Apple Notebook Shipments Skyrocket 61%
This is a good news, bad news story. Let’s start with the good news!
DisplaySearch, a market research firm, is reporting that Apple’s sales of notebook computers are up 61% from 1st Quarter, 2007 to 1st Quarter, 2008. In that fiscal quarter, Apple shipped over 1.4 million notebooks, compared to almost 900,000 the year before. That puts Apple just behind Asus in terms of growth year-to-year, as the Taiwanese board and component maker saw a 67% growth rate. Most other notebook manufacturers saw growth rates in the 20 - 40% range.
The bad news? Apple’s still in seventh place in overall notebook market share at 4.6%, trailing behind leaders HP (20.8%), Dell (15.1%), and Acer (14.7%) but still ahead of Asus (4.3%) and Sony (4.2%).
My personal speculation is that Asus is seeing huge increases due to the Eee PC subnotebook, which has been extremely popular with geeks wanting tiny Linux or Windows computers. If trends continue, Apple’s notebook market share numbers should continue to grow into 2008.
[via DisplaySearch]
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Found Footage: Boost your MacBook’s RAM
Have you ever thought about upgrading your MacBook’s scrawny 2GBs of RAM that Apple ships to something a little more deserving? Well, ChannelFlip has a very cool video showing you how to upgrade the RAM in either a MacBook or MacBook Pro. In addition they tested the performance of the 2GB and 4GB Apple RAM and the new Corsair 4GB low-latency Mac RAM. They show off the results in the video.
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PWN2OWN
Just one more reason the MacBook Air was a miss on the Apple product dartboard:
Many of you remember last year’s CanSecWest conference, where a MacBook Pro was compromised for a $10,000 prize. Well… take that, replace the MacBook Pro with a MacBook Air, and repeat it again for 2008.
We learned in February that this year’s CanSecWest would still involve a Mac, but also a laptop running
Vista and some flavor of Linux. That’s exactly how it played out this week in Vancouver when security teams were presented with the three machines for the PWN2OWNcontest. Unfortunately for Mac fanboys, the MacBook Air was the first to go down, thanks to security researcher Charlie Miller. Miller is now the proud owner of $10,000 in cold, hard cash.
Charlie Miller’s name might sounds familiar to you, and that’s because he was among the first to discover an exploit in mobile Safari on the iPhone. According to IDG News Service, Miller took less than two minutes to compromise the MacBook Air. “Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest’s organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on,” wrote IDG.
Part of the rules for the contest were that hackers could only use software that was preinstalled on the machines. DVLabs says that it is privvy to the exploit, and that it was through Safari. The exploit itself, however, is not being revealed for now in order to give Apple time to patch it (DVLabs says that the vulnerability has been “responsibly disclosed” to the company and that Apple is already working on it).
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MacBooks Get SSDs (Unofficially)
While it’s possible to install standalone solid state hard drives into most any laptop, it’s always nice to see services selling preconfigured packages. Right now a company named ExperCom is offering both MacBooks and MacBook Pros with SSDs installed out of the box. And their prices are actually pretty reasonable.
While a new 15″ MacBook Pro with 200GB hard drive will run you $2,000 from Apple, ExperCom’s version with a 120GB SSD will only cost $649 more at $2649. That’s only a $50 price premium over the drive’s $600 pricepoint, so not nearly as bad as those beefed-up TiVos of yore. A 13″ MacBook with 60GB SSD will cost $1649…meaning that SSD laptops with functional hard drives will soon be getting downright buyable.
ExperCom will also transfer files off of existing systems you want to upgrade. That’ll run you $599 (60GB) or $899 (120GB) for the full hardware and service. [ExperCom via TUAW]
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SSD Upgrades for MacBook / MacBook Pro
MacBook / MacBook Pro owners, are you suffering from SSD envy?
There’s no need to fret, since ExperCom has just announced immediate availability of SSD upgrades for your favorite Apple laptops. If you already own a MacBook or MacBook Pro, you can send it to ExperCom’s Logan, Utah office and have your hard drive replaced with a 60GB ($599) or 120GB ($899) SSD. ExperCom moves your data to the SSD so your MacBook is ready to roll when it is back in your hands, and returns the old HD to you for use as a Time Machine drive (enclosure not included).
If you’ve been thinking about purchasing a new MacBook Pro or MacBook, ExperCom is selling those laptops pre-configured with SSDs. A 15″ MacBook Pro with the 2.4 GHz processor and a 120GB SSD is $2649, compared to $1999 for a stock Apple MBP with a standard 200GB hard drive. Want a white MacBook with a 2.2 GHz CPU and a 60GB SSD? It’s yours for $1649, $550 over the price of a white MacBook with a 120GB HD.
Since the SSD upgrades are not covered by Apple’s warranty, ExperCom provides service or can re-install the old drive prior to Apple service.
Thanks to Eric Hancock for the tip!
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