[wags982]

I'm hoping to get a 24/10/40 firewire burner for my TiBook, but I can't seem to find any reviews--probably because they're so new. Does anyone have one, or know what models are good? Thanks.

[dfbennett]

I think the only one that is out right now is a Sanyo one and it is internal IDE only so it wouldn't do you any good with your Powerbook. I say either wait a while until firewire ones are around and more importantly supported by Toast or just get a 16x firewire burner now. I have a 12x that I got in April and burning a cd in 6 minutes is fast enough for me

[pobodysnerfect]

cdrevo has a 24x burner but not sure about the reviews. I have a formac 16x firewire burner and it rocks. I talked to the guys at formac because I was also waiting for a 24x but they said I would not really notice the difference between the two. 4 1/2 minutes for 700megs with my 16x ain't too bad!

[wags982]

I believe there are several of these burners out: VST makes one, LaCie has one, then there's the Formac, APS, and I believe QPS has one (but not sure). Plus, though I realize 16x is plenty fast, I figure why not just go for 24X since it's only a little more expensive.

I've heard that the Formac drive is awesome (MacAddict), but also that it's big and heavy. I'd prefer a lighter drive since I'll be carrying it around with me, if that's an option.

Does the newest Toast version support firewire well?

[pobodysnerfect]

Originally posted by wags982:
<STRONG>I believe there are several of these burners out: VST makes one, LaCie has one, then there's the Formac, APS, and I believe QPS has one (but not sure). Plus, though I realize 16x is plenty fast, I figure why not just go for 24X since it's only a little more expensive.

I've heard that the Formac drive is awesome (MacAddict), but also that it's big and heavy. I'd prefer a lighter drive since I'll be carrying it around with me, if that's an option.

Does the newest Toast version support firewire well?</STRONG>

well that little bit more ($60 - 100) will only get you about a minute faster so you have to think about that.

The Formac is awesome and it is about the same size if not smaller than all the other drives except the VST but the VST is only a 4x burner.

Toast 5 does support firewire.

Also another thing to consider and I don't know if this is a factor to you but itunes does not support the formac 24x but it does support the 16x, I don't know about the other drives and their itunes support.

Also the formac is bus powered with the newer macs, and I have burned many successful cd's with my ti using just the bus as power even though it is not suggested.

[ 07-13-2001: Message edited by: pobodysnerfect ]

[wags982]

OK, so I guess I shouldn't ignore 16X burners. But I don't really mind paying an extra $60-$100 for the 24X. After all, this is the last CD burner I'll be buying for a long long time. (and 24X just sounds so impressive) I'm sure iTunes support will come eventually--it's not a huge issue with me.

Having a bus-powered drive WOULD be nice, but it's not high on my priorities. I'll probably do most of my burning when I'm on wall power.

Lastly, a correction: I meant TDK, not VST. (oops)

[wags982]

Does anyone own a CD Cyclone drive?

Right now, the Cyclone 24/10/40 is at the top of my list, for several reasons. First of all, EZQuest, QPS and CD Cyclone seem to be the only manufacturers with 24x drives out right now. LaCie supposedly has one out, as MacWarehouse is selling it, but they don't have it on their website... APS advertises one, but I don't think it's out yet. TDK has one out, but only the internal version. And Formac's is not out yet.

So, of EZQuest, QPS and the CD Cyclone, I'm leaning towards the latter because the other two manufacturers don't advertise a 40X rip speed, while CD Cyclone does. Plus, I found a very positive review of the CD Cyclone 12/10/32 drive at go2mac.com.

Do you guys think Apple will support this drive with newer versions of iTunes and Disc Burner? Can anyone recommend this drive?

[Cucumber Jones]

I'm in the same boat, and have been floundering over which to get. I'd love to have something portable, and with a nice face, but price / performance / speed do not come in a single package.

Anyone have any expereince with the ezquest boa drives? macs4all is running a special where a 16/10/40 is selling for like 260. Not bad to look at (forget portability for this one), but how does it run? I seem to remember hearing bad things about boas...

Contenders, none perfect-
Boa - Not bad design, low cost, high speed but can't find reviews.
Formac 16x (relatively inexpensive, wall wart for g4pb, bulky)
Lacie Pocketdrive (8x, pricey, beautiful, FW bus-powered, usb/firewire)
VST (eek! expensive, 4x slow, but the looks of a TiBook's lover)
And of course, the superdrive (not sure if this is the only external one in production). Super costly(??), but forward thinking. Anyone have one of these yet? Are they worth if for the long-term investment?

Anyone with suggestions for price / dependability / compatibility, please suggest.

-Cuke

[ 07-18-2001: Message edited by: Cucumber Jones ]