pros (not to be confused with the 3GB Optical port.)
See performance benefits, below:
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Mac Mini Vault provides colocation of 140 Mac minis for a high-density data center
Mac Mini Vault just announced a customized 48U APC cabinet that accommodates colocation of up to 140 Mac Minis, allowing for a high-density, high-efficiency data center solution.
Shelves specifically designed for the machine make for easy access to all power buttons and ports, with individual slots pre-wired for internet connectivity and power. Tied to the network connection are several Cisco Gigabit Switches with “redundant fiber connections to the data center’s backbone network”.
Each cabinet provides remote power cycling capability thanks to six APC switched Power Distribution Units. The PDUs themselves are powered by an APC UPS with Generac generators for back up.
Also on offer is the Mac Mini Vault RAID Storage Vault service, which will allow you to expand up to 9TB of direct-attached storage for $350/monthly. The Mac Mini Vault colocation service starts at $29.99/monthly (which includes 500GB transfer and 15Mb/s burstable speeds) and also offers an Enterprise package for $50/month (1TB transfer, 30Mb/s). You can check out the sign-up page here.
The company has also recently posted a “Why a Mac Mini?” page detailing the efficiency of their solution and running Apple’s new i5/i7 Mac mini as a cost-effective e-mail server, ftp server, offsite backup, web server etc. Mac Mini Valut is operated by CyberLynk Networks with data centers located 80 miles north of Chicago. You can get a good look at the Mac Mini Vault cabinet in the gallery after the break.
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Hello again from Big Nerd Ranch!
[Editors note: Big Nerd Ranch has sponsored two posts on 9to5mac allowing readers to go to Nerd Camp for free - previous post]
Hello one final time, 9to5Mac readers.
Greetings from the environs of greater Atlanta. I’m writing to you from the airport following an altogether enjoyable week at Big Nerd Ranch. My previous two entries to you offered a glimpse of the overall experience of iOS Bootcamp at Big Nerd Ranch, along with a look at how the class sessions can fulfill the promise of a well-rounded education in iOS. For my final report to you, I’d like to say something about the people and social experience of iOS Bootcamp. Read more
Lion Recovery USB sticks start arriving
Readers have alerted us that their Lion Recovery Sticks have started arriving. Interesting upgrade from the Snow Leopard Stix that come with the MacBook Airs.
We discovered that you don’t necessarily need to buy these for the list price of $69, Apple will send these free in special cases.
Rather than spend $69 on one of these, you could drop $8 on this fugly Kingston 8GB USB stick and add a bit of this.
Backside below: Read more
App Store volume purchase program for businesses goes live in the U.S.
As pointed out by The Loop, Apple’s App Store volume purchase program for businesses has gone live. The program, which is currently exclusive to the United States, allows businesses to easily purchase and distribute applications – with volume-based pricing – to employees. Businesses that are interested can now enroll and you will need the following to get started:
- Basic contact information to verify your business
- Dun & Bradstreet number (D-U-N-S) number
- Corporate credit card or PCard to purchase apps
App Store distribution through this program consists of iTunes redemption codes:
The Volume Purchase Program makes it easy to distribute apps within your organization. When you buy apps in volume or custom B2B apps, you will receive redemption codes for each app. You can control who gets the apps by providing these codes to users via email or an internal website. You can also use third-party Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to manage redemption codes centrally.
A guide with all the instructions is also available from Apple.
Apple discontinues boxed versions of several software titles at physical stores
Today Apple announced End of Life (EOL) status for several boxed software titles. As of 7/20/11 Apple will be discontinuing boxed versions for the following software at Apple retail and Authorized reseller stores:
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server
- iLife
- iWork
- Aperture
- Apple Remote Desktop
- Xsan
- GarageBand Jam Packs
- Mac Box Set
*Retail boxed versions of Logic Express and Logic Studio will still be available in-stores
The aforementioned software titles will only be available from the Apple online store. The only exclusions are “GarageBand Jam Packs” and “Mac Box Set,” which will no longer be available through any channels. This is certainly another move by Apple to decrease the Mac user’s dependence on physical media. Not one of today’s Macs has an optical media drive. Apple announced this immediate change via a “U.S. Field and Channel Sales” email sent to resellers, Apple consultant Network, and others. This news comes hot off updates to the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and OS X Lion release. Read more
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