The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/16/lion_thumb_drive/

Apple sells world's most expensive flash drive

The $40 Lion convenience fee

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

Posted in Software, 16th August 2011 16:29 GMT

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You can now purchase Apple's Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, on a flash drive for $69 – and, yes, it's the exact same operating system that's available at the online Mac Store for $29.99.

The USB thumb drive is available through Apple's online store [1], where Apple explains that the $69 lets you install the company's new OS without a broadband connection. That's a $40 convenience free.

Apple doesn't note the size of the flash drive upon which Lion resides, but the Mac App Store download [2] weighs in at 3.49GB, so we're betting that their slim, oh-so-sexy, Apple-branded thumb drive is a 4GB model.

Apple Mac OS X Lion thumb drive in retail packaging

It's white and well-packaged – must be from Apple

Do note that you can pick up a 4GB Kingston DataTraveler 101 Gen 2 for $7.99 [3] at Amazon (£4.26 [4] in the UK).

If you don't feel like shelling out seventy bucks for the privilege of owning your own Lion-installation flash drive, Lifehacker has a handy tutorial on how to make your own [5] – or an installation DVD, for that matter. We haven't needed to give their method a try, and we don't vouch for its legality, but you're old enough to make your own decisions, right? ®