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OWC Announces Industry’s First 128GB Memory Upgrade Kit for 2009 to Current Apple Mac Pro Offers Double The RAM Versus Factory Maximum Offered

Friday, January 6th, 2012 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Other World Computing announced today its MaxRAM Certified Triple-Channel Memory Upgrade Kits now includes the industry’s first 128GB memory upgrade kit for Apple Mac Pro 8-Core and 12-Core Nehalem and Westmere** models. These new 8 x 16GB per module matched kits are Fully Tested, Qualified, and MaxRAM Certified for the most demanding applications and backed by OWC’s Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty.

OWC ‘MaxRAM’ 16GB Module Based Kits Offer Up to Double The Factory Maximum RAM:

Apple Mac Pro Quad-Core and 6-Core Nehalem/Westmere** ‘MaxRAM’ 48GB Option

• 48GB (3x16GB) PC3-10600 ECC DDR3 Dual Rank 1066 & 1333MHz Matched Modules from $747.99

Compared to current factory maximum 32GB option costing $1,775.00, OWC’s kit offers 33% more memory for up to $1,028 lower cost (72% less cost per GB).

**Current Mac OS X versions are unable to utilize more then 96GB RAM due to an operating system limitation. 128GB can be fully utilized by a 2009-2010 Mac Pro if running Bootcamp with 64-bit versions of Windows XP and later as well as with 64-bit versions of Linux.

Apple Mac Pro 8-Core and 12-Core Nehalem/Westmere ‘MaxRAM’ 128GB Option

• 128GB (8x16GB) PC3-10600 ECC DDR3 Dual Rank 1066 & 1333MHz Matched Modules from $1,949.99

Compared to current factory maximum 64GB option costing $3,550.00, OWC’s kit offers double the memory for up to $1600 lower cost (45% less cost per GB). Article Continues…

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Category: New @ OWC, Press Releases, Product Spotlight
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Hear Your iDevices’ Full Potential

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 | Author: OWC Mike H.

Grado SR60Little known and less often written about is the sound quality that the iPhone 4, iPad, and the latest iPod touch are capable of outputting. Apple must’ve upgraded something in the hardware or software design because these iDevices can output near laptop quality sound. The only thing holding the iDevices’ sound quality back is a full blown custom equalizer, like that found in iTunes, which would allow you to “tune” your iDevice to sound as good as a dedicated CD transport. (Audiophiles debate that all you want. I’ve got my iTunes tuned to match my audiophile CD transport and I could A/B test anyone to guess the wrong source.)

The main point here is if your using the original headphones that came with your iDevice you’re missing out on all that yummy sound quality, and the difference is breathtaking. Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight, Tech Tips
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Apple’s Latest 2011 MacBook Pro Refresh & Using SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s Drives

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 | Author: OWC Larry

As we mentioned last Monday, Apple has released new “speed bumped” MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, and 17″ model laptops. These units all show 6Gb/s link capability for both the main drive bay and the optical bay. Right out of the gate all of these models are proving 100% reliable for use of a SATA Revision 3.0 hard drive or OWC 6G SSD installed into the main drive bay.

Just like the Early 2011 models, while we continue to see reliability with 6Gb/s in the optical bay of the 13″ model - the optical bays of the 15″ and 17″ models remain too unstable for 6Gb/s drive use. Although still unstable in the 15″ and 17″, the optical bay SATA signal has improved considerably and we are looking into possibilities that might make 6Gb/s in this bay reliable. Article Continues…

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Category: Benchmarking/Performance, Fresh from Apple
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Speed-Bumped MacBook Pros Released

Monday, October 24th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Apple released some updated MacBook Pros today. There’s not much new about them, except that they’re sporting some faster processors. The 13” model now has the option of a dual-core 2.8GHz Core i7 or a 2.4GHz Core i5 dualie. The 15” model has stock options of quad-core i7 processors in 2.2GHz and 2.4GHz, with a 2.5GHz option available as a custom configuration. The 17” model now comes stock with the aforementioned 2.4GHz i7 quad-core processor, but also has a 2.5GHz option available.

Other than the processor boost, a faster graphics card on the 15” and 17” models, and  a small bump in stock hard drive size on the 13” to a minimum of 500GB, the specs on these MacBook Pros are effectively the same as the models that came out earlier this year.

That means that all the upgrades, compatibility, and installation videos for the Early 2011 MacBook Pros should be equally as valid for the Late 2011 models.

As for the other issues that have popped up around the 2011 Macbook Pros, we’ll be checking those when the new ‘Books come in tomorrow, and will post our findings as we get them.

 

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Category: Fresh from Apple
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Upgrade Your 06-08 Mac Pro’s Internal Bays to SATA 3.0

Friday, October 14th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Most of the time, your average Mac has a longer useful life than its PC counterpart. Unfortunately, the fast evolution of technology means that, after a while, that older Mac may seem a little slow and may not be able to take full advantage of current tech.

Such is the case for earlier Mac Pros. As they currently sit, they only move data at SATA 2.0  speeds, roughly three gigabits per second. If you wish to put the drives in to a RAID array, you are limited to either a mirrored RAID 1, losing half your capacity, or a RAID 0, which is faster, but increases the risk of data loss. On top of that, those RAID levels are all software-based, which can reduce overall performance.

Fortunately, if you happen to have a 2006-2008 Mac Pro, you can improve the performance in those bays, with only one small thing to lookout for. Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight, Tech Tips
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Drive Adapters Galore—Which Is The Right One?

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

I think that by now, we’ve established just how amazing our line of Solid State Drives are - from in-house benchmarking to glowing reviews and even the amazing response to our firmware updater tool all indicate just how popular and reliable our SSDs are.

In fact, the only reason they’re not even more popular is their form factor. Since the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G, Mercury Electra 6G and Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G all have the same 2.5″ form factor commonly found in laptops, many people assume that they won’t work in machines that use the larger 3.5″ drives.

Fortunately, that’s not quite true. While these drives don’t “naturally” fit in a 3.5″ drive bay, they work wonderfully when installed with the use of an adapter. That, of course, is where things may get a little confusing.

You know that phrase about there being “more than one way to skin a cat”? It applies to adapting a 2.5″ drive to fit a larger bay, too.

In fact, between OWC and NewerTech, we’ve got five different ways to adapt our SSDs for a larger drive bay. Which one is the “right” one? It all Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight
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OWC Customer Reviews his OWC-Upgraded iMac

Monday, September 19th, 2011 | Author: Guest Blogger

[Editor’s Note: Due to its very nature, it’s been somewhat difficult to get a professional media review of our Turnkey Upgrade Program for the 2011 iMac, so we’re posting a customer testimonial, instead. If you’re a reviewer and want to review the upgrade program, please contact us.]

Why I Chose the OWC Turnkey Upgrade Program for the 2011 iMac.

by Ken H., OWC Customer

In January, I had a 2TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro RAID hard drive that wouldn’t mount. Since none of the data on the drive was backed up, I started to look into data recovery and found out how expensive it was. Fortunately, OWC Tech Support helped me determine that that the problem was simply a power adapter problem and not a drive failure.

After coming so close to losing valuable data, I decided to come up with a backup plan. I bought a 12TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 and configured it as RAID 5. I also bought an empty Qx2 and placed the 2TB drives from two 4TB Mercury Elite Pro RAIDs into that for an 8TB RAID 0 drive. That way, I could put all of the videos and photos from several drives onto one large drive and keep a backup of the large drive.

Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight
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OWC Upgrade Service For All Mid-2011 Apple iMacs Now Offers $249 Solid State Drive Option With Over 2x Faster Performance Than Factory SSD Options

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Other World Computing announced today a lower starting cost for installation of a 6Gb/s SSD via the OWC Turnkey Upgrade Installation Program for the Mid-2011 Apple iMac. Starting from less than half the cost of factory SSD options, the OWC program gives mid-2011 iMac owners/buyers the option of having OWC install up to three award winning, SandForce Driven OWC Mercury 6G Solid State Drives up to 480GB each and with data rates over 2x faster than factory SSD options. Program options also include a larger capacity hard drive up to 3.0TB and certified Memory Upgrades up to 32GB. 27″ iMac owners also have the option of OWC installing the industry’s only eSATA interface and experience data transfer rates up to 600MB/s. OWC’s installation service program offers multiple configuration options starting at $169 with a 48 business hours or less installation turnaround. Article Continues…

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Category: Press Releases
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