The MacBook Air SuperDrive

Apple may think it's over for optical media, but we have a feeling a lot of MacBook Air customers are going to end up spending the $99 on the external SuperDrive. The 1.06-pound USB-powered dual-layer burner is as slickly encased in aluminum as the Air itself, has a built-in cable and features 4X DL read / write speeds, 8x DVD±R, and 24x CD-R. No official word on availability just yet, but we'd guess it'll ship alongside the Air in two weeks. Interestingly, the specs say it requires a MacBook Air -- but we'll be recklessly plugging it into whatever we have handy soon enough, stay tuned.

[Michael @ Jan 15th 2008 2:14PM]

So this will turn it into a fully functional notebook with no USB ports?

[Ed @ Jan 15th 2008 2:16PM]

Unless you get one of those newfangled USB hubs...

[Blaktornado @ Jan 15th 2008 3:27PM]

People buying this computer won't need an optical drive... and if they do, they'll use it when they need it and use the USB port for other things when they don't need the optical drive. Apart from my Mouse/Keyboard which actually use only one port on my iMac, I only use about one other port regularly and that's my Flash Drive - oh and until I had to return it to Amazon, I had my Logitech MX Revolution Plugged in too but that freed up a USB port on my keyboard anyway... so really, I've only ever needed to use two USB ports at the same time on fairly brief and infrequent intervals.

If you need to use two USB ports then buy a USB Hub if you really can't manage without using two USB ports at the same time... and who honestly does? If you have an iPod then you can charge that at a different time to using your optical drive, yes? If you need an external HD then use that at a different point to the Optical Drive. The only reason you would need an optical drive on this machine is if you're going to rip or burn media - and I think those can wait if, say, charging an iPod is more important, don't you think?

[Zach @ Jan 15th 2008 3:35PM]

ah and how thick is that newfangled usb hub?
OH NO, i said a dirty word.

[Gabriel Wolfe @ Jan 15th 2008 2:17PM]

I don't see the point in buying this product. Apple are beginning to rip UK consumers off and should be investigated for price fixing and unfair charging by the trading standards and/or the EU.

They expect us to pay £1200 for a MacBook Air, only marginally less than a MacBook Pro, yet they sell it for $1800 in the USA? £1200 does not equal $1800. £1200 is nearly $2400!

And then the drive, given the above, if it's $99 you can be sure it will be £79 instead of £45. For £45 you can buy various alternatives, including the LG GSA-50 which is the same size or smaller, and does exactly the same job.

The MacBook Air, and all related products are exactly that - nothing but hot air. Avoid like the plague if you value your finances.

[Elliott @ Jan 15th 2008 2:26PM]

That sucks bro, maybe since Apple is a US based company they're taxing you guys in the UK to help make up for the pain they suffered until 1776.

[Matt @ Jan 15th 2008 2:31PM]

Why you gotta bring up that old shit.

[Raheem @ Jan 15th 2008 2:31PM]

They could well be doing just that, Elliot. However all the years of British genius that we have recently lent you should by far have made up for that by now.

[WhinyMate @ Jan 15th 2008 2:35PM]

Actually, they don't "expect" you to do jack shit, except whine-and you seem to be doing a fair job of that all by yourself :p

[AlexP @ Jan 15th 2008 2:39PM]

Shut up already.

[AlexP @ Jan 15th 2008 2:41PM]

How about I get a regular external optical drive that will cost me 50 bucks less instead?

I know this one's a slot loader and it's "sexy", but what the hell, it's an external drive - for a few bucks more I could get a game console!

[max andrews @ Jan 15th 2008 3:07PM]

Well you've got VAT which tacks 18% onto the price, and then there is apple's additional costs for getting the computer approved for sale in europe. In the US we still have to pay sales tax, so what seems like 1800 is actually $1950 at the register.

[Benjamin @ Jan 15th 2008 5:06PM]

After a little google calculating £1200 * .82(subtracting 18% VAT) = £984 in $ = $1927.26 a $127.26 premium for your import, perfectly comparable to Japanese Tech imports to the US so I am lost to why you have your panties in such a wad.

[adrian @ Jan 15th 2008 5:33PM]

There are alot of factors involved when it come to setting prices in different countries, However on the price fixing issue, they should be investigated. I don't know about the US and other countries but in the UK everywhere a Apple product is sold, the prices are always the same.

[George @ Jan 16th 2008 12:29AM]

How can it be consider price fixing when you could just buy a PC? Apple sets its prices where it thinks the UK market will buy them, period. Don't like the price? Don't buy it.

[christ @ Jan 15th 2008 2:19PM]

If it connects to the new time capsel thing for wireless burning, Internet, and data backup, at 802.11n speeds, thats the macbook air killer feature

[CJ @ Jan 16th 2008 7:00AM]

That's just about it's ONLY feature. Oh, and that it's thin and metal

It's essentially the 1200 dollar, 13.3 inch, base model macbook, without the extra USB hubs, ethernet ports, Optical drive, or replaceable battery.

Not to mention if you want to do that, you have to spend an additional 3 or four hundred dollars on getting a TC, bring the total price to over 2 grand.

[Andrew Campbell @ Jan 17th 2008 4:11PM]

For the price you pay for the MacBookAir, the USB Optical Drive, Time Capsule to replace your External Hard Drive, and a BlueTooth Apple Keyboard and Mouse if you prefer external keyboards and mice, That'll run you around $800 extra. You can get a good MacBook Pro with that extra money. Or you can save the $800, and plug and unplug something into your Mac every other second. Or better yet, run into the other room and share CD Drives with your other computer, the one that you DON'T regret buying. I love Apple, but I can't believe they made such a pathetic product.

[ex @ Jan 15th 2008 2:25PM]

I wonder if this will work on my wii, 360 or ps3.
just to try!

[YouFaceTheTick @ Jan 15th 2008 2:26PM]

Why bother with disc media anymore? Like the floppy, discs are going away fast.

An 8 GB SD Card is $30 and I'd expect prices of 16 GB SD Cards to drop below $70 by summer. Most come with an USB to SD card connector that will do SDHC. 80211.n also allow fast transfer of bulk files.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jan 15th 2008 3:03PM]

True, but I would've gladly seen the thinnest part of the Air jump for .16" to .25 if they'd include a CARD READER. For the love of god, a $1799 laptop with one USB had DAMN well better have a card reader.

[matt @ Jan 15th 2008 4:55PM]

Umm, maybe because I like having a CD collection, I certainly don't download anything from itunes, or any other provider. I like the certainty of something physical, and mp3's just aren't good enough.

[jere @ Jan 17th 2008 11:23PM]

Yeah there is something to be said for actually being able to hold an album in your hands. Plus the cover book (and no, the digital ones don't count).

[Brian Stuckey @ Jan 15th 2008 2:28PM]

I'd love to have one of these just to use on my iMac.

[fh @ Jan 15th 2008 2:29PM]

Apple ought to have integrated this (an optical drive) into Time Capsule, with Remote Disc configured OOTB. That way all of your install/backup data is located in one device and accessible wirelessly.

[JC @ Jan 15th 2008 2:35PM]

I'm no Apple fan, but they never said it's over for optical media. I'm right there with them though when they tell us we don't really need them in our notebooks.

I guess I'll be seeing these things at my local Starbucks soon enough, along with venti soy caramel lattes. Ugh.

[Alex @ Jan 16th 2008 12:43PM]

you never need the optical drive in your apple notebook for anything, except for the dvd player app bundled with osx, and the dvd playback feature in front row... otherwise you can always get a faster, cheaper external optical drive.

[darkstar @ Jan 15th 2008 2:43PM]

i rarely use my optical drive. in fact, i ripped it out of my business laptop to save some weight!
anyways, im kinda curious if this drive will work for my windows desktop... it should right?

[Smileguy @ Jan 15th 2008 2:46PM]

Hey Apple, where is the Blu-ray super drive???!!! Get with the times, DVD's are so last decade!

[Axton @ Jan 15th 2008 4:14PM]

Indeed. People might be using flash drives and memory cards for storage, but what about HD media?

[shakes2 @ Jan 16th 2008 1:26AM]

i would be quite happy if this would play nice with an AppleTV, apple TV plus DVD player/burner = happiness. Please!

[shakes2 @ Jan 16th 2008 1:26AM]

i would be quite happy if this would play nice with an AppleTV, apple TV plus DVD player/burner = happiness. Please!

[Isaac @ Jan 16th 2008 9:38AM]

Apple isn't doing HD drives yet because of the format war. Once one of the two (BlueRay or HD DVD) win the war and kill the other, then Apple will most likely start utilizing HD media disks.

[kizane @ Jan 15th 2008 2:48PM]

Like I posted in the other one, I don't see why you need this.

Why not just use an optical drive and external USB IDE case (or one of those IDE/SATA to USB cables) your PC nerd buddy ought to have lying around.

Even if you HAD to buy everything, a 5.25" external case and a DL DVD burner will set you back $45 at Newegg.

[ark_v2 @ Jan 15th 2008 3:05PM]

So what's so super about this "SuperDrive"?

[Dubb @ Jan 15th 2008 3:22PM]

8x Speed the fastest Super Drive on the planet!!! [/sarcasm]

[Brian @ Jan 15th 2008 3:26PM]

I thought only certain external burners would work on a Mac. So the little cheap optical drives on Newegg are not necessarily the answer, or is the incorrect? If I am correct, then $99 for an external burner isn't too bad when compared with what some people charging for Mac-compatible external burners.

[holycow @ Jan 15th 2008 4:21PM]

Lol.. this thing is probably FATTER than the Air itself..

[Tyler @ Jan 15th 2008 4:25PM]

Seriously, what makes the Superdrive worth $100?

[Jaroslav @ Jan 15th 2008 4:34PM]

I think it'd be kinda cool if this could be used as an add-on DVD player for AppleTV. It's got the right profile and a DVD player is one (no, not the only) of the major features ATV lacks.

[Francisco @ Jan 15th 2008 4:48PM]

I like the design and at the end of the day you are paying only $30-40 difference from a similar size external bulky, ugly USB DVD writer. $30-40, I drink that in 1hour max. So, if you need an external DVD writer this one looks good. Hope I will be able to plug it in my wife's Macbook that only has a DVD reader and she always complaints that she needs to use my laptop to burn her DVDs.

[muyiwa @ Jan 15th 2008 5:57PM]

wireless optical drive?? i mean wtf...something tells me that means skippy/shitty HD quality when watching a blu-ray/HD-DVD movie....oh wait u don't even get an HD drive for $1800-$3000

[Irae @ Jan 15th 2008 6:16PM]

Maybe they boosted the USB Power on the MacBook Air in some way, if not why would Apple say that?

[SoloSalsa @ Jan 15th 2008 7:51PM]

I was just going to say that. No optical drive could be powered by any ordinary USB. I am quite positive that the MacBook Air has bumped-up the amperage to get this thing spinning. On any other computer, the drive would spin, but probably never reach even 1x speed.

[Anthony @ Jan 15th 2008 7:48PM]

Definitely looking forward to testing this with an external USB hub (since air has only one USB port) and would love it to work on other, older macs and NOT require Leopard. I have iMacs, PowerBooks etc that could use this right now.

[SoloSalsa @ Jan 15th 2008 7:53PM]

But I bet that would not work. Any ordinary bus will not supply enough power; unless Apple creates a magical overpriced rounded-corner hub for twice as much as any other brand, made just for this, with more amps.

[jwtrooper @ Jan 16th 2008 2:56AM]

I've got a DVD slotload superdrive mfg by NU from Newegg about a year ago which works off of just my Mac Mini or PC usb power. Seems Newegg no longer sells it though.

http://www.nu-global.com/1_english/3_products/01_ide.php?pID=46

[jwtrooper @ Jan 16th 2008 3:03AM]

I might agree with Solosalsa though if a non-powered hub is used although I've not tried it... off just the one usb port I don't think it should be an issue though.

[JohnMaddog @ Jan 15th 2008 7:53PM]

It seems that some are missing the point of the Air. It is an ultra portable. It is like the EEEPC only with better speeds and mac os (and a bit more $$$). I have an MBP and I only use my Disc Drive for burning movies. I don't even use my USB ports except when syncing my Blackberry. The firewire port has never been used and the express slot is getting dusty. I use my MBP exactly how the Air is supposed to be used. I always have my comp with me for business so I would prefer not to have to carry around a weighty computer that tries to dislocate my shoulder every time I stand still too long. I have every intention of picking up an Air this year, and I will be purchasing an external Superdrive.

~JMD

[Reid B. @ Jan 15th 2008 8:22PM]

Maybe it's just me but aren't you unimpressed with a thing called "Air" that needs so many fucking wires?