Apple today updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the all-new Force Touch trackpad, fifth generation Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Graphics 6100, two times faster flash and longer battery life, bringing even more performance and capabilities to our pro customers.* Apple also today updated the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air with fifth generation Intel Core processors, Intel HD Graphics 6000, and Thunderbolt 2, and added up to two times faster flash to the 13-inch MacBook Air, making the perfect everyday notebooks even better.

"Today the popular 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, 11-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Air all received significant upgrades," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The 13-inch MacBook Pro has been updated with the latest processors, more powerful graphics, faster flash, longer battery life and the all-new Force Touch trackpad. We're also bringing the latest processors and graphics, and faster Thunderbolt 2 to the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air, as well as up to two times faster flash to the 13-inch MacBook Air."

Apple announced its slimmest MacBook yet, equipped with the Retina display. Barely ripping the scales at 1 kg, just 13.1 mm thin (at its thickest point). Dressed in an all-metal unibody, including the antenna. Bolstered by a slimmer "butterfly" keyboard that's slimmer and more precise; and a new 12-inch Retina display with 2304 x 1440 pixels resolution; and a slimmer Taptic-engine backed trackpad. The best part? It's versatile connector that combines power, USB-C (10 Gb/s), DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, and more.

Under the hood, the MacBook Retina features a completely fanless design, and a logic board that's 67% smaller than the previous generation. The notebook is driven by an Intel Core M processor (5W TDP). With a new space-efficient layered battery, it offers 24-hour battery life, including 10 hours video playback. Storage is care of a 256 GB PCIe SSD. Connectivity includes 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 4.0. And then there's OS X "Yosemite." The MacBook Retina comes in silver, space-gray, and gold. Prices start at US $1,299 for the base-model with 8 GB RAM, 1.1-2.4 GHz processor, 256 GB SSD storage; and $1,599 for a 1.2-2.6 GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 512 GB storage.

Apple's next entry to its pathbreaking ultra-portable notebook, the MacBook Air, will be a new 12-inch screen size version. As with every new MacBook Air release for the past two years, there's talk of a screen resolution jump to "Retina" standards. Apple is preparing other cutting-edge hardware updates.

To begin with, Apple will tap Intel's latest Core M "Broadwell-U" chip, an SoC that combines a dual-core "Broadwell" CPU with graphics, a dual-channel DDR3L IMC, and system agent onto a single chip, with an overall TDP of 15W. Apple is working on a new fanless cooling system for this chip. The other big feature-set upgrade is the USB 3.1 port, which Intel plans to launch with the system agent for its next processor platform. USB 3.1 doubles bandwidth to 10 Gbps, and steps up power-delivery, letting you charge your portable devices faster.

Angelbird, Austria's premium SSD manufacturer, is now offering the SSD wrk and SSD wrk for Mac with 1 terabyte of storage. The new drives combine the highest storage capacity with great performance, robustness and efficiency in an ultra-slim aluminum chassis - making it the perfect choice to upgrade a Mac, MacBook, MacBook pro, PC or Notebook.

Angelbird has made no compromises in quality for its new SSD wrk models, which boast an ultra-fast SATA 3.1 6Gb/s interface that is also fully downward compatible with legacy computers and operating systems. The SSD wrk uses the SMI 2246EN controller and the case is made of high-quality matt-black anodized aluminum and houses custom-packed multi-level-cell NANDs. The maximum read and write speeds are 564 and 456 megabytes per second. The new 1-terabyte versions reach 72.000 IOPS (Input/Output Operations per Second). With a height of only 7 millimeters the SSD wrk 1 terabyte fits even into the slimmest notebook or desktop case.

Angelbird, Austria's premium SSD manufacturer and hardwrk, specialist for MacBook Upgrade Kits, now offer an attractive bundle containing a SSD wrk for Mac and a SATA3 Adapter Kit for MacBook (Pro).

The bundle allows users to benefit from all the advantages of the SSD wrk for Mac and the SATA3 Adapter Kit for MacBook (Pro). Angelbird's SSD wrk for Mac is the only third party SSD that supports TRIM for Mac out of the box. The combination with hardwrks SATA3 Adapter Kit for MacBook (Pro) allows for interesting configuration options. You can either use the strong performance of the SSD wrk for Mac in a set-up that is designed for maximum speed or in a Fusion Drive. Customers can choose between the capacities 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB.

HighPoint Technologies has launched the newest member of its comprehensive RocketStor 6300 Thunderbolt 2 Adapter series - the RocketStor 6361A Single-PCIe slot Thunderbolt 2 Expansion Chassis. The RocketStor 6361A is a ruggedly constructed, ultra-slim PCIe Expansion solution designed for Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 capable Mac platforms, and delivers dedicated 20Gb/s bandwidth for PCIe interface cards such as Media Capture, 10Gb/s Ethernet, Fibre Channel, or external Storage/RAID controllers. The RocketStor 6361A is ideal for customers that need to maximize Thunderbolt 2 transfer bandwidth for high-performance workflows.

The RocketStor 6361A may be the industry's most compact and lightweight PCIe expansion solution. The unit is only 2.3" wide, stands less than 7 inches tall, and weighs less than 4 lbs, yet is capable of supporting full-sized PCIe cards; an ideal solution for high-performance, compact and portable Mac platforms such as the Mac mini, MacBook and MacBook Air.

Today, OWC expanded its award-winning line of high-performance SSDs in capacities ranging from 120GB to 480GB for the MacBook Air 2010-2012 and the MacBook Pro with Retina display 2012-2013. The new upgrade options deliver even greater affordability and are backed by the support and expertise OWC is known for around the world.

Aura and Aura Pro SSD: The Easy Drive Upgrade for Air and Retina
Aura and Aura Pro SSD (Flash) drive upgrades provide an easy and economical path versus buying a new laptop to achieve greater performance and/or internal drive capacity. Repurpose the original factory drive with a sleek, award-winning Envoy/Envoy Pro external enclosure included with complete DIY Kits.

Apple today updated MacBook Air with faster processors and lower prices, making the perfect everyday notebook an even better value. Now starting at $899, MacBook Air features powerful processors, fast flash storage, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, up to 12 hours of battery life and Apple's iLife and iWork apps, giving you everything you need to handle all your work, all day long.

"With MacBook Air starting at $899, there's no reason to settle for anything less than a Mac," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Macs have never been more popular, and today we've boosted the performance and lowered the price of MacBook Air so even more people can experience the perfect everyday notebook."

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, is proud to announce the launch of its JetDrive SSD Upgrade Kits aimed at MacBook computers. The JetDrive Upgrade Kits are ideal for professional photographers, videographers, and graphic artists looking to enhance the performance and capacity of their MacBook system, and even includes an easy-to-use drive enclosure for converting the original SSD or HDD into a new USB 3.0 portable storage device.

Faster Performance and Increased Storage
Built on the next-generation SATA III 6 Gb/s interface to achieve lightning-fast transfer speeds of up to 560 MB/s, upgrading to a Transcend JetDrive SSD translates into faster system boot up and application launch times, while offering the lag-free responsiveness and stability necessary for data-intensive computing and advanced gaming. Moreover, the newly-released SSDs are available in capacities of up to 960 GB, offering the perfect combination of speed and high-density storage.

Acer is working on a variant of its 13.3-inch Aspire S7 Ultrabook with a higher resolution display. It will offer WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, which works out to a pixel density of 221 ppi, which is not too far away from the 227 ppi that Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display offers. Depending on its other innards, the WQHD Aspire S7 will come in two variants - a base model priced at US $1,499, driven by Intel Core i5-4200U, and a top model priced at $1,799, with a faster Core i7-4500U chip. Both feature 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and 256 GB of SSD storage, each. The two will begin to show up on leading US retailers in the coming week.

Apple posted a much needed firmware update to the SSDs inside MacBook Air (mid-2012).Bad firmware made the machine vulnerable to data loss in certain cases, and it took over a year for Apple to get enough warranty claims to act on the firmware. The firmware update puts existing data on risk, so it would be a good idea to back things up. Apple admits that the firmware update may not work on all drives, and in such cases, stated that the drives would be replaced for free.DOWNLOAD: MacBook Air (mid-2012) SSD firmware update

Belkin, a trusted leader of technology solutions for office, classroom, IT infrastructure and mobile environments, today announced that its USB 3.0 Dual Video Docking Stand for Ultrabooks is now compatible with MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Mac OS 10.8.5 and above. Users can now get greater flexibility and more computing options through the MacBook's USB 3.0 port. The Dual Video Docking Stand for Ultrabooks and MacBooks makes mobile computing easier and more productive for business users. The stand, which leverages DisplayLink technology, allows users to turn an Ultrabook or MacBook into a full-function desktop with a single plug-and-display USB 3.0 cable.

The new docking stand is designed to provide versatility to accommodate mixed platforms and multiple users, including visiting professionals, contractors and 'hot desk' environments. Because it allows easy access to multiple peripherals, users can configure their workstations based on their preferences. Belkin's docking stand provides a SuperSpeed connection to two high-resolution monitors and peripherals via a single USB 3.0 cable. The sturdy, ergonomic stand holds the laptop in an organized space, raising the screen to an equal level with desktop displays.

PNY Technologies Inc, announces the introduction of StorEDGE: a revolutionary new Flash Memory Expansion Module designed exclusively for use in MacBook computers to quickly and easily increase available storage capacity while keeping you mobile. Engineered as a semi-permanent storage solution, StorEdge simply plugs directly into your MacBook to radically upgrade your flash memory without compromising your notebook's sleek design. StorEdge hosts a small form factor and unobtrusive patent pending design, allowing it to sit nearly flush to your MacBook. Available in 64GB and 128GB capacities, StorEdge allows users to store even more images, videos, music, and files - without compromising system speed or performance.

Apple's MacBook Air refresh for 2013 saw it integrating Intel's 4th generation Core "Haswell" CPUs in an effort to improve performance and battery life. It was only a matter of time before the CPU architecture caught up with the rest of Apple's lineup. A validation of a 15-inch MacBook Pro on Geekbench database reveals that Apple is already testing the notebook with the very latest Intel chips.

With Core "Haswell," Intel introduced a new grade of silicon codenamed "Haswell-GT3," which combines four CPU cores with up to 6 MB L3 cache, and a large integrated graphics core that features 40 execution units, as opposed to 20 found on regular "Haswell-GT2" and "Haswell-GT1" grades. The added pixel-crunching muscle makes the chip ready to singlehandedly take on Apple's Retina displays, without the need for discrete GPUs, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M that handled the first Retina-equipped MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Air products received the expected hardware update and are currently shipping (in the US) with Haswell ULT processors. While the performance gains on the CPU side should be fairly marginal, the IGP upgrade is supposed to offer a considerable boost to graphic performance (a 40% gain was mentioned, though no measurement criteria was given to justify or explain the value). Another important effect of the hardware upgrade is a noticeably extended battery life, translated into 9 hours for the 11" MacBook Air and 12 hours for the 13" version, or what Apple called "all day battery life." WiFi was also upgraded to the 802.11ac standard. Both MacBook Air versions suffered downward price adjustments, with pricing for the 11" model starting at $999 while the 13" saw a $100 price cut, now starting at $1099.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today introduced the OWC Mercury Helios+E2 Thunderbolt SSD Solution. The bootable 'all-in-one' storage performance and expansion solution offers owners of Thunderbolt technology enabled Macs and PCs sustained read/write data throughput up to 617MB/s from up to 960GB of OWC Mercury SSD capacity; two Thunderbolt interfaces for connecting multiple Thunderbolt devices; and two eSATA 6Gb/s expansion ports for connecting up to an additional 32TB or more of external storage/backup capacity.

By far the most comprehensive expansion dock we've come across, the Echo 15 from Sonnet plugs into your MacBook's 10 Gb/s Thunderbolt port, and then productively uses that bandwidth to hook you up with 15 connectivity options. These include a 3.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s internal drive bay (2 TB HDD optional), a slimline optical drive (options include DVDRW and Blu-ray writers), two eSATA 6 Gb/s ports, 4-channel HD audio, four USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports, gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire 800, each device is Mac OS X compatible. The device features two Thunderbolt ports, so it can be daisy-chained with other devices. Prices start at US $399.95.

Pioneer rolled out a sleek new portable Blu-ray XL drive compatible with Macs, the BDR-XU02JM. Measuring 133 x 133 x 12 mm (WxDxH, without stand), and measuring 245 g, the drive stays slim thanks to its slot-in disc loading mechanism, which along with the silvery metal body, complements the new breed of ODD-less MacBooks.

The BDR-XU02JM from Pioneer can write single- and double-layer BD-R discs at speeds of up to 6X; triple- and quadruple-layer ones at 4X; BD-R (LtH) at 6X, single-, double-, and triple-layer BD-RE discs at 2X, DVDs up to 8X, and CDs up to 24X. The drive uses a single USB 2.0 cable for both host-connectivity and power. It features a 4 MB buffer. It is slated for later this month, beginning with the Japanese market.

Apple is making the MacBook Pro with Retina display faster and more affordable with updated processors and lower starting prices. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now starts at $1,499 for 128 GB of flash, and $1,699 for a new 2.6 GHz processor and 256 GB of flash. The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features a faster 2.4 GHz quad-core processor, and the top-of-the-line 15-inch notebook comes with a new 2.7 GHz quad-core processor and 16 GB of memory. Apple today also announced that the 13-inch MacBook Air with 256 GB of flash has a new lower price of $1,399.

Singapore based Strontium Technology launched premium solid metal USB drives called Ammo. The new Ammo USB Flash Drive with a shiny metallic lustre is available in gold and silver colour finish. The gold finish drive is actually plated with real 24 carat gold giving it a rich appearance.

Ammo Flash drive comes in a sturdy brushed metal casing with a sleek look keeping in mind the demands and requirements of discerning users who want a high quality and high class product. The sleek and robust design works not only with Windows platform desktop PC, notebook PCs and Apple iMac and MacBook as well. The highest quality NAND flash memory component used in the Ammo USB drives offer maximum reliability and sustained fast data transfer rates.

Freecom launched the Mg line of external hard drives with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces. While either interfaces are fast enough for the roughly 100 MB/s hard drive with 1 TB capacity, the point behind the design is probably to cater to both 2011-'12 Macs/MacBooks with Thunderbolt minus USB 3.0, and the more recent Macs with it. The drives come pre-formatted with the HFS+ file-system. The drive bagged this year's Red Dot design award thanks to its classy magnesium alloy chassis. Measuring 129 x 81 x 15 mm (WxDxH), the drives weigh about 175 g.

In the coming years, Apple could end its partnership with Intel for supply of CPUs, according to a Bloomberg report, citing Gartner research. The company plans to make a transition from x86 to ARM for its Mac product line, which includes MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac Mini. Such a transition would be similar to the one Apple took from PowerPC to x86 machine architecture, across 2005-06. According to the report, Apple's engineers are confident of designing an ARM-based chip of their own that's powerful enough for mainstream personal computing on Mac products. Apple's engineers foresee a convergence of technologies between mobile devices (such as the iPhone and iPad), and Macs. Currently, Apple designs its own processors for iOS devices, which are ARM-based.

Apple's new iMac and MacBook Pro owe their sleek, slim design to the lack of optical drives, a feature consumers found very much wanting, which can still be overcome using external USB optical drives. In an interview with Tom's Hardware, Apple senior VP of global marketing, Phil Schiller stressed the importance of letting go of optical drives. "These old technologies are holding us back. They're anchors on where we want to go," he said. "We find the things that have outlived their useful purpose. Our competitors are afraid to remove them. We try to find better solutions - our customers have given us a lot of trust. In general, it's a good idea to remove these rotating medias from our computers and other devices. They have inherent issues - they're mechanical and sometimes break, they use power and are large. We can create products that are smaller, lighter and consume less power."

On how newer media like Blu-ray don't quite make optical drives an obsolete component, given that it's fast taking over as the mainstream physical home video medium, Schiller said that customers have stopped asking Apple for Blu-ray drives, and that it comes with its own set of issues that make it unfit for desktops and notebooks. "Blu-ray has come with issues unrelated to the actual quality of the movie that make [it] a complex and not-great technology…So for a whole plethora of reasons, it makes a lot of sense to get rid of optical discs in desktops and notebooks." Apple, with its iTunes service is one the leading digital content distribution businesses, including movie rentals and purchases.

WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation, today announced that it has added the USB 3.0 interface to its line of My Passport for Mac portable hard drives and increased capacity for Mac computer users up to an unmatched 2 TB. Popular among students and other Mac users who take their digital content everywhere, the My Passport for Mac with USB 3.0 allows users to quickly and conveniently take advantage of the faster transfer speeds USB 3.0 provides when connecting the drive to their MacBook computer or MacBook Air computer with that interface.

While continuing to provide a sleek and slim design, the My Passport drive also has been a favorite among consumers and professionals who have safety and security at the top of the list of requirements for portable drives, which is why the My Passport for Mac includes password protection and hardware encryption features to protect content from unauthorized use or access. The My Passport for Mac drive is also compatible out of the box with Apple Time Machine for easy backup to further protect valuable files.

Intel plans to standardize SSD specifications for its Ultrabook platform, which would steer it toward slimmer, faster Ultrabooks. The company plans to invite a large number of industry players, including NAND flash memory makers SanDisk, Micron, and Samsung, for discussions into what is known as Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), a new SSD form-factor derived from mSATA (think Apple's SSD form-factor found in the MacBook Air).

Intel is in a bit of a hurry with its NGFF SSD plans because the current mSATA form-factor poses limitations, including limited PCB area, in which a limited number of ONFI channels can be wired out. NGFF most likely is mSATA with greater PCB area, allowing the same number of ONFI channels as 2.5-inch SSDs, with the latest generation of controllers and toggle-NAND flash memory. NGFF doesn't increase the thickness of the SSD compared to mSATA, but merely elongates it (again, similar in form to Apple's SSD specifications). Five length standards are being discussed between Intel and Ultrabook partners.