[Tech Post] REMEMBER WHEN YOUR G4 WAS COOL...

Ok, no remembering here really...'Twas a ruse...a diversion. I bring this up because copies of ATI Radeon product for the G4 have disappeared off of retailer shelves, and the folks at ATI do not look like they're planning on making any more of that design. Sad I know. It's always tough when your computer feels like it's being left behind and can't compete...but hey, that's what we're for here at YourMacStore...to help you modify and upgrade your Mac so it can compete!

What's that? Yes, we have a solution, and it doesn't involve some kind of inferior card. It involves the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB ADC/DVI for Power Mac G5, and a bit of tinkering on our part. Our awesome techs here have taken that card for the Power Mac G5, and modified it so it can work on a G4...in two instances. We have one model that will handle Quicksilver/Digital Audio and another that will handle MDD.

While these items are not the ideal solution (the only ideal one would come from the folks at ATI), they work and work well. We've tried to keep the price low on them, and we've given them our own Warranty, so you can purchase without a real worry. See! Here's the YourMacStore.com Team working to help customers like you stay on top of things with their G4s! :D

[YMS News] PRICE UPDATES

Hi folks! I had planned today to do some good blogging, but I've decided to take the time, starting today, to go through the YMS catalog and update our prices. I really want to see if we can continue to bring you good prices and good service on all of the Mac products we offer, and to do that, I have to wade into the catalog like Rambo into a squad of communist soldiers. So while I may not be posting much today, at least know I'm thinking of all of you! :)

If any big news breaks, y'all know how to get in touch with me. (especially you Mac-Forums.com folks who know how to instant message me!)


-Mike Leader

[Tech] ANYONE FOR SOME CORE IMAGE?

One of the cooler items we have in stock here at YourMacStore is the ATI Radeon 9600 family of video cards. However, the primary one that's available on the market right now is the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB ADC/DVI for Power Mac G5...not much right now for the G4. The card I just linked to is ONLY for the Power Mac G5, because it uses an AGP 8X slot. If you tried to insert this into a G4 slot, you'd get nothing, not even power. They're just made that way.

Now with the unavailability as of late of the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and ATI Radeon 9600 Pro cards, we've been trying to come up with a solution on our end for our valued customers. There's plenty of demand for the 9800 and the 9600 for G4s, but nothing from the manufacturer if the line is discontinued...just no product available. (Even the Radeon 9000 Pro has disappeared from the market...maybe ATI will get around to making an announcement about this in the near future.) To remedy this, we here at YourMacStore decided to take the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB ADC/DVI for Power Mac G5 card and modify it so it could be used with a G4. With this in mind, we went to work on the card for the G5s, and we now offer two of these modified cards for G4 users. One is for MDD/FW800, and the other one is for QuickSilver/Digital Audio. While they no longer carry a manufacturer's warranty, we do warranty them as used parts from our company. This modified Radeon 9600 Pro supports Dual monitor, Quartz Extreme, and Core Image...


and it's much cheaper than Retail upgrades!

-Mike Leader

[Apple News] MACBOOK PRO'S ROAD TRIP...TO SANTA ROSA!

The web is a flurry of Apple Activity (or should I say iActivity - I swear I'm TMing that, Apple! In the immortal words of the seagulls from Finding Nemo, "mine mine mine mine!") because of the announcement early this morning of the update to the Macbook Pro line of Apple laptops. Reports of oceans rising (from fanboys like myself all drooling) soon followed Apple fans finding out that the new Santa Rosa line of processors from Intel are now included in the newest Macbook Pro update.

The new "Santa Rosa" (the newest Core 2 Duo chip) processors are going to really push the Macbook Pro laptop to the forefront of that product type globally. With processor speeds of 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz, the new Macbook Pros will also have a 4MB L2 Cache. This
"Smart Cache" that will be shared between the two core as each needs it. They will also see the addition of the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics controller, for some really good 2d & 3d graphics work. But one of the two true kickers for this update...is that the new Macbook Pros will be able to utilize 4GB of RAM (667MHz DDR2)! Now the extra 2GB of RAM is a tad expensive to add on...but I am sure you can find it elsewhere quite soon! (We at YMS are working out a new deal with a GOOD memory manufacturer to bring you lower prices and better quality memory...stay tuned!)

Oh yes, I mentioned a second kicker didn't I? Say goodbye to the old fluorescent (CCFL) displays of the past...and say hello to LED displays! That's right, in keeping with Apple's greener policies, they have switched their laptops to mercury-free, LED displays. Now while I haven't seen one of these up close and personal yet, there is talk that these new displays are better for the eyes, AND can add 30% more life to a battery, because they use even less power. Apple, my eyes thank you already. :)

Now, who wants to give me $3,000 so I can get one right now?* :)

-Mike Leader

*TOTALLY WORTH THE PRICE

Edit: Just because y'all asked...the stats posted on the Apple site -

The 2.2 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

* 17-inch widescreen 1680-by-1050 LCD display;
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
* 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
* DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
* built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
* three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
* one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
* Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
* the infrared Apple Remote; and
* 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

[Apple News] iPHONE'S RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCED! (and other iPhone stuff)

Wooohoo! June 29th is the release date! Well, Steve Jobs did promise that it would be out before the end of June...and well the 29th is cutting it close, but it works. The announcement came on Sunday (I was sleeping in that day...come on, who makes important announcements on Sundays outside of some religions?), and was heralded in by three different TV spots about the iPhone. The spots are available over at the Apple website.

On the cool side of this announcement we've got solid news on the product's release, and that's always good for consumer confidence. On the bad side of this announcement, there's always some "insider" knowledge that is going to be said just to get a website some attention. (Note my post from awhile back about the death of the Mac mini.) Over at Gizmodo, there's an unfounded rumor (since the author there didn't backtrack his information and make it available for others to read, I had to dig up his resource's article, and then verify that HIS source was a completely unverifiable rumor) that there Apple will unveil plans for 3rd party iPhone applications at the WWDC. Anyone remember playing "telephone" as kids? When someone says that he heard someone else mention that something is going to happen...it doesn't mean it's true. Put the rumors to rest and learn to live a factual world, PLEASE. (You know I've also heard from someone who knows someone who lives with a guy who's ex-girlfriend's uncle's brother-in-law who was in a car accident with a guy who used to clean the bathrooms at Apple's head office and he heard that the iPhone can predict the New Zealand lottery numbers...I can't roll my eyes enough, can you?)

Anyway, we're all happy that the iPhone releases in a couple weeks...aren't you?

---

In other Apple News, over at the iTunes store in the podcasts section, Apple has made available an audio file and a video file of the D5 conference from last week. So you've heard about the Gates/Jobs co-interview, now you can see it and hear it. Totally worth the free download...heck, I'm listening to it now. :)