Graham Spencer

917 posts on MacStories since January 2011

Former MacStories contributor.

graham@macstories.net

OS X Lion: Installation Guide, Boot Discs and Q&A

Apple today released Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and it is the first release of OS X to be distributed primarily through a digital channel. That digital channel, the recently released Mac App Store, is the main way in which Apple is selling Lion.

To help you (or perhaps a family member or friend who may need a little guidance) with the various installation methods, and how the Mac App Store changes things, we’ve prepared the following post. In this article we include a step-by-step guide for the typical Lion upgrade process, explain what the new Recovery Partition is, how to make your own bootable Lion Installation media, how to do a clean Lion installation and a helpful Q&A section.

So jump after the break to see the full article and learn more than you would want to know about the Lion installation process.

Contents

To make things as simple as possible we have split this article into several sections so you can jump right to the section you most want/need to learn about. So as a side note to those who wish to read the whole article, be warned some parts and information is repeated multiple times.

  1. Introduction to Mac App Store Distribution of Lion
  2. The Simple Upgrade Installation (from Snow Leopard)
  3. The Recovery Partition, What Is It?
  4. Making Your Own Bootable Media
  5. The Quasi-Clean Installation
  6. The Completely Clean Installation
  7. Q & A

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The Mac Mini Receives A Refresh, Now Come With Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge Processors

Following the refresh of the MacBook Air, Apple has today also released new Mac Mini models. As is standard for this year’s Mac refreshes, the Mac Mini now comes with the new Intel Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt ports. Interestingly there is no optical drive in the Mini anymore.

Mac mini is designed without an optical disc drive. Because these days, you don’t need one. It’s easier than ever to download music and movies from the iTunes Store. And you can download apps from the Mac App Store with a click. So what did we do with all the extra space? We squeezed in more powerful processors, advanced graphics, and Thunderbolt technology.

There will be two standard models available for the average consumer as well as one server model. The base model will come with a 2.3 GHz i5 processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive for just $599. The second model increases the processor clock to 2.5 GHz and doubles the RAM to 4GB – keeping the hard drive at 500 GB and costs $799. There is also an updated server model for $999 which has a 2.0 GHz quad-core i7 with 4 GB RAM and dual 750 GB hard drives.

Jump the break for more details and Apple’s press release on the new models.

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Apple Introduces New MacBook Airs With Thunderbolt And Sandy Bridge Processors

Eventually, after literally months of rumors, Apple has today unveiled a refreshed line of MacBook Airs. As expected the new models come with the new Thunderbolt I/O port that made its way onto the MacBook and iMac earlier this year. Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors also power the new MacBook Airs with a mixture of i5 and i7 processor options depending on the model you choose. Lion, which has been released just a few minutes ago also comes pre-installed on the new models. All new models also come with a built-in backlit keyboard.

The base MacBook Air Model features the same 11.6” display and comes with a 1.6 GHz i5 processor, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of flash storage for the same price of $999. The more expensive 11.6” model sees an increase in RAM to 4 GB and storage to 128 GB for $1,199.

The 13.3” variety of the MacBook Air also has two standard models; the first comes with a 1.7 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM and 128 GB of storage for $1,299. The more expensive model simply bumps up the storage to 256 GB for $1,599. Built to order versions can be maxed out with a 1.8 GHz i7 processor, 4 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage. The 13” model also now includes an SD card slot.

“Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate everyday notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “MacBook Air features our most advanced technology and is an ideal match for Lion, especially with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store.”

Jump the break for more details and Apple’s full press release.

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Saver For iPhone Giveaway: Mundane Expense Tracking Made Beautiful

Two weeks ago we reviewed Saver for iPhone, which was a new expense-tracking app for the iPhone that had just launched in the App Store. In the review, I made particular note of the design of Saver – which I feel has one the nicest user interfaces of any iPhone app I’ve used. For a task that is important (for many) but often dull and boring, Saver not only makes things a little more exciting and vibrant but it also makes it extremely easy (whilst still being fairly powerful) to accomplish various tasks such as adding an expense entry or viewing what kinds of things you spend most on.

You can read our full review of Saver here and purchase Saver on the App Store here. However, the developer of Saver has been kind enough to offer MacStories readers 3 copies of the app so we are running a giveaway. If you are interested, jump the break for the full details of how to enter.

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Reminder: Apple’s Q3 Earnings Call Today – 5 PM ET

Later today, starting at 5:00 PM ET (2:00 PM PT) Apple will hold its Q3 2011 earnings call to reveal their financial results, shortly after the market closes. Apple will, as usual be offering an audio-only live stream of the call that will be available here. Meanwhile here at MacStories, we will be following the earnings call with a post covering it live – this will be a post continuously updated with notes from the call.

As for what today’s earnings call will bring, AllThingsD has an article this morning quoting a JP Morgan analyst who believes Apple will exceed expected earnings “by a lot”. It is also helpful to note that for the last 13 quarters, Apple has beaten analysts’ financial expectations – many expect Apple could do it again for this quarter’s results.

Earlier this month some (non-Wall Street) Apple analysts from The Mac Observer’s Finance Board expected (on average) for Apple to have sold around 17.6 million iPhones, 8.3 million iPads, 8.3 iPods and 4.3 million Macs. The same analysts believe Apple could have seen 69% year-over-year growth in Q3 2011.

Be sure to tune in at 5 PM ET for a full breakdown of the Q3 2011 financial results from Apple’s earnings call. For those in other time zones, the earnings call is at:

2:00 PM – San Francisco

6:00 PM – Rio de Janeiro

10:00 PM – London

11:00 PM – Rome

1:00 AM (Wed) – Moscow

5:00 AM (Wed) – Beijing

7:00 AM (Wed) – Sydney

9:00 AM (Wed) – Auckland

For all other time zones, click here.

Apple Reveals One Billion Visitors To Retail Stores, Another 33 Stores Set To Open By September 25

Apple today revealed to an Australian site, Current, that it has seen over 1 billion customers through its retail doors since it opened the first Apple Store in Washington just over ten years ago in May of 2001. Current got the information from Apple after they had contacted them to confirm the opening of the eleventh Apple Store in Australia, which is set to open this Saturday in Penrith, New South Wales.

Apple Retail has been in business for 10 years. During this period, we have had over 1 billion visitors through our doors, many of whom are new to the Mac, as the Apple Store is the best place to learn about all the latest products from Apple.

Apple also revealed that by the end of Apple’s financial year (ending September 25th) they plan to have 363 Apple Stores open, worldwide. Given that Apple currently has 330 stores open that means Apple is planning to open another 33 stores in just over two months – effectively that is a new store roughly every three days averaged out.

Our retail offering continues to grow, with Penrith the 11th store in Australia, since we opened Apple Store Sydney just three years ago. Globally we are planning to have 363 stores in fiscal 2011.

Current also asked Apple representatives what made their retail stores so popular and got a response that referenced service as being the “hallmark of every Apple Store”. In particular they pointed towards the fact that the response from customers has been “overwhelming” with 1 million customers taking an advantage of the Personal Setup offering in the last quarter alone.

[Current via The Next Web]

Apple Trialling Retina Displays From Samsung and LG For The iPad 3?

According to a report in the Korea Times, Apple has begun quality testing LCD displays from Samsung and LG for the iPad 3. A source claims that the LCD displays currently being tested are QXGA with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 – a resolution twice that of the current iPad display. Such a resolution for a 9.7” display would mean the display has roughly 260 DPI and would likely fit under the ‘Retina Display’ marketing term – despite the fact that for the iPhone it was specified to be above 300 DPI, this is because the iPad is normally held further away from the eyes, and thus the DPI requirement is lower.

Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 will feature an improved display to support quad extended graphics (QXGA), a display resolution of 2048×1536 pixels with a 4:3 aspect ratio to provide full high definition (HD) viewing experience, said a source close to the talks

A deal between the two display manufacturers and Apple is also supposedly close to being finalised. One source told the Korea Times “Apple has traditionally preferred to use the same providers of the same parts for the same device, even as they evolve to different versions. I don’t see any fundamental change to that approach”. That said, it comes at a time when the relationship between Apple and Samsung is strained amid ongoing legal battles between the two companies. In fact just last week it was rumoured that Apple may be shift production of an A6 processor to TSMC.

Although neither LG or Samsung would not comment on these suggestions, Samsung officials did stress that the chances are “very low” for the current legal battles to affect Apple’s relationship with the LCD manufacturing division of Samsung. LG, however, is reportedly “euphoric” about increasing LCD orders from Apple and other handset and tablet manufacturers amid a still slow global recovery. It should also be noted that just a few weeks ago, there was a rumor of an iPad HD that was set to arrive this fall that would feature an increased resolution display, just like the one described by this report, and be aimed at ‘pro’ users.

[Korea Times via The Next Web]

Those Living In Taiwan Now Have A Seven-Day Return Period For App Store Purchases

Following new regulations in Taiwan, Apple last month began offering those living in the country a seven-day period in which they could “return” any purchases from the App Store. As discovered by IDG News, Apple has now formalized that policy and has updated their terms and conditions for the Mac App Store, App Store and iBookstore.

You may cancel your purchase within seven (7) days from the date of delivery and iTunes will reimburse you for the amount paid, provided you inform iTunes that you have deleted all copies of the product. Upon cancellation you will no longer be licensed to use the product. This right cannot be waived.

Whilst Apple has on occasion refunded purchases when customers contact support, this move allows any customer in Taiwan to get a reimbursement for any app and without any grounds within the first seven days. Some may recall with the recent uproar over the new Final Cut Pro X, Apple actually publicly offered anyone who had purchased FCP X a refund but they made sure to note that it was only a “one time exception”. However as the above snippet from the terms and conditions note, the process for those in Taiwan is still fairly tedious with consumers having to email the iTunes support team and manually delete the apps.

[Via MacRumors]

Apple’s A6 Chip In Trial Production With TSMC, Might Be A Sign Of Apple Cutting Samsung Ties

A report from Reuters is claiming that Apple has begun trialling production of an A6 processor with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) ahead of an expected 2012 launch. If true it would be a movement away from Samsung, which for the A4 and A5 processor, has been Apple’s sole manufacturing partner.

Such a move would presumably be in part be due to the current legal battle between Apple and Samsung that began earlier this year. As for what the A6 brings, analysts are expecting the processor could be a quad-core chip, a jump from the current dual-core A5 chip and single-core A4 chip.

A final decision has not yet been made on whether TSMC would produce the commercial, high-volume quantities, but TSMC is well prepared for that – they are the largest contract chip manufacturer in the world. CNet notes that analyst Gus Richard told them this month that Intel could be an option as they have been aggressively seeking more business with Apple

[Via CNet]