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iBook 800 MHz will still not burn CDs at maximum speed

iBook 800 MHz will still not burn CDs at maximum speed

CNET staff

Many users hoped that Mac OS X 10.2.4 would solve a previously reported problem where CD-RW drives included with some of the newly shipping 2002 iBook models (officially referred to by Apple as the Opaque iBook 16 VRAM, and iBook 32 VRAM) are not capable of burning discs at full speed. Unfortunately, the speed hit lingers.

There are two flavors of combination DVD/CD-RW drives included with the new iBooks: a Sony CRX 820e and the Toshiba SD-R2212. Both drives are advertised to write CD-R discs at 16x speed, and CD-RW discs at 8x speed.

The problem seems to affect both drive models, disallowing Toast to burn at any speed higher than 4x, in either CD-R or CD-RW mode. Disc read speeds do not seem to be affected.

Some users have reported that exclusively using Sony-branded media allows them to burn at the full 16X speed with the Sony drive, while others say using the more expensive media still results in 4X burns.

If you have any insight on this issue, or have been affected, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources

  • previously reported
  • late-breakers@macfixit.com
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