One thing is for sure…when OWC Larry has a good deal, he just loves telling the world about it…and very often before the “big day”. I gotta a bet here with OWC Michael that Larry likely had all his Christmas presents opened wayyyy before Christmas morn. And in that vein of early presents, this is another reason why you should subscribe to OWC Larry’s Tips n’ Deals Newsletter.

While I was timing many of our efforts to peak/start/drop/etc. on Friday, he was letting loyal followers know about the below deals several days earlier. And he likely did this because, as he said in his subsequent newsletter, “I’ve never been one for big crowds and it’s quite the madhouse out there. Reports suggest about 50 people for every ‘doorbuster’ special. There are also huge crowds on the internet, but that’s from the comfort of home where you can lean back and proceed like it’s any other day of the year. It’s not exactly like any other day as we’ve a great line up of specials worked out with many of our top suppliers. Some are limited, others are ‘all you can eat’ till the weekend and Monday are over. Order $150 or more, and even the freight can be on us. Some really crazy good deals, but without the craze going on in the malls and on the streets today.”

Having gone out to a few stores on Friday morning just to see the madness live, I gotta give Larry the win here. While some situations were truly humorous, I truly believe shopping online is the safer – and saner – thing to do. So, we still have some Black Friday leftovers – plus some new “side dishes” just for Cyber Monday – for your convenient feasting today.

Order $150 or more for Free Delivery within the 48 Continental USA. Delivery from $1.99 to all USA Destinations, International Delivery starting from under $5.

View over 150 specials + with great images and easy sorting online.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 now $117.50 —– Parallels v5 (Run windows on Mac) Latest Version $49.00

2.0TB 7200RPM Hard Drive for $149(AR) —— External Enclosure Kit/Dock Bundles from $175(AR)

Apple OS 10.6 Upgrade Single User $27.50 —– Apple OS 10.6 Snow Leopard Upgrade 5-User $42.50

Apple iBook G3s up to 800MHz from $99.00 —- Apple iBook G4/1.33&1.42GHz 14″ Models from $279.99

more…

While NASA’s LCROSS mission perhaps fizzled to the naked eye, I did catch some highlights in OWC Larry’s recent Hot Deals Blast that might lift your spirits. And if you aren’t a subscriber to the Blast, you can do so for free by visiting the OWC Resource Center. “What’s a Hot Deals Blast?” you might be asking…well the official description from our site is:

Some deals are of such limited quantity or just simply too hot to wait for our next Tips n’ Deals emailing. The OWC Hot Deals Blast goes out 5-7 times a month and subscribers are sure to have the first shot at new specials we put online. This is the list to be on to make sure you’ve got the first shot at new deals, clearance specials, etc!

That said, two product mentions jumped out at me as being very useful. The first is how you can maintain your Mac like a Genius and perform Recovery like a Pro.

Prosoft Drive Genius should be a standard part of every Mac user’s software library. For $59.99 (vs. $99 retail) or as low as $25 with a qualifying storage solution, it’s a great deal + an application that can pay for itself. This is the same utility that the Apple Store Genuis Bar uses for the ‘Yearly Tune Up’ service that is part of the ProCare service they offer. Instead of paying them to do it, you can keep your Mac running great and right from the comfort of your own home. Already fully updated for Apple OS 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ – this utility suite includes:

Drive Slim – locates duplicate, identical files and allows these space wasting dupes to be deleted and can put aliases in their place so no problem finding the single file that remains.

DeFrag – Over time, as you write new files, update existing files, delete files – files and file groupings on your hard drive become fragmented. As a result of fragmentation, your hard drive has to move the read/write heads to multiple locations when reading and/or writing and that slows things down. By optimizing your drive with the Defrag utility, best data access performance is then restored.

Repair – fixes minor corruption/file system issues; Shred – DoD compliant erasure of data from unused portion of drive/after file deletion, etc.; Clone – make a bootable clone of your entire drive on another, for backup or when upgrading to a new drive; Integrity check – make sure all systems are ‘go/green’ – identify those that are not; And more!

Prosoft Data Rescue is the utility that can save you big time should a major problem occur. Also available for $59 (vs. $99 retail), this utility is tops for recovering data. From accidental file deletions to catastrophic drive directory corruption and even with a drive that is failing -this is the utility up to the task of bringing back your critical files. Somethings even a backup isn’t going help you with – and before paying the high price for someone else to recover your priceless data, more often than not – as long as the drive is still seen (even if it won’t mount), Data Rescue will save the day.

Keep your Mac tip-top + be prepared – Both Drive Genius + Data Rescue together for $109.99 (vs. $198 Retail)

The second item that caught my eye was how you can power your mobile Mac with genuine Apple MagSafe Power Adapters. We’ve got ‘em used or refurbished, fully tested, and backed by a 90 day OWC Warranty starting at $42.75 in the following models:

Apple Genuine 85 Watt Magsafe AC Power Adapter for all Apple MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ Models

Apple Genuine 60 Watt Magsafe AC Power Adapter for all Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro 13″ Models

Apple Genuine 45 Watt Magsafe AC Power Adapter for all Apple MacBook Air Models

If you can use a spare adapter, or need a replacement for one gone bad – this saves you over $30 vs. the cost of a new adapter. NOTE: it is important to purchase the adapter model that is correct for the laptop model you have/plan to use it with. Using a lower wattage adapter than correct for your machine will impact charging time while a higher wattage than specified can reduce the lifetime of the battery.

One thing to remember on all of the above prices…those are the everyday prices. There are additional savings to be had if you are a Hot Deals Blast subscriber…so join today!

About a year ago, OWC CEO Larry O’Connor had this to say in his Tips and Deals Newsletter:

“It’s fun to talk about the ‘latest and greatest’ – but certainly not practical to buy that new top of the line each time it comes out. Fortunately, since you’ve got a Mac – it happens to have far more longevity than the average Windows PC out there and with some simple upgrades, it can be made better than new. Even if you’re buying a new Mac, for what can be a very nominal investment, it’s still well worth the while to maximize the Mac or Macs you’re still going to keep running.”

It was a very good point then, and it is still valid today.

He also went into five different ways to upgrade your Mac that can extend its useful life. Like the above paragraph, these five upgrade options remain incredibly valid today. The only difference is that we’re looking at new technology and a new Operating System. So, let’s revisit these concepts and see how they’re relevant today. more…

Many of you have come to know OWC and myself over the past 21 years via the Tips n’ Deals newsletter as well as various forums and events we are active in. As these modes of communication are continued, we felt a quick conversation exploring OWC today would be of interest to you.

Did You Know?
Our OWC Tips n’ Deals newsletter is available for everyone. This free newsletter, sent about once a month, provides performance tips and tricks, the latest Apple news with perspective, and offers just for subscribers. It’s free for the ‘taking’ and can be started/stopped at any time. Just visit our online resource page for more information, past editions, and to subscribe today.

OWC is pushing the limits of going green
For over twenty years, our focus has been on getting the most from existing resources. Such a philosophy resonates in our own product lines, which help you expand the capabilities, increase performance, and maintain the usability of gear you already own and extend its useful life. The same OWC headquarters location that designs, distributes, and even manufactures these products is also ‘green’ itself with compliance to LEED Platinum specifications. The latest news, which you are among the first to know, is that our facility will soon be 100% Wind Powered! Our on-site Wind Turbine will generate enough power for our operation as well as a surplus further reducing the draw on non-renewable energy sources. Learn more about OWC’s Green Evolution online.

OWC offers free installation videos with new videos posted weekly
With the typical service center charging upwards of $80 for an easy memory install, you can’t afford not to utilize this free resource. Many popular upgrades such as hard drive, memory, and optical drive installations are ‘demystified’ and can be performed in the comfort of your own home in as little as 15 minutes following the step by step video guide instructions.

The Mac (or PC) you have now could be better and do more than new
The easiest way to boost performance of a system is to add more memory. Typical factory configurations provide a minimum amount. When you have more memory for your applications, the system doesn’t slow down as much or as often (spinning beach balls). Having more memory easily trumps having a faster processor and usually for a fraction of the cost too.

If you’re running out of room on your hard drive, it’s easy to plug and play additional storage via USB2 or FireWire. Also, it’s a good consideration to look at your internal hard drive too. Not only can you significantly increase the storage capacity inside your Mac, but the much higher performance of today’s hard drives can give your system a bonus speed bump in addition to that needed drive space.

When it comes to reading & writing CDs, DVDs, and even Blu-ray discs – being able to handle different available formats or do so with greater speed usually doesn’t require a new computer, but rather can be accomplished via an internal or external SuperDrive solution.

Watch and Record TV, Import Video – Add additional Displays with ease too. We cover it all in our Video section.

If you’re serious about music and audio on your Mac, our staff expert Rick Van Dyne is here to provide exceptional advice and manages our music/audio product line to ‘rock your world’. Also listen to what Grammy award-winning musician Chris Vrenna has to say about OWC’s products.

As always, on behalf of the OWC team, thank you for choosing us as your trusted upgrade and accessories solution provider. I hope you’ve found the above highlights informative and should it spark any questions, we stand ready to serve you via email, Live Chat, and even toll-free 800-275-4576. To see current offers, read the latest Apple news, and follow staff insights on our blog, this is the ’spot’.

Our versatile and fearless leader Larry O’Connor has posted an informative article in our Quick Tips area, titled “Make your Current Mac feel like it’s a New Mac again!” This concise article links to helpful tidbits on how you can possibly get better performance out of your old Mac by upgrading some of its parts, than if you plop down that fortune on a brand new machine.

The article also links to an archived newsletter (linked below) that details how you can add RAM, a hard drive, faster DVD, or even replace your video card and/or processor to create your dream machine. All at a fraction of the cost of a new machine.

I know the “Speedbump that current Mac for that ‘New’ Mac feeling” article was useful to me, because I upgraded an old 500 MHz G4 AGP Graphics tower with one of OWC’s PowerMac processor upgrades and now use that machine solely for scanning photos, something it couldn’t do before. It’s convenient to have a workstation devoted to a life’s work that involves multiple pieces of hardware, which I don’t have to move out of the way when I need to work; I have an Intel Mac for that! Plus, scanning my thousands of photos gives that doorstop a purpose in life!

A heart hello from San Francisco! As the final hours and minutes tick down, the team and I are all ready to go and looking forward to the opening of the Expo tomorrow at 11AM. Apple’s keynote, as has been the tradition – and looking like for the last time, will officially start the expo tomorrow.

This is the first year, since Steve Jobs came back to Apple, that it won’t be Mr. Jobs talking up all that Apple’s ready to show off and hype to the world. We hope Mr. Jobs is in good health and that other pressing matters are the reason for ‘Phil’ giving this years opener. Who knows, maybe he’ll still drop on by with some kind of appearance. Given that Apple has announced this to be their last year participating with the Expo, you’d sure think they’d be going out with some kind of bang. We’ll see.

**Breaking News(click for full story) – Steve Jobs advises his health is good – has suffered weight loss due to a hormonal problem that has been identified and treated. He stated that doctors expect him to recover back to his normal weight by spring***

Newsletter Continues>>

Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year from all of us at Other World Computing! 2008 has certainly had a few bumps and I expect many of us are looking forward to the fresh 2009 year. Exciting it is to turn the page on another year, and all hopes for a new year that’s Happy and Safe as well.

Not just the end of another year, we also recognize it’s the end of another tax year for most businesses as well. With that comes those last minute buys that flow through maximizing various tax deduction opportunities. Our team is here tomorrow to see such purchases processed. As usual and of course, our customer support and tech team is here to serve and assist as well. While we are open tomorrow, OWC is closed on New Year’s Day. Won’t be until next year, this Friday January 2nd, that our normal hours then resume. :)

Then comes Macworld Expo! The good news is, with some arm twisting, we’ve got passes available for all of you and yours who’d like to be our guest at the Expo this year. We’re going to make our best efforts to make sure this isn’t the last Macworld Expo SF show, and either way – we hope you can be there. Already next week Jan 6th through the 9th. So – if you think you might be going and still need a pass, don’t hesitate and immediately register following our link here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/link.cfm?id=5623-1163

The deadline is 11:59PM EST 12/31/2008 (that’s tomorrow/Wednesday) to take advantage of the no cost pass. After that point, the lowest cost becomes $25.00 – still a nice savings, but… $0 is much better. :)

Newsletter Continues>>

Greetings from snowy Woodstock! After some warm weather last weekend melted our snow (and the first snowman my son, daughter, and I together made), the eight plus inches that’s dropped in the last 18 hours has restored the winter wonderland sight. This is typical Midwestern winter weather – and as such, normal operations and shipments continue just the same should it be the nicest of summer days. We do appreciate that winter weather can be not so nice and our hearts go out to any of our friends out East still enduring the aftermath of the unseasonal and highly damaging ice storms that hit a week ago. Be safe, be warm, and always the best. From all of us at Other World Computing – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

We have a super special on:
Dell 24″ Color LCD Displays – just $277.50

Newsletter Continues>>

Greeting from your Friends in Woodstock! I hope the season so far has treated you and yours well. It’s a winter wonderland here, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be here and wouldn’t have it any other way. Having said that, watching some people drive in the snow leaves me only to imagine what it’s like for our more Southern friends that have seen the snow fall where it’s just not that norm. Weather aside, with all the activities this time of the year – be safe and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The wait if over for the Free Macworld Expo passes! If you are planning on attending the Expo, please be our guest and register online via our link here: http://eshop.macsales.com/Macworld/

To receive your pass into the expo at no cost. Also available are discounted for the various conference options as well. The Expo pass itself provides entry to the full Macworld Expo Hall January 5th through the 9th next month. We hope to see you again or the first time! :)

Newsletter Continues>>

Greetings & Happy Thanksgiving from the OWC Team! Hard to believe it’s already here. We’ll be carving up the turkey and with trimmings all ready. As fast as these holidays come to be, it’s that time with you family gotta make count all the more. Once the moment is passed, only in memory does it exist. Ideally fond memories with lots of thanks.

While we’re being thankful and hopefully enjoying the day with family, remember those that don’t get the day off. A sincere thank you to everyone in our public services – police officers, fire fighters, doctors, med techs, ambulance drivers, all of you with jobs and responsibilities that don’t just pause because it’s a national holiday, weekend, etc. Huge thanks to those in the service and our Veterans who’s service has preserved and protected so much we sometimes forget to be thankful for. In this age of information, lots of things to complain about – just need to remember so much more there, the important things to be thankful for.

Newsletter Continues>>

Greetings again from Woodstock! I think we’ve got a nice variety of information in this newlstter edition and hope you’ll enjoy. Got 6GBs of memory for MacBooks, a new ‘Voyager’ HD Dock, a realworld look at the Unibody MacBooks + lots more in between. Here we go!

Install up to 6.0GB in MacBook & MacBook Pro Core 2 Duos

One of my favorite things to say and show is how more memory really makes the difference. For nearly two years we’ve been working to provide a solution that would allow us to break the 4GB limit in Core 2 Duo Mac models. While we’ve been able to build 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMM 667MHz models for some time, the challenge – or really what ended up being the wait – was for the memory device components that could run at a low power and heat level as to meet specification and provide the reliable operation required of every OWC module.

Newsletter Continues>>

Roughly once a month we post those open box, refurb, one of a kind, end of life – you name it products that are priced to move. Limited availability and first come, first served fulfillment means these goodies don’t very long once the word is out. As a Tips n’ Deals subscriber – you’re getting the first notice of these latest postings. About 200 listings now live with nearly 150 just turned on. Hot buys on wireless, hard drive enclosures, hard drives, memory, some ‘for parts ibooks, all sorts of accessories, etc.

On Monday we’ll be sending notice out far and wide – this weekend you’ve got notice first to have have first dibs from this first look:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/garage_sale

Have a great weekend – we’ll be writing again real soon! And Thanks! :)

Newsletter Continues>>

Greetings!

As you have surely heard, Apple today introduced brand new MacBook and MacBook Pro models. We’ve got the full line on order and hope to be publishing real-world benchmark test data sometime next week. The new MacBook 13.3″ models are shown to be shipping without delay while the MacBook Pro 15.4″ stock models indicate a 3-5 Day delay. 

Without question a full overview and review of these new main models will be provided in our next regular newsletter edition. For now, going to cover some key points of today’s new product introductions (which go beyond the two aforementioned). I will be as brief on this as -I- can. :)

Newsletter Continues>>

Greetings from your friends in Woodstock! It’s practically a shock to my
system for school to already be in gear and Labor Day Weekend to be upon us.
Where did this crazy summer go? From saying a goodbye in early July to welcoming my third child into the world at the end of July. On an impulse it’s very easy, for me at least, to be wondering how the summer breezed by – but with a moment of thought to the matter, really is no wonder. As so, life goes on. :)

Big plans for a our next newsletter and it will be loaded… At the moment, all indications are that the next MacBook Pro and possibly MacBook model updates are imminent from Apple. In prior years we have seen new model intros right after Labor Day weekend. I expect this will be the case this year as well, and if not, certainly sometime very soon after. I will be surprised if there isn’t some new Mac next week… Beyond stupefied should we not see any new Macs in September. Oh, probably some new iPod soon too… But we’re looking to talk Mac.

Newsletter Continues>>