Active Media Products, a leading manufacturer of SSDs and DOMs, today announced three new ZIF SSD upgrade kits for the first generation MacBook Air, most Sony Vaio models and other popular laptops that include a ZIF SSD, a cloning device, a mini screwdriver and an illustrated installation booklet. AMP's cloning adapter enables customers to quickly clone their existing ZIF drive onto the new ZIF drive through a USB port.

"Our cloning adapter will help customers get up and running that much faster because now they don't need to reinstall the OS and all their applications. We included a detailed installation guide and a mini screwdriver in the box to simplify the upgrade process," stated Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. AMP does not include a USB cable or cloning software in these kits.

Apple today unveiled the new Apple Thunderbolt Display, the world's first display with Thunderbolt I/O technology and the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook. With just a single cable, users can connect a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac to the 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display and access its FaceTime camera, high quality audio, and Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt ports. Designed specifically for Mac notebooks, the new display features an elegant, thin, aluminum and glass enclosure, and includes a MagSafe connector that charges your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.

"The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices."

Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion, the eighth major release of the world's most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs, will be available to customers in July as a download from the Mac App Store for $29.99. Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.

"The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac."

Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user friendly designed PC components, today unveiled the SATA MX-KATANA Series SSD modules. Based on an innovative design, the sleek KATANA Series modules deliver an enhanced mobile computing experience with much faster application loading, ultra-fast data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life of today's and future laptops and netbooks with new type low-profile SATA interface.

This series maintains the highest level of read and write performance though the life of the SSD. In addition, highly intelligent wear leveling design optimizes longevity of MX-KATANA series drives. This SSD module is the ideal upgrade option from standard storage of some popular notebooks like MacBook Air Rev.3.X series, making it a must have item for any serious notebook DIY enthusiast. The MX-KATANA drive delivers best-in-class read and write speeds clocking in at up to 275MB/s read and 225MB/s write along with the stunning maximum of 20,000 IOPS, low power consumption and superior durability (1.0 million MTBF) compared to rotating hard disk drives.

PROMISE Technology today announced Pegasus, the industry's first-high performance hardware RAID solution designed to unleash the raw speed of the all-new Thunderbolt technology. Designed from the ground up for media and entertainment customers, Pegasus offers superior speed and throughput in a form factor small enough for a desktop, and is available in 4-bay and 6-bay aluminum enclosures with up to 12TB of raw storage.

"Intel is excited about the superior performance and simplicity Thunderbolt technology and PROMISE's Pegasus family of products will bring to consumers and media professionals trying to keep up with the explosion of digital media," said Jason Ziller, Director, Thunderbolt Planning and Marketing, Intel Corporation.

LaCie today announced the LaCie Little Big Disk featuring the all-new Thunderbolt technology, developed by Intel and brought to market with collaboration from Apple. Designed to store large audio and video files, the LaCie Little Big Disk will bring a new level of performance to creative workflows with ultra-fast data transfer, complete system backup in minutes, and faster content editing than ever before.

"Thunderbolt technology is a breakthrough in I/O technology and represents the future of mobile computing. Soon you will be able to carry workstation-class power and functionality in compact devices," said Philippe Spruch, Chairman and General Manager, LaCie. "LaCie is excited to be one of the first to deliver Thunderbolt technology with the LaCie Little Big Disk."

Intel Corporation today announced the availability of Thunderbolt technology, a new high-speed PC connection technology that brings together high-speed data transfer and high-definition (HD) display on to a single cable. Running at 10 Gbps, Thunderbolt technology can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds. This Intel-developed technology is coming to market through a technical collaboration with Apple, and is available first on Apple's new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers.

The vision for Thunderbolt technology (formerly codenamed "Light Peak") is to move media faster, simplify connections between devices, and foster new and exciting ways to build and use PCs. Combining high-speed data and HD video connections together onto a single cable is instrumental to achieving that vision. Thunderbolt technology delivers this via two communications methods, or protocols -- PCI Express for data transfer and DisplayPort for displays.

Freecom, a Mitsubishi Kagaku Media company, today unveiled the Mobile Drive Mg - an elegant mobile hard drive designed specifically for the Mac market. Encased in an ultra-lightweight and strong magnesium enclosure, the Mobile Drive Mg is an ideal match for the Apple MacBook - perfect for those style-conscious Mac users and at just 10mm is also the thinnest mobile hard drive available in the world, allowing users to reliably expand their storage capacity with a complementary product that is elegant, portable and easy to use.

The drive also features the latest USB 3.0 interface standard, which offers rapid data transfer speeds of approximately 130 MB/s. Ideal for both home and professional users who want to transfer large files quickly and carry their data on the move, the Mobile Drive Mg is significantly faster than traditional USB 2.0 solutions, enabling users to back up and upload information in a matter of seconds. The drive is backwards-compatible and will work with all USB 2.0 enabled computers and notebooks, as well as forthcoming USB 3.0 models.

Verbatim, the information storage pioneer, introduces two brand-new portable hard drives that combine high-style with high-speed, allowing consumers to quickly and reliably back-up and transfer files anytime, anywhere. The company will showcase its diminutive and durable Titan XS SuperSpeed USB 3.0, the smallest portable hard drive available, and attractive and efficient Store 'n' Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0/FW 800, its first USB 3.0 device created specifically for Mac users, alongside its latest range of unique computer peripherals, diminutive flash drives and more, at Booth #36634 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 6-9, 2011.

"We're thrilled to debut our innovative line-up of portable hard drives at CES 2011 and to deliver exciting new options in this rapidly-growing category for both Mac and PC users," said Charles Klinker, Verbatim's Director of Marketing, HDD Products. "Verbatim's timely new portable solutions capitalize on the ongoing transition to USB 3.0 and connect consumers with the fastest transfer speeds to safely store and share favorite photos, music, files and more at home and on-the-go!"

Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced connectivity improvements to the Matrox DualHead2Go DP Edition and TripleHead2Go DP Edition Graphics eXpansion Modules (GXMs) benefitting Apple Mac notebook and desktop users. The DualHead2Go DP and TripleHead2Go DP products now come packaged with a Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable that allows Mac users to connect these external multi-monitor modules directly to the mini-DisplayPort output of their systems to swiftly drive multiple monitors or projectors. Mac professionals and enthusiasts now benefit from the convenience of a true plug and play platform while experiencing the productivity-enhancements gained across an advanced dual- or triple-monitor workspace. In addition, an upcoming firmware release will enable the support of a dual 1600x900 resolution on DVI monitors, further expanding the list of supported resolutions for greater flexibility when choosing displays.

For the first time Verbatim is launching an external hard drive which has been specifically created for the Mac community: the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Mac Portable Hard Drive. The sleek, minimalistic design in a black or white glossy finish will fit with any MacBook. It comes with a combination of FW800 and USB 3.0 SuperSpeed and HFS+ formatted, while a second version offers USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface and FAT32 for PC users as well. Both models are available in stores with storage capacities of 500GB. The 1 TB version will be available in Q1 2011.

Portable storage has never looked so good with the new G-Technology G-DRIVE slim from Hitachi GST. Just in time for the holidays, and making a perfect external storage companion to the Apple Macbook, MacBook Pro or Macbook Air, the new G-DRIVE slim external hard drive gives users 320GB of storage and ubiquitous USB 2.0 connectivity in an amazingly slim form factor. The new drive is designed from the inside out to emulate G-Technology's known quality and style for the Apple Mac market, providing simple, reliable and affordable external storage for college students, business professionals and consumers on the go.

The new G-DRIVE slim leverages Hitachi GST's rugged, 7mm Travelstar Z5K320 drive, making it the thinnest, 2.5-inch external hard drive in the world. With its diminutive footprint - just a mere 128.6 mm (L) x 82 mm (W) by 9.9 mm (H), - sleek design and recyclable aluminum enclosure, users now have a stylish drive to help them move, work and play with their digital content. Lightweight and compact, weighing in at approximately 144g (5 oz), users can easily carry up to 80 hours of high-definition video, 320 hours of standard video, 114 movies, 80,000 songs or 160 games wherever they go.

Transcend announced the StoreJet 25D2-W, a portable hard drive designed to complement Mac computers. Featuring a sleek glossy white finish and certified compatibility with Mac laptop and desktop computers, this brand new Apple friendly drive is a must have for fashion-minded users-especially Mac enthusiasts.

The compact StoreJet 25D2-W portable hard drive is stylish, rugged and ultra-portable. Its shiny gloss-white lacquer finish resembles the classic Apple style, making it look good with any Mac computer, including MacBooks, iMacs, MacBook Mini, etc. With full certification for use with all Mac systems, the StoreJet 25D2-W bears the "Compatible with Mac OS X" logo that gives Mac users extra piece of mind. Thanks to its trendy design and multi-platform compatibility, both Windows and Mac users now have a fantastic choice for storing and carrying their data with style.

Apple gave the 13.3-inch variant of its MacBook line a specifications update, with faster processor and graphics, which also steps up battery life along the way. The MacBook now comes with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB memory (4 GB available as an option), NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, 250 GB of storage, and 8x DVD writer. The display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Connectivity features include gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, and WiFi. The 63.5 W/h lithium-polymer battery gives up to 10 hours of usage on a full charge. It retains the price-tag of US $999.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, announced it has self certified its award winning UltraDrive SSDs for compatibility with the newest Apple MacBook (13"), MacBook Pro (15"/17"), and Mac Pro (Quad/8-Core) based on Intel's Core i7 CPUs.

During compatibility testing Super Talent was able to improve boot time by up to 58% and achieve performance gains of over 5.3x vs. the stock Apple Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The UltraDrive ME delivered 32x the bandwidth of the HDD on 256K Random Writes as measured by the xBench standard benchmark. The UltraDrive also outperformed the Apple SSD by 2.5x.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled OCZ Vertex Mac Edition Solid State Drives and mobile memory solutions qualified by OCZ for ultimate compatibility with the latest family of MacBooks. These new premium offerings are designed for Mac enthusiasts demanding the latest technology in storage and memory to increase productivity and performance on their Apple notebooks.

"OCZ is excited to announce two new products that are specifically designed for Mac consumers," commented Ryan Edwards, Director of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. "Both the Vertex Series Mac Edition solid state drives and the new Mac Edition SODIMMS are designed to be an easy upgrade for consumers that want to boost the performance of their MacBooks, and have been tested in Apple's Development Center (ADC) to ensure stability and compatibility."

MCE Technologies announced on Monday that it has prepared a little something for the owners of "unibody" MacBook and MacBook Pro systems. MCE offers to replace the optical disk drive of your unibody Mac with a hard drive, providing you with increased internal storage capacity, RAID performance or additional reliability if you mirror the two hard drives. The OptiBay upgrade starts at $190 and offers to install 250 GB/5400 RPM, 320 GB/5400 RPM, 320 GB/7200 RPM or 500 GB/5400 RPM SATA hard drives. MCE also offers an external drive enclosure kit for the "SuperDrive" optical drive that's removed by the second hard drive, so you can have the goods from both worlds.

Logitech today unveiled the newest addition to its line of award-winning diNovo keyboards - the Logitech diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition. In addition to offering the exceptionally comfortable typing experience of the Logitech PerfectStroke key system, the cordless diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition provides the convenience of a 3-year battery life and an integrated number pad.

"With the recently released diNovo Edge, Mac Edition, and now this diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition, Logitech is giving people more options when it comes to choosing a keyboard that perfectly complements the Mac design," said Denis Pavillard, vice president of product marketing for Logitech's keyboards and desktops. "While the diNovo Edge keyboard is rechargeable and includes a TouchDisc and touch-sensitive volume control, our newest diNovo keyboard has a full-size layout and nineteen shortcut keys that provide quick access to Safari, iTunes, Expose, iChat and much more."

Also introduced today were two Apple laptops, the new MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro. Both new laptops are housed in an all-metal enclosures and feature a stylish new glass surface trackpad that has no buttons, but relays on tapping only. We already knew about the new multi-touch trackpad from previous news so it comes as no big surprise to everyone.

Back in July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged that it had a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. After the announcement NVIDIA agreed to pay up to $200 million to cover the whole case and repair, return or replace the faulty chips. At the time NVIDIA admited the high failure rate, it also assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, today Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected after all. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. Here's what to look for in your Mac, if you receive a distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen or in the worst scenarion if you have no video signal on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on, you should immediately go to an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) for evaluation, or you should call your local Apple Contact Center for help. Among the models affected are those that were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008. They include the following models: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHz), MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHz), and MacBook Pro (Early 2008).

Two American universities have decided to try and attract more students by offering free iPhones and MacBooks. Oklahoma Christian University is offering all new students attending New Student Orientations a brand new MacBook, and current college students will be given the opportunity to trade in their current laptops to receive one. In addition to this, the University will also offer students an iPhone or iPod touch, depending on whether they're willing to pay the contract fees. Meanwhile Abilene Christian University in Texas is offering a similar deal to all freshmen, giving them the choice of an iPhone or iPod Touch. Dr Dwayne VanRheenen of ACU said:

Because 93 percent of ACU students bring their own computers with them to college, we are choosing to take them to the next level by providing converged mobile devices.

Apple today introduced new models of the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. MacBook Pro models feature the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors (running at up to 2.6GHz with 6MB of shared L2 cache), larger hard drives (up to 300GB), and 2GB of memory standard in most models. They also include the latest NVIDIA graphics processors - with up to 512MB of video memory - and an innovative Multi-Touch trackpad, first introduced in MacBook Air. The three new models of the MacBook feature faster processors and hard drives: sleek white 2.1GHz and 2.4GHz models with 120GB or 160GB 5400 rpm hard drives and a black 2.4GHz model with a massive 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive. The 2.4GHz MacBook ships with 2GB of memory standard, expandable up to 4GB across the line. Available immediately, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models start at just $1,099 and $1,999, respectively.

There's been a barrage of Apple stories today, but here's one that people won't be quite so pleased to hear: the battery in Apple's new MacBook Air will not be user replaceable, much like the iPod and iPhone. Apple has clarified the issue, saying that the price of a replacement will be $129, just like the MacBook Pro battery, and installation will be free. This shouldn't be too much of a problem for most users given that the battery will probably be fairly durable and the notebook does boast five hours of battery life, but would cause a slight inconvenience of having to send the machine off to Apple if it does need replacing, and would prevent people from using a backup battery.

Apple is investigating whether or not faulty Seagate hard drives are to blame for data loss on some MacBooks. Retrodata, a U.K. data recovery firm, reported that certain 2.5-inch Seagate drives used in MacBooks had a manufacturing flaw that causes the drive heads to scratch the surface of the drive and cause major problems. The faulty drives are all Seagate 2.5" Serial ATA drives that are manufactured in China, with a Firmware revision of 7.01. No other drives seem (at this stage) to be affected. If your MacBook has a 7.01, Retrodata advises backing up your data and consider replacing the drive. Apple representative said:

We've received a few reports that some MacBook consumer notebooks may have hard drive issues, and we're looking into it.

Apple has quietly updated its MacBook range of notebooks to use Intel's new Santa Rosa platform, accompanied by the introduction of Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics. The new platform should offer a slight bump in speed to all the MacBooks, which ship with either 2.0GHz or 2.2GHz processors, as well as the option of up to a 250GB hard drive. Apple has also updated to Mac Book Pro range to allow buyers to upgrade to a 2.6GHz processor for an extra $250. You can take a look at the complete MacBook specs here.