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SSD Upgrade Kits Push 2010 MacBook Air Capacity to 360 GB
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Replies + Update on Express
OCZ Most certainly DOES NOT make OWC Drives. Period. OCZ doesn't even build in the USA. Our contract lines are, yes, in the USA and we are the only major SSD manufacturer (yes manufacturer) building SSD product in the USA.
*Edit add* - Not only this - but OWC does not resell, rebrand, or otherwise offer any product from OCZ today nor have we ever.
I further disagree with OCZ being the best - and in this case, they are simply absent as they have no solution for MacBook Air, standard 1.8", or 2.5" IDE/ATA Sandforce based.
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Comment on pricing... SSD pricing only has one way to go and that is lower as flash becomes more cost effective. It's all about the cost of flash and believe me, we want to see lower prices as much as our potential customers. It's a true win-win seeing costs come down.
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As a additional note. Last week we still hadn't finalized our supply of the special tools used for opening Macbook Air 2010... As such we had not made any statement to inclusion of such tools. We are now officially including those tools with all Aura Express SSD purchases. Supply is in house and approved. Customers do not need to concern themselves with a separate acquisition or access to the tools needed as all tools needed for the opening and installation are included and the online listings will updated shortly to reflect this.
Thanks.
OCZ Most certainly DOES NOT make OWC Drives. Period. OCZ doesn't even build in the USA. Our contract lines are, yes, in the USA and we are the only major SSD manufacturer (yes manufacturer) building SSD product in the USA.
*Edit add* - Not only this - but OWC does not resell, rebrand, or otherwise offer any product from OCZ today nor have we ever.
I further disagree with OCZ being the best - and in this case, they are simply absent as they have no solution for MacBook Air, standard 1.8", or 2.5" IDE/ATA Sandforce based.
===
Comment on pricing... SSD pricing only has one way to go and that is lower as flash becomes more cost effective. It's all about the cost of flash and believe me, we want to see lower prices as much as our potential customers. It's a true win-win seeing costs come down.
====
As a additional note. Last week we still hadn't finalized our supply of the special tools used for opening Macbook Air 2010... As such we had not made any statement to inclusion of such tools. We are now officially including those tools with all Aura Express SSD purchases. Supply is in house and approved. Customers do not need to concern themselves with a separate acquisition or access to the tools needed as all tools needed for the opening and installation are included and the online listings will updated shortly to reflect this.
Thanks.
OWC's drives are private label, made by OCZ, that's why they're the best.
It's only money
Thanks for the update Larry!
I placed an order for the 240gb SSD a few days ago and was wondering if the tools would be included.
When do you expect the SSDs to ship?
I placed an order for the 240gb SSD a few days ago and was wondering if the tools would be included.
When do you expect the SSDs to ship?
the 360GB capacity has started shipping, actually higher demand than expected on it and first production sold through and ETA about a week for our next completion. The 240GB presently on track with good supply to begin shipping by Thursday or Friday this week - in line with the current ETA on the site. 180GB is about another week or so behind this.
We're glad to have gotten the tools all squared away and able to include them. Expected to do so from the beginning, but, again, we don't like to set an expectation publicly until we can meet (if not exceed) it.
Thanks!
We're glad to have gotten the tools all squared away and able to include them. Expected to do so from the beginning, but, again, we don't like to set an expectation publicly until we can meet (if not exceed) it.
Thanks!
Thanks Larry
I received my 360GB SSD stick from OWC this morning in Australia via FedEx.
WOW, I now have a MacBook Air 11" with 360GB and I could not be happier. I carry this thing with me everywhere and I now have my iTunes and Aperture libraries on there.
Installation took 2min with the top quality tools supplied.
The stick fits nicely in the 11" with no issues.
Boot off the USB stick that came with your Air and create a partion in DiskUtility.
I then restored from a time machine backup.
I'm happy!!
I received my 360GB SSD stick from OWC this morning in Australia via FedEx.
WOW, I now have a MacBook Air 11" with 360GB and I could not be happier. I carry this thing with me everywhere and I now have my iTunes and Aperture libraries on there.
Installation took 2min with the top quality tools supplied.
The stick fits nicely in the 11" with no issues.
Boot off the USB stick that came with your Air and create a partion in DiskUtility.
I then restored from a time machine backup.
I'm happy!!
Exactly! A large iTunes library and several referenced Aperture libraries are why I also need a lot of space. My MBP 15 is going from a WD Blue 640GB 5400 RPM drive to a WD Black 750GB 7200 RPM drive next week. Can't wait until larger SSD drives are in my price range.
This is also why i wanted a larger drive for my macbook air.
the only downside i see with having large amounts of data on a MBA is that it only has USB for file transfers. I was transferring my aperture library from my MBP to the MBA and it took much longer than the firewire interface.
Thanks for the update!
the only downside i see with having large amounts of data on a MBA is that it only has USB for file transfers. I was transferring my aperture library from my MBP to the MBA and it took much longer than the firewire interface.
Thanks Larry
I received my 360GB SSD stick from OWC this morning in Australia via FedEx.
WOW, I now have a MacBook Air 11" with 360GB and I could not be happier. I carry this thing with me everywhere and I now have my iTunes and Aperture libraries on there.
Installation took 2min with the top quality tools supplied.
The stick fits nicely in the 11" with no issues.
Boot off the USB stick that came with your Air and create a partion in DiskUtility.
I then restored from a time machine backup.
I'm happy!!
Thanks for the update!
Any chance of the 240GB drive shipping this week yet? I ordered one on the 9th so maybe I missed the first batch but the website is back to showing a 4 day wait. Thanks.
We're right on the line right now... possibly today - Monday about certain for 240GB. We have burned midnight oil the last 2 months to see these hit this month.
Not sure about you guys, but I ordered my 240gig about 2 weeks ago (January 12th). It said '2 days' to be available and I ordered next day shipping.
Well, it's the 25th and I'm still waiting... I would venture that OWC needs to update communication with their customers to inform them of expected delivery dates based on real world results.
I'm sure OWC has valid reasons and is working the situation. Adding the tools to get the job done was a reasonable and acceptable delay!
I could be solo in this situation, but... still waiting.
Well, it's the 25th and I'm still waiting... I would venture that OWC needs to update communication with their customers to inform them of expected delivery dates based on real world results.
I'm sure OWC has valid reasons and is working the situation. Adding the tools to get the job done was a reasonable and acceptable delay!
I could be solo in this situation, but... still waiting.
I'm waiting also. I order on the 15th i believe. the status for the 240gb on their website now shows "pending" but it said that last week and it was pushed back.
I contacted owc last friday and they said they expect the drives to ship this week.
So what happened here? Why wasn't OWC muscled out of selling these things, while PhotoFast was told not to sell theirs and they caved so easily?
What's the difference here?
Awesome to see a company not buckling under pressure from Apple like a bunch of (w)ussies. Hopefully we'll start seeing more companies offering the upgrade kits. Cool to see the tools are being offered as well. Anything that helps skirt around Apple's incessant need for controlling how we use and upgrade our devices is ok by me!
I'll wait for the price to come down though.
What's the difference here?
Awesome to see a company not buckling under pressure from Apple like a bunch of (w)ussies. Hopefully we'll start seeing more companies offering the upgrade kits. Cool to see the tools are being offered as well. Anything that helps skirt around Apple's incessant need for controlling how we use and upgrade our devices is ok by me!
I'll wait for the price to come down though.
Received email drive is being shipped today! Hooray! Only took two weeks
nice! i didn't get an email but i checked the order status on the website and mine shows as shipped with a tracking number!
Hi Larry, can you please post an update on the situation with this fella :
Seems my excitement was short lived. The drive is now dead and my Air will not boot at all. Not even using the system USB.
Works fine when I put the original drive back in.
Not happy anymore.
I'm surprised you didn't jump at the opportunity to provide a public tech support. That will be perfect PR for OWC, as well as reassurance of customer-facing approach on your side.
Thanks for these SSDs by the way, If I knew you'd introduce them so soon, I'd probably order 128 Gb version of my Ultimate MBA 13".
Would love to see reviews/benchmarks though, you might still convince me this way
I just saw the drive at Macworld as well as their other offerings. Honestly, I'm very tempted. It looks like the offerings are all pretty solid. Also the idea of finding either a used or refurbished Air and then upgrading to a higher sized drive from these guys sounds like it might not be a bad way to go at some point in the future when these models become replaced with newer models later on down the road.
It's hard to do things like that, in a public forum, and keep your temper.
It'd be nice to see, but you're basically asking for a firm to pay somebody to provide free advice to people in a public forum in which the employee has no control over what is being said to him. He won't know who's a shill, who's a troll, and who's asking an honest question, and you never know to whom you're speaking because everybody uses an alias.
For ten years, I administered the single largest automotive tech forum on the Internet.
And I have seen many, many very large companies go down in flames because they had no power to control what they'd got themselves into with a public forum which they originally entered with all good intentions.
And I have seen many employees of very large companies lose their jobs because they lost their heads in public under the most severe provocations from shills and trolls. They get into fights or get trapped by people who to the moderators are obvious shills, but the moderators can't be everywhere at once to take care of what goes on when they're asleep, or away for whatever reason.
On a large site, too, there's no way for the site administration to have enough moderators trained to actively monitor potentially controversial threads.
When you put all that together, you realise a firm like OWC face a risk doing something like this in a public forum owned by people not under their control.
It's a Catch 22.
Apple Corporate tries to handle it by maintaining their own forums which they monitor, and from out of which they'll even contact individuals if they can tell who they are.
DOA hardware is a fact of life. It happens.
Espresso, I think you just have an axe to grind.
Why didn't that guy contact OWC directly? And if he did -- and that would be my guess -- then how do you know the problem isn't solved? (The guy hasn't had a follow up post to that thread since he had the problem on the 20th.)
Espresso, I think you just have an axe to grind.