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External CD/DVD drive
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Seattle
Status:
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Am getting ready to purchase a new Mac Mini w/Mavericks and will need to get an external USB CD/DVD optical drive.
I know Apple has the USB Super Drive but wondering if anyone has any other suggestions besides Apple.
Thanks.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
Status:
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The issue I have with all recent Apple drives (internal as well as SuperDrive) is that they are slot-in.
They just don't last. I had multiple slot-ins fail on my iMac.
I'm doing a lot of ripping of DVDs, and this really seems to shorten the lifespan of Apple slot-ins significantly.
I ended up buying a Lacie d2 DVDRW. It seems built like a tank, with a traditional tray.
-t
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Just about anything will work. I got one from Amazon, something from their own brand, only because it was the cheapest.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Moderator Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Polwaristan
Status:
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Bus powered is a nice feature to have. Maybe they're all like this now, I don't know, but a couple years ago I bought an external burner, it's slim but with a tray, has held up well, and being USB bus powered makes it easy to power on, no ugly brick and cord.
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Status:
Offline
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Good point, I should have mentioned: just about all slim USB DVDs are bus powered these days, with a special cable that leeches power from a second port if required. You don't need to plug in the second port on a Mac - because Apple wants all Macs able to charge iPhones and iPads quickly, the USB ports can supply more than the required power in a single port. They implement something called USB charging supplement which codifies this behavior.
Non-slim - ie full height - DVDs regularly require external power, though. This not only means that you waste an outlet on them, but in many cases there is an internal fan to cool the power supply as well. Go for a slim model to avoid all of these problems.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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