When you head to Apple’s online store to configure your MacBook Air, you’ll find options to increase processor speed or SSD capacity — depending on the model you select, of course. There’s no mention of flash drive speed, however, though it’s now clear that not all SSDs are created equal at Apple — not only when it comes to capacity, but also performance.

Jonathan over at TLD discovered a fairly significant discrepancy when benchmarking both MacBook Air models over the weekend. The 128GB Samsung SSD in his 11-inch Air was able to achieve 246 MB/s write and 264 MB/s read speeds. When he switched to the 13-inch model, however, speeds dropped to 156 MB/s and 208 MB/s, respectively, using that notebook’s 128GB Toshiba SSD.

Over at Engadget, they compared speeds on two generations of 13-inch models, and have also confirmed Jonathan’s findings. During their tests, the 256GB Samsung drive in our older model achieved 214 MB/s write and 251 MB/s read speeds, while the 128GB Toshiba drive in the new MacBook Air scored 184 MB/s and 203 MB/s during write and read tests, respectively.

This many not be a very noticeable issue for most MacBook Air owners, but still it’s an interesting find that their performances varies.

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Less than ten days after iOS 4.3.4 parachuted in to fix that nasty PDF exploit, Apple’s gone and dropped another iOS update. So what’ll Cupertino’s latest fix today? Build 8L1 — or 8E600 on 4.2.10 if you’re using the CDMA version — apparently nixes a vulnerability with “certificate validation,” or you know, Apple’s just really fond of keeping all you hackers on your toes. Either way, it’s time to fire up iTunes. And oh by the way, this 4.3.5 can still be jailbroken using redSnow, tethered of course. How many more updates until iOS 5 officially lands?

SOURCE via Redmondpie

After American expat BirdAbroad made her local stores famous last week, local officials have since been combing through the city’s 300-plus gadget shops on behalf of Apple China, and managed to dig up two more “Apple” stores. It’s not exactly clear if these new offenders are at the same severity as the ones spotted by BirdAbroad, but the authorities have confirmed that none of the five stores are Apple Authorised Resellers, let alone having its permission to use its logo on their store front.

Additionally, two out of the five stores have since been shut down due to unlicensed retail operation. The fate of the remaining three is still unknown — the officials have only concluded that no KIRF products have been found in the stores, though details such as the decor and staff uniform are certainly very similar to those of the real deal. BirdAbroad has since gathered photos of more sketchy Apple stores across the world, so go take a gander. Oh, and for those who have been out of the loop, there’s a hands-on video of one of the Kunming stores after the break.

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Did you pick up a new iMac between May and July 2011 sporting a 1TB Seagate HDD? You should probably know that the platter might be of the prone to failing variety. No worries though, Apple’s announced it’ll replace potentially faulty drives at no cost.

Owners of registered rigs at risk are being notified via email, but if you skipped that form you can check the serial number on Apple’s website (linked below). After confirming that the machine’s eligible, you’ll be able to drop it off at an Apple Store or authorized service centre for the swap. It’s also suggested that you back up the drive prior to bringing it down. Finally, you’ve got a good excuse to use that Thunderbolt port.

SOURCE via Mac World

And you thought that the beef between Personal Audio and Apple has been solved, well think again. Everyone’s favourite patent licensing company is back, hitting Cupertino with another suit. You’ll recall an earlier ruling by a federal jury in Eastern Texas found the CE maker guilty of infringing upon PA’s playlist-related IP with an assortment of older iPods. This new filing alleges that newer Apple devices, like the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and modern day iPods — which weren’t part of the original 2009 case — also violate that same IP, in a move we’d surmise serves to pad Personal Audio’s coffers.

SOURCE via BGR

Everyone’s highly anticipating the arrival of iOS 5, as Apple has already let loss off their Lion. Well, it seemed that the last hurrah for the beta iOS 5 has just arrived, in the form of the beta 4. As with the costume of every iOS release, be it beta or gold, we will be watching closely for the jailbreak of this.

A new beta of iTunes has also been included, though looking through the change log there’s nothing particularly amazing about this release. Among other minutia, the Twitter app will now prompt you if it’s unable to identify your location before you exit it, MobileMe local contacts are deleted instead of being merged, and iCloud file names are now case sensitive.

Interestingly, this is the first version of iOS5 that is said to be able to be applied OTA — though that particular option comes with the warning that all photos will be deleted should you give it a try. We’re guessing that “feature” will not be present in the final release candidate, but we could be wrong.

SOURCE via Apple

Do you notice anything above? New MacBook Air, new Mac Mini, and the Mac OS X Lion screen. But there’s also something missing. Looks like Apple may have dropped one important product from its store during today’s new product rush. It seems as if there may indeed be some meat to those recent rumors that the company is doing away with its white plastic piece of laptop goodness — at the very least, the thing is nowhere to be seen in its current online lineup. Apple has confirmed that the MacBook has, in fact, been discontinued. However, while the notebook will be discontinued for individual consumers, Apple will continue to make it available to educational institutions. Is the MacBook Air overshadowing its elder sibling, or is Apple up to something else?

I’ve to admit, the Apple MacBook Air is indeed a perfect ultraportable notebook, but what about Mac OS X? Some may, but some won’t agree. Anyway, does it hurt your brain to look at the picture above? That’d be Chromium OS — running on a MacBook Air! Pretty much the definition of “worlds colliding,” this feat is brought to you by Hexxeh, whose most recent mind-warping project put Chrome on an iPad. The platform-mixing maestro says in this case everything works except Bluetooth, owing to a lack of support. But hearty souls who seek to follow in his footsteps, take heed: there’s no dual-boot option, and you will lose OS X — so perhaps this is a job for your now outdated model. Click the source link for 14 easy steps to turning your svelte laptop into Frankenstein’s monster. And oh yeah, that thing behind on the left, that’s a Chrome pillow. Jelly?

SOURCE via hexxeh

What good is an OS update without some software that can take full advantage of all its fancy new features? Naturally, Apple’s got your back, and today you’ll be getting some spiffy new versions of iTunes and iWork to compliment that fearsome Lion upgrade. iTunes 10.4 finally ushers the music management app into the 64-bit era, and adds support for OS X 10.7′s full-screen windows. The iWork Update 6 also brings along the distraction-free functionality, as well as resume, auto-save, and versioning for all your important docs. Not everyone is seeing the updates just yet, so be patient, it shouldn’t be much longer before you’re interrupted by that slightly annoying, but oh so satisfying, Software Update window.

Along with today’s MacBook Air and Mac mini updates, Apple has also updated their 27” Cinema Display. The display now goes by a new name: the Apple Thunderbolt Display (ATD). As the name implies, the display now features Intel’s new Thunderbolt interface, which Apple has heavily adopted in all new 2011 Macs. The ATD is world’s first commercially available Thunderbolt display and the second Thunderbolt device, the first one being Promise’s Pegasus enclosure.

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