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General discussion

Macbook Air Optical drive on a macbook!!

Jan 28, 2008 9:52AM PST

Hi i just got a Base line MacBook, and i just learned that it doesnt have a dvd burner!!! Can a buy a macbook air drive and plug it in and use it with idvd or other software, or do i have to buy a regular External DVD burner!! and will regular External DVD burners (sony, lG, Samsung) work with idvd thanks!!!!!

Discussion is locked

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Any external DVD burner will work as far as I know.
Jan 28, 2008 2:33PM PST

I use a Sony connected to my iBook via USB. I use Toast for burning most projects except for those I created with iLife... then I use iDVD.

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MacBook Air Superdrive
Jan 28, 2008 8:46PM PST

There is a distinct possibility that the above will work with any MacBook with an available USB 2.0 port.

"Most" brands of DVD burners will work with the Mac but it would be best to purchase one from a recognized reseller of Mac compatible products. Walking into your local Big Box Electronics store and buy one off the shelf is likely to cause frustration for you.
MacMall, MacSales to mention just a couple are worthy of a look if you are going for an external DVD.

At $99, the Macbook Air Superdrive is not a bad price. It is a little slow though.

Just a thought, how could you purchase a MacBook and not know that it did not come with a DVD burner?

P

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Everybody, you may want to know this
Jan 29, 2008 9:01AM PST

The MBA Superdrive does not work on any other Mac other than the Air. Of course that isn't too great for those who'd like to have one without buying the Air, but that's just how it is.

Apparently, the USB port on the Air has been modified to supply the Superdrive with sufficient power, meaning that your regular USB 2.0 ports will not work with it. For an additional $100 with an Air, that's quite a disappointment.

Here's one post about it. There are multiple other sites via Google.

-BMF

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Good Call
Jan 29, 2008 9:14AM PST

Now that is a bummer.

So, original poster, you would be better of going over to MacSales.com and getting an external, Firewire, Superdrive from there.

For the same price of $99

Like this one

P

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I bet that Apple configured this external drive this way
Jan 29, 2008 10:38AM PST

so that it would not need a power cable. This probably goes along with the Air concept of being wireless. Too bad they didn't make a FireWire equivalent drive for all the other Macs. That could give it enough power to run off of a port.

Like you said earlier, I have to wonder why the original poster did not see that the MacBook did not have a Superdrive. That, and the processor, are the only differences between this MacBook rest of the MacBooks. Not to mention the Combo drive makes it different from the entire MacBook family... Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Mini and the low-end MacBook are the only Macs available now with a Combo drive option, which is clearly stated in the configurations online. It seems that this can be overlooked.
Apple eliminated the Combo drive feature all together in the iMac line, as well as the low-end 17-inch model. Surely this may indicate that this will be done to the remaining low-end machines that they still offer. Though come to think of it, all of Apple's offerings aren't really low-end Wink.

-BMF

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kk
Feb 2, 2008 1:17AM PST

thanks i will go to macmall.com and on a side note i grabbed the baseline model and added 4 GB of ram and a 250 GB hard drive so its a really fast computer all i need is a dvd burner