Apple released a new line up of iMacs and Mac Pros today. They also announced a new 27″ LED Cinema Display and a very interesting looking “Magic Trackpad”.

New Mac Pro

Thanks to the next-generation Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors and new system architecture, the Mac Pro now delivers performance that’s nearly twice as fast as before. Each processor features an integrated memory controller and 8MB of fully shared L3 cache. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory provides up to 2.9x the performance of previous Mac Pro standard graphics cards. For even more graphics power, choose the ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512MB of GDDR5 memory. With blazing-fast 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM, high-performance graphics, a redesigned interior for easier expansion, and up to 8TB of internal storage, itʼs the most advanced Mac Pro ever.

Features

• 8-core or quad-core processing power with Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors up to
3.33GHz
• 8MB of fully shared L3 cache per processor
• Integrated memory controller and up to 32GB of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM (16GB in quadcore configurations)
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
• Hyper-Threading for up to 16 virtual cores
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics and a double-wide PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot
• Up to 8TB of internal storage with up to four Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drives2
• Optional Mac Pro RAID Card providing hardware RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 0+1
• Three full-length PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for specialized cards
• Convenient front and rear I/O and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports for connecting a variety of devices
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Apple Mouse
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Fully customizable with an innovative enclosure that supports future expansion

New iMacs

The new iMac is the ultimate all-in-one computer. Its Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors feature an advanced architecture and set new benchmarks for iMac performance. And fast discrete graphics processors now come standard in every iMac. The 21.5-inch and 27-inch widescreen displays are perfect for HD video, and the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse keep your desktop tidy.

Features

• 21.5-inch display with 1920-by-1080 resolution; 27-inch display with 2560-by-1440 resolution
• Dual-core Intel Core i3 and i5 processors up to 3.6GHz
• Available quad-core Intel Core i5 and i7 processors up to 2.93GHz (27-inch model only)
• ATI Radeon HD 4670, ATI Radeon HD 5670, or ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics
• Wireless Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Built-in iSight camera, stereo speakers, and microphone
• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi1 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Magic Trackpad

The new Magic Trackpad is the first Multi-Touch trackpad designed to work with your Mac desktop computer. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever. Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth wireless technology. Use it in place of a mouse or in conjunction with one on any Mac computer — even a notebook.

New 27″ LED Cinema Display

Connect your Mac with Mini DisplayPort to the LED Cinema Display for a panoramic viewing experience unlike any other. You get a huge 27-inch glossy widescreen display with a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio and an astonishing 2560-by-1440 resolution. With 60 percent more pixels than the 24-inch LED Cinema Display, the 27-inch LED Cinema Display gives you even more room for all your windows and applications.
Unlike most displays that take time to warm up before they reach maximum brightness, an LED-backlit display is instantly on and uniformly bright. LED backlighting also gives you greater control over screen brightness. So you can tune the LED Cinema Display to suit the ambient light in even the dimmest room.

Lots of places that offer nationwide Macintosh, iPhone, or iPod service will try to you lure you to their website by saturating their webpage with geographic keywords that make it appear that they are “in” your area.

If you’re looking for “local” Macintosh, iPhone, or iPod service or repair that’s really local to the Baltimore, Maryland or Washington DC areas, then you’ve found the right place.

MacMedics has been repairing Macintosh computers in Maryland since 1989.

When you’re looking for local Mac, iPhone, iPod, or even iPad service from a reputable service provider, come see us at MacMedics.

Thinking about going to the Apple Store for service? Our service is faster, usually less expensive, and carries our full MacMedics 1-year service warranty. See our Blog post about that here. The majority of our our Apple warranty repairs are complete and ready to return to you within 24 hours. Need a rental while your unit is in the shop? We can do that too!

Be sure to see our Blog post on why shipping your broken Mac or iPhone off to parts unknown is something that you should really think twice about.

As Apple Authorized Service Providers, we perform quite a number of Macintosh warranty repairs on behalf of Apple’s customers. We also do so for many of our own customers whom have purchased their Apple gear from MacMedics.

Over the last six months or so, our Apple service business has basically doubled. The Apple Stores in the area are so overwhelmed; many Apple owners are finding out that there is an alternative to making an appointment or waiting around in the mall for a face-to-face with a Genius at the Genius Bar. See our recently updated Blog post on why it makes sense to come visit MacMedics in either Lanham (1 mile from I-495 at RT 50) or Millersville (5 minutes from BWI Airport or 10 minutes form the Annapolis Mall)

When we perform an Apple Warranty or AppleCare repair for someone, Apple sends them a survey to ask how well we performed the service on Apple’s behalf.

Apple then forwards these remarks and the accompanying scores to us with the idea that they will help improve our service.

In the latest round feedback from Apple, these anonymous comments praise MacMedics in such a level of detail it almost looks like we wrote them ourselves.

These are direct from Apple, and we’d like to thank our loyal customers for supporting us. THANKS!

-Very customer focused.

-They went above and beyond what was required of them. Very professional and thorough.

We’ve done work for DJ PHAZE a few times before, but most recently we saved his MacBook from a really bad water spill. He sent us this nice note to thank us.

“Hey this is the One and Only, DJ PHAZE from Baltimore. Let me tell you a quick thing or two about the folks at MacMedics… As a Serato DJ my MacBooks are the heart of my operation. Without them… um how about we not even finish that sentence?

Thank you to Matt, Tinika, and Dana for taking care of my MacBook woes. “

It’s not hard to see that the crew here at MacMedics love what they do. Here’s another review that just popped up. The reviewer is correct, we really don’t sleep until we have the problem solved.

“These folks are great! MacMedics’ experts don’t sleep until they solve your Macintosh problems (not that there are a ton of Mac problems)! I’ve purchased computers and peripherals from MacMedics and have benefitted from their encyclopedic knowledge of hardware and software–including PC/DOS software that runs on a virtual PC they set up on my Mac Pro. So, if you wannabe a Mac user, or are already are, frankly, you can’t go wrong by relying on the experts, their cheerful advice, and dogged determination to excel at MacMedics!

Scott”

While MacMedics has made a name for ourselves in the Macintosh consulting and service community by providing thoughtful and well planned solutions, our expertise is not limited to just Macs, or even computers.

When one of our customers asked us if his video security system would work with his Macintosh computer systems, we dived right in. We asked for a system to be shipped to us, we set it up and reported back on our findings.

The verdict: This system was not right for him, or his needs.

When this same customer started having problems with his over one mile of underground video, telephone, and data cables, a quote was requested for a fiber optic solution.

We were asked to look at the quote, and when it looked too high, we started calling our connections in the Baltimore tech community. We coordinated a new proposal from a diffrent cabliing vendor at no cost to the customer. When the dust had cleared and the project had been properly specified, and re-quoted, our consulting and examination of the project ended up saving this customer about $40,000!

We don’t tolerate wasteful spending, and when we see a problem, Macintosh or otherwise, we’ll point it out to you, and document it in our written report.

If your last consulting project got left unfinished, or if your consultant was more used to removing spyware from Windows machines, then MacMedics is the company you need to call. Better sooner than later.

If you want to talk to someone who can help right now, give us a call on one of our Macintosh Service hotlines or e-mail us.

If you spill coffee into your MacBook or MacBook Pro, the trick is to get it to MacMedics fast. Don’t try to fix it yourself, and just because it seems to be working OK, does NOT mean you’re out of the woods. Best thing to do is try to mop up excess liquid, remove the battery, then get it to us a quickly as possible.

Here are some Do-It-Yourself procedures to avoid:

1. Don’t try to turn the unit on NO MATTER WHAT. If there is liquid in the unit, and it’s making a connection between anything, then that could very well be the end of your laptop.

2. Don’t try to take the unit apart yourself. It’s not that hard to take off most MacBook’s top case, but to ensure the liquid is gone, the logic board needs to be removed in almost every case.

3. Don’t try to clean your logic board or any other part of your computer with “distilled” water. In fact, we don’t recommend you even try to clean it at all.

4. If moisture gets in, it’s usually not going to go away on it’s own. If your computer seems to be working after a spill, then that means you most likely got lucky and we might be able to fix/save your MacBook or MacBook Pro. But, in order to do so, turn the unit off and remove the battery. The liquid problem almost never goes away on it’s own.

5. If you have something like coffee, orange juice, soda, and many other type of acidic liquids, two things, 1. the acid will cause more corrosion than just water, and 2. Anything that has sugars in it won’t totally evaporate, it will just turn in a syrup which can cause it’s own set of problems. If you are growing a corrosion “science fair” project inside your laptop, you’ll end up with something that looks like mold that we call “creeping crud“. This stuff is nasty, because as long as it’s inside your unit, it can sort of “grow” and “creep” to reach other parts of your computer and cause more damage along the way. Anything it touches and then grows on will get get fried if power is applied (even well after the liquid is long gone). It’s also very brittle and it can crack off and then “float” around inside of your unit causing more issues as it “pinballs” its way around the inside of your computer.

6. Do us a big favor, don’t put your Apple laptop into an oven to dry it out. This can cause a whole new set of problems. We just wrapped up writing an estimate on a Unibody MacBook Pro that the owner tried to take it apart, then tried to clean the keyboard with water, and then baked the whole thing in the oven. Total repair $1700. New computer $1200.

One other thing to think about: Your hard drive. If your data is NOT backed up, your liquid soaked laptop could be putting your data at risk. This is the first thing we look a when working on a liquid spill case. We remove the hard drive and check to ensure that your data is safe. Most DIY repairs don’t take this into account, and most won’t take the controller off the hard drive to ensure there’s no liquid under it. When making a back up plan, you should take into account laptop damage as a possible way for your data to get in harm’s way. Please ensure you have a back up (tested and working) at all times.

Here’s a testimonial for one that we fixed a while back. This client was smart and he got the unit to us quickly, so we could get the coffee out while it was still wet.

“Well I’ve received my MacBook delivered back to me via your courier; and, I have to tell you that it was like getting a member of the family home from the hospital. Five days after buying my MacBook, I spilled coffee across the open laptop: I was certain that I had just spent $1,200 for coffee I wouldn’t get to enjoy. I never dreamed you could have saved my files– much less the entire computer. I am in awe of the dedication and skill it must have taken to disassemble my laptop, clean it piece by piece, and then return it to me as good as new. Thank you for the attention, the care, and the professionalism you demonstrated in far exceeding my expectations in quality of service and affordability. I highly recommend MacMedics, and would encourage any Mac user who drinks coffee to put your number on speed dial.”

Shane Townsend
Baltimore, Maryland

Getting An Accurate Macintosh Repair Diagnosis Is Important. You’ll Always Get One At MacMedics, And Never For More Than $49

Recently, a MacMedics client showed me an on-line review of another Apple Authorized Service Provider that shares the Metro area with one of the MacMedics offices. To keep things as fair as possible I won’t name names or locations.

Here’s a copy of the review that was marked 1 out of 5 stars:

“Let me fill you in on my story. I’m a sophomore in college, and I own a MacBook Pro. One day the display just stops working. External displays don’t even work. So I bring it to an Apple store nearby. They tell me they can’t cover it under the warranty because of the “external damage” (really nothing more than a few scratches and a small bump or two). So, they want to charge me $1300 for repairs. I figured I’d just take it to an Authorized Service Provider, and have them fix only the parts that aren’t working. Little did I know that about a week later I’d get a call saying they couldn’t do anything for me and that they’d have to charge me $125 for “Diagnostics” when they can’t even tell me what’s wrong with the thing. Overall, if it’s a hardware problem, I’m not even sure if it would be worth trying to save the computer. You may as well just buy another one?”

Let me tell you why this type of situation never happens at MacMedics:

1. If you bring in a unit that is obviously beyond our help, we won’t try to entice you to check it in for a diagnostic if we don’t think it’s going to be worth fixing. In many cases, if you stop by with your sick Mac, we’ll be able to tell pretty quick if we think it’s worth fixing or even worth looking into. We’ll often plug a unit in to see what’s up with it while-you-wait if we have the open bench space when you stop by. We know that nobody wants to be without their computer, and in many cases if we find out your issue is a simple problem like a bad power adapter, bad battery, corrupt power manager, or a bad stick of RAM it can often be repaired right on the spot.

2. If we have to open up your MacBook or MacBook Pro to look inside for trouble, and we deem that it needs a repair that is either too much for you, or just to expensive in general our fee for the diagnostic and surgery is only $49. That fee is only charged IF you decide NOT to fix your Mac laptop.

3. If you bring us a Macintosh computer for service, we will usually have an answer for you within 24 hours. Never a week or more as was the case in the review mentioned here.

4. If your unit is super sick (like it needs a $1200 repair) it may still have salvage value. A. We’ll help move you into a new Mac and transfer all of your data (if your data is healthy) for a flat fee of $99. B. If you unit has any value to us, we’ll offer a trade-in value for it. (That’s not something Apple does or anyone else we know of.)

5. If your MacBook laptop has suffered a liquid spill, we offer a $99 “estimate” service, which will get you an estimate on the total repair, and 1-way take apart on the laptop. We’ll remove the logic board, look under the hard drive and even try some basic cleaning and testing to see what is wrong with your MacBook. Unlike out $49 fee, the $99 liquid estimate is work we have to perform, so it’s really like the first leg of the repair, so any needed repairs and part are in addition to the $99 estimate fee. See this MacMedics Blog post for more info.

6. Our in-shop techs will be honest with you. We will try to find the cause of your computer’s issue, and report back to you with ALL of your options. If we can repair your Mac cost effectively, we’ll go in that direction. If your repair is more than 50% the cost of replacing the unit, we’ll most likely recommend replacing it.

In some cases of a major hardware failure, MacMedics, might be able to move you into a pre-owned Mac. We often can move over your upgraded hard drive and/or RAM to try and maximize the value of what you have already paid for.

We really do love what we do, and no matter what your situation is, we would LOVE to talk to you about your problem. Give us call, send us an e-mail, or just stop by either of two Apple Certified Mac Labs in Millersville or Lanham, Maryland.

Before you make an appointment for the Genius Bar, drive to the mall, find a parking spot, and then lug your Mac through the Annapolis Mall to get to the Apple Store, please consider supporting your local neighborhood Mac shop!

Need more convincing? Take a look at these comments that were sent to Apple from clients who we performed Apple Warranty or AppleCare service for recently:

The service was the best I have ever had on any product. Thanks!

I could not be more happy with the combined service of Apple and Mac Medics. Mac Medics had it couriered to their location and I had it back on Tuesday after the Holiday. I mean serious who works this fast? While the rest of the country enjoyed their 3-day weekend somebody was working on my problem. My satisfaction is off of the charts and I have told many peers and coworkers this amazing story. Thanks again!!!!

Stop! Before You Make A Trip To The Annapolis Apple Store, See This Checklist First

Visit MacMedics in Millersville (near BWI airport) or Lanham, Maryland (near RT 50 & I-495) the next time you need Mac sales or service.

See our Blog post with all the details on why to come see MacMedics instead of trekking to the Apple Store. Clients that come to see us, often tell us they will never go back to the Apple Store for Macintosh sales OR service!

Or review this quick top 11 reasons here:

1. No appointment is needed: No need to call ahead when you’re ready to come visit MacMedics! Just walk in and our Apple Certified Techs will take great care of you.

When MacMedics performs an Apple Warranty or AppleCare repair for one of our clients, Apple sends a follow up e-mail to ask how we did. These are some of the mini-reviews that we have received.

#1 The service I received at MacMedics was very good and they always called me and left messages updating the status and progress of my computer.
—–
#2 I loved being able to walk in talk to a rep and have the work started right away. They have great customer service they always keep me up to date on their progress and explain their work and my service options every step of the way.
—–
#3 They were awesome. Nuff said. Dana runs a great show there.
—–
#4 They were fantastic. The service was quick the people were friendly and willing to answer all of my questions.

These are anonymous comments, so if one of these Apple Warranty or AppleCare reviews for MacMedics is yours, thank you!

If you need Apple Macintosh please consider visiting MacMedics in Millersville or Lanham instead of trekking to your local Apple Store. You never need an appointment, we’re 10 steps from your car, We’re cheaper, we’re faster (most warranty repairs are completed in 24 hours), and above all we’re accurate! We only fix what needs fixing. See our previous post with our Top Ten Reasons Not To Stand In Line And Fight The Crowds At The Apple Store.

Don’t forget that MacMedics Millersville also repairs all types of iPods and iPhones. Don’t pay Apple to swap out your iPhone for $199? We can fix your iPhone 3G glass or digitizer for $89 or iPhone 3G S for $99 (we also have “While-You-Wait iPhone service where we swap out the entire top half of your iPhone 3G for $124 or iPhone 3G S for $145. What’s even better, is almost iPhone and iPod service and repairs that come into our shop are fixed the same day. If you’re in by 12:00 Noon, we should have you out the door or your iPhone in the FedEx truck by 5:00 PM!