One obvious and debated question on a lot of potential buyers' minds: okay, I'm dropping nearly two large on this here machine, but will the external optical drive even work with one of my other laptops and/or desktops? The answer: no. Regular USB simply doesn't support the power draw an optical drive needs, which was evidenced as plugged the SuperDrive into a stock MacBook Pro and it came up bupkis. It wouldn't even let us insert a disk without forcing it down the drive's maw. Of course, it worked just fine on the Air. Seriously though, how many machines do you have that need an external optical drive, anyway?
P.S. -For inquiring minds: yes, the USB port looks identical to your stock port. Apple is obviously just jamming some more amperage down the line.
P.P.S. -No, this won't work with a powered hub.
posted Jan 24th 2008 12:41PM
Can you expect anything less from Apple?
Not really.
I mean honestly, props for getting a drive out that only uses USB to run (as opposed to an outlet)
But there should be no reason its not compatible with other Macs.
On the other side of the Apple, corperate greed is eating away at the tender rainbow flesh.
And Ryan...
Seriously though, why do you defend all the inane stunts that Apple pulls? Its attitudes like yours which lets corperations like Apple get away with this sort of nickle and diming.
Demand more from the companies you purchase from, and they shall provide. Accept the status quo and you have lost.
Of course this is to be expected from Apple. You can get a normal DVD burner that runs off of USB power for $80 or less. Just look around on Google. I have one that runs on every single laptop I have from a single USB port, no other power source, and no drivers.
as you say, how many of us have other laptops needing an external optical anyway?
but maybe there's a hidden benefit: could you test that usb port and see if it puts out enough power to drive TWO external hard drives, thru an UN-powered usb hub?
if so, an owner could keep his/her files on an external drive AND back up that drive from the computer.
@OK: You can't find an $80 dvd drive that is powered by a SINGLE USB cable, they all require two ports because DVD burners require 1000mA of power, and USB only provides 500mA.
Only one drive on the market (its also slot load) can be used with one USB cable and can be used with any machine with a single USB port, Mac, PC, you name it.
http://www.slidirect.com/product40-129.html
C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-I-O-N
Yeah, seriously Ryan. You're out of control with being OK with Apple's BS. "Seriously though, how many machines do you have that need an external optical drive, anyway?" Um, how about "I just paid $100 for an external drive (!) on top of my $1800 laptop, so I'd like to use it with other computers."? This isn't rocket science, man. This is Bullshit on Apple's part, so please don't stick the defense in the end of the article.
I like the article. I like how engadget is so "unbiased" againts windows.
I llike how engadget was ripping about Jeff Jones' Vista vulnerability report. And now doesn't give a crap about the major issue that the MacBook Air Superdrive is not compatible with other computers
I'm pretty sure thats how fair journalism works.
/sarcasm
Wish they had put a little USB hub on the back ala Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive.
The issue is, for those of you not just wanting to bash Apple for whatever reasons they can find, is that things require power, and a single USB port isn't supposed to, and can't provide that much.
Yes, as many have pointed out, there are external DVD drives out there, but:
1. They require a power brick as well as USB, or
2. They use more than one USB port to get power (the usual two plugs), or
3. They are low power drives, which, are a lot slower, or
3a. They cannot burn when powered from bus power (the one JWTrooper bought specifies "0. BUS POWER SUPPORT ON READING", in the documentation and has an included power adaptor - not the same thing as the MBA's drive, which doesn't have, and doesn't need an external adaptor.).
Of course, in the great rush to bash Apple for anything you can think of, finer details are forgotten, and the argument inevitably degenerates into name-calling and other childishness. Call me whatever you like, vote my comment down to "Lowest Rated" if you want.
@rick wilson,
actually, your wrong about that. i have a pioneer external 8x dual-layer dvd burner powered by a single usb port.. on everything i've plugged it into, burns just fine. mac, windows, linux..
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=1825
I just relised something. The new iMacs (like teh one I have) have this enhanced USB ports. Cos you see, the new apple keyboard has 2 USB 2.0 ports on it. It can power two external HDDs... I've tried. Dosnt this mean it should be able to power this little drive too? Just wondering even tho I have no intention of getting one. Be interesting tho. Someone please try it.
Shouldn't be too hard to rig a little extra current to one port, if that's your kind of thing. I know the Eee community will find a way.
That's what I was thinking. It's actually really easy: make an adapter cable that splits out the power pins. Then wire up the power pins to an AC-to-DC adapter of the correct voltage. I would probably add a capacitor at the drive side for good measure. That's it.
Maybe make a special cable that uses 2 usb ports. One for power, the other one for power and data. This way you can pull twice the current and it might be enough for this drive.
@ CcntMnky
It would work, but an adapter ruins the whole point. Quite a few people (myself included) have opened up their Eee's and soldered all kinds of things - I'm guessing it would be possible to rig (internally) a circuit that would provide additional Amps to one USB port (with a switch to go back to regular amperage). We'll have to see if anyone's brave enough to try it.
My external laptop hard drive enclosure came with a cable that could be plugged into 2 USB ports for extra power. I wonder if that would work?
will it work if you go through a powered hub?
Stop looking at me :P
Ireland: L O L ! =)
No. Even USB ports use stock USB ports.
You'd need a custom USB port that provided that power requirements of the external SuperDrive.
@Ireland: lmao
i know what you did last summer
>:-(
@AdamY: that.sucks.apple.com
I for one do. The drive in my MBP is shot, and due to a small dent in the chassis, Apple wont replace it for less than 500bucks. Jerks
My PowerBook G4 got a dent in that area and my ComboDrive still works. That sucks. The metal must be thinner on the MBP.
"The metal must be thinner on the MBP"
Or, you have different dings in your laptops. The metal may or may not be thinner, but you can't come close to reaching your conclusion with the info given. Christ the logic on here is down the toilet. Hand in hand with frequent Digg visitors, it seems.....
As for the drive, I am not a big fan of anything that can only be paired with one device. I've got a box full of cell phone adaptors that show how frequently companies do that. And if I am paying $99, I would like some future proofing, or at least additional uses from it.
send a cute girl to the "genius" bar for you. worked for me when the douchebags at the apple store wouldn't replace my ipod, but when my gf at the time went for me, they swapped it no questions asked.
its worth a shot.
There are numerous Mac shops online that will sell you a replacement OEM drive for around $200. There are aftermarket drives that are faster and cheaper, too.
ifixit.com
The guides are great - you can fix it yourself.
"okay, I'm dropping nearly two large on this here machine,..."
Your problem started here.
Seriously. i'd rather have much more power, many ports the larger screen, etc in the MBP for $300 more. I can sacrafice the extra 2.2 pounds. Macbook Air is a coumputer from 2011 and the J6P isn't quite ready for it yet.
matt - you obviously haven't carried a laptop around 12-14 hours a day 5 days a week, have you?
@sinai: And you obviously never use your laptop if all you do is carry it around all day. It's a machine with which to do work, not a workout tool.
I guess the next question is , can you connect an external usb drive and successfully power it. Since that seems to be a limitation on the macbook, without a y-usb cable and burning a port.
I'm thinking this will be a future update Apple will introduce into new revisions of their lineup, thus forcing those who want it to go out and buy the new one. Isn't that how it works most of the time with them?
Hey. Would this still work if you used it through a USB hub? What about attatched wirelessly (Wireless USB, using an internet router, etc.)?
I'm not sure about this, but isn't there a difference between the left side USB and right side USB on the Macbook Pro? I think some hardware that requires more power only works on the left side.
And it only costs 500$
$99 funnyman.
$99 actually, still expensive. Its a sexy looking drive though.
Have you priced a USB, slimline, slot-loading, external DVD burner? $99 is a BARGAIN. And this one is ensconced in aluminum and doesn't come with a power brick to double it's weight and volume.
Tony C, I bought a slim slot loading super drive from Newegg over a year ago for I believe $89 and IT RUNS ON USB POWER! http://www.nu-global.com/1_english/3_products/01_ide.php?pID=46
Seems Newegg no longer carries them though.
Welp, considering that NewEgg wants $70 (plus $5 shipping) just for a bare, internal, slim, slot-load, DVD burner, I'd think that putting it in a nice aluminum case and adding USB connectivity (and again, no brick) for a mere $24/$29 more was a great price point.
idiot.
the point is that its not proprietary, NOT that it's shiny aluminum.
Riiiight. So the point wouldn't be that the Air's optional optical drive is a higher quality, higher speed, name brand piece of hardware that only costs $10 more than a no-name, generic, external USB optical that's a year old and pretty much only available from its manufacturer for $130 + $10.50 shipping? Or that the generic "NU" drive comes with a 5V power adapter and its user guide says:
To Install and Use the External Slim Drive
-Hardware Installing
1. Connect the USB cord-A series plug to the USB2.0 connector on
your PC, and connect the USB cord-B series plug to the drive USB 2.0
connector.
2. Connect the adapter cable to DC IN power connector on your drive.
3. Connect the adapter power cord to a power outlet.
mac users are simple creatures, quite often mesmerized by shiny aluminum and plastic to the point of throwing money towards companies with full vigor.
@Sinai
And people like yourself are scrawny, pimple-faced ultra-geeks with no appreciation of aesthetics and style, only content as long as your 25lb custom-zombie-painted quad-video card Alienware PC has enough LEDs and glow paint inside to impress that fat chick at the LAN party.
@Sinai
And people like yourself are scrawny, pimple-faced ultra-geeks with no appreciation of aesthetics and style, only content as long as your 25lb custom-zombie-painted quad-video card Alienware PC has enough LEDs and glow paint inside to impress that fat chick at the LAN party.
Actually we have cases with much better Style. Ever seen the Cosmos 1000? Also I can't speak for anyone else but I love PCs and I play a few sports regularly. You can't just go around calling us scrawny pimple faced bastard cuz we'll beat you with Cricket bats!
Just use a powered usb hub if you want to use it on another machine.
Maybe the Air just comes with a custom OS X build with drivers for the device? Apple has done that before. (I think one of the G5 towers came with a custom build of 10.4 with features in between of two point releases, for example)
If that's the case, the drive'll work with other computers when 10.5.2 is out. Unless it requires extra power... in that case, it won't work even with a powered hub, no
Were that the issue, the drive would at least power up and allow you to insert a disc. Wandering outside of the USB spec seems like a bad idea, especially when it involves removing current-limiting resistors...
My guess is that they'll go with draft USB 3.0 just as soon as a draft is available, as the spec there allows for a much higher current draw.
does my lg ext optical drive (usb 2.0 with separate power cable) work with air? :S
Remember the saying: "There is a sucker born every second"; in MAC world is should say "there is a sucker born every nano-second...and is proud of it"
HAHAHA
i lol'd
Actually, the saying is "There's a sucker born every minute" (P.T. Barnum). And MAC is a cosmetics company.
haha ^ he's ^ angry because he's on of those suckers born every nano-second!
Look! It doubles as a mouse pad too!
Now all i need to do is plug this usb mouse into...wait
:(
Now who would buy the ultimate wireless Mac and tether it to a wired mouse? Bluetooth all the way, baby! :D
You're already spending $2k on the mac, and $100 for the drive. You're already being overcharged for everything, so just give it the apple trifecta and get a $70 mouse too!
Um, Tony C...
Most Bluetooth mice do have a dongle that needs to be plugged into a USB port. Maybe there are some BT mice that can pair directly with a BT capable laptop, but I haven't seen them yet. Now, I am a little behind in my hardware knowledge. If you do have in mind a mouse that pairs directly with a laptops BT, then I apologize. But I thought I'd help you out with what I saw as an error in your logic.
-Cheers
Or you can just get a Logitech that I paid like $25 for...?
ultimate wireless mac? with that optical drive dongle, it's got more wires than just about every notebook out there. Without it, it's the same, just less functionality. Don't kid yourself.
As previously mentioned, my $25 Logitech V270 Bluetooth notebook mouse pairs up just fine with my MacBook Pro and the Dell Latitude D610, both of which have internal Bluetooth.
The only reason to use the manufacturer's dongle -- if they even provide one, mine didn't -- is to run device monitoring software (battery life, etc) that was written specifically for their particular Bluetooth chipset.
I was under the impression that most optical drives don't draw sufficient power from a single USB port, and that it would be obvious that there is more amperage running through the MBA's USB port. It would appear that the cable is actually permanently attached to the optical drive. If that's true, that's the real rip-off, because you can pick up a split USB cable online that's designed just for the purpose of running a USB optical drive from 2 USB ports.
Anyway, someone will make an adapter for it just the same.
You mean something like this: http://www.amazon.com/USB-Power-Adapter-Y-Cable/dp/B000JIOHDE
Yes, that would be the one. Lol.
Apple should have put a hub *in* this SuperDrive... Extra USB jacks on its backside would have been a nice touch.
fantastic idea
+ for you!
guaranteed way of making coasters: supplying optical drive power to your USB-powered wok.
But, will it blend?
This is so getting old...
If it doesn't fit in the decanter and reach the blades so that they can do their blending thing, then NO.
Depends on the blender...
No, but I'm sure you can deep fry it though...mmm crispy slim drive.
I think the comments are pretty funny here... Have you ever seen anyone else do this? No, there's a reason, it's *technically* impossible. Now shut up and go buy a homeless man some McDonalds.
Soon enough though, a manufacturer will create a piggyback adapter for whiner's MBP's that draws power from 2-3ports and will enable this. It will look like a squashed spider has woven a series of tubes on the outside of your glistening MB but you will buy it anyway. Then you will whine's it's ugly and how it's affecting global warming and that bush is the reason you cannot get laid, skateboard in the city park while skipping home room class, drive your 5mpg Hummer h2, watch the princess diaries... and then hopefully your laptop battery will explode and end the suffering for all of us.
Now, I've had DVD drives that drew power from the USB drive. They worked on a Dell rack mounted server. Maybe the Dell had a different USB port with higher power output. Does anyone have a DVD drive out there that gets it's power off the USB port, and does it work on a laptop? I'm curious if this is a common problem or an Apple ...well, you can use your imagination on that one. It may be that most laptops don't support USB ports with enough power for a DVD drive. Or, it could also be that the Air is the laptop anomaly, or drivers with the Air's combo drive.
I've have one... slot load and it draws enough current just using one USB port. See above post.
No jwtrooper, I mean something like this. It's a combo drive by lenovo that gets it's power from 1 USB port.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/na/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=41N5565¤t-category-id=2478535BAB3C417CA9D77F5867D31462
Interesting that you mention Dell. I have found that many Dells don't have proper current limiting on their motherboards. I discovered this accidentally by loading my USB mouse full of high-intensity LED's, and for some reason, only dells could power it...
If any other brand could power this superdrive, my guess would be that it would be a dell.
don't call it "combo drive" or jobs will send his turtlenecked cronies after you.
That Lenovo drive only works on certain Thinkbooks - in other words, they're doing the same trick that Apple is doing. Oh, and did that person mention that the bus-powered Lenovo drive is 2.5 times the cost of the Apple drive?
but if it were made by apple and not lenovo, you'd hear:
BUT IT HAS LIGHTSCRIBE!!! THE COMPETING PRODUCT DOESNT!!!!
Actually Thickslab, I've worked with that drive and it worked quite well with the rack mounted Dell server I mentioned above. But Atrain mentions that this may be due to Dell not properly regulating the power output on their motherboards. Maybe that's true, but I do seem to remember using the same drive on an HP rack server in the same rack. Who knows? But I will say that dissing a product because of price seems rather silly in the context of an Apple discussion.
God damn you, Apple.
"Regular USB simply doesn't support the power draw an optical drive needs, which was evidenced as plugged the SuperDrive into a stock MacBook Pro and it came up bupkis"
This is absolutely ridiculous.. many Laptops including my 2 year old Gateway e100-m Ultra portable can power and external USB 8x DVD-RW drive
This drive usually have to be plugged in directly to the usb port though.. USB hubs (including powered hubs)usually make the drives act erratically if they work at all
http://digg.com/apple/MacBook_Air_SuperDrive_does_NOT_work_with_other_machines
Already read that some people have worked their way around this already. With one of the Y-split USB adapters (the one to boost power when you have 2 low power USB ports for an external HDD) - the data one plugged into the computer the other end plugged into an iPod AC power adapter which supplies a power boost. Sounded like a dangerous plan to me.
if it's really that simple, then woohoo, but apple really should make a nice clean white y adapter, or i'm not buying :P
don't know but my WD portable HD came with a double power cable, using 2 USB ports. might this be the solution?
Isn't this technically not a USB drive, then? I mean, if it has demands that are outside of the USB spec?
Or is the power draw required for this drive within the spec, but it just happens that nobody else is making devices that require so much power? Like, low power, high power, and ultrahigh power? :)
USB specifies a max draw of 500mA, or in other words half an ampere, and since many external 2.5" also draw more than 0.5A they often come with Y cables to plug in 2 ports on the computer to double the power to 1A, and thus those cables are available for sale too, leaving the question: is 1A enough for the apple drive?
Anyway, if it draws more than 0.5A it's outside USB specs, and all ports on computers support the full 0.5A (but many hubs are sold without a power adaptor meaning the devices plugged in to it have to share the 0.5A of the port it is plugged into, which is not according to specs but works because many USB devices like mice only use 100mA or less)
God Bless Apple.
So, I hope you don't want to hook up anything else while this stupid ass drive is connected. God forbid you'd want to burn a CD and maybe print at the same time.
The wonder's of wifi are still way behond the scope of your mind huh?
What mean "Wi-Fi"? Of course I understand wifi, OK, what if I need to hook up my USB humping dog while I'm burning a CD? The point is that you can't hook the drive up to anything else (like a hub) and use it along with other periferals. But hey, thanks for playing our game.
"OK, what if I need to hook up my USB humping dog while I'm burning a CD"
Is it normal for dogs to hump USB ports?
Apple's petty, selfish, unfun business practices are such a turn off. Buying a shiny computer should be fun, not an exercise in cognitive dissonance.
Please enlighten us how this is "petty and unfair"...they simply added some juice to the USB port so you don't need a power brick. Wow, so unfair!
I'm sorry after reading this and some of your other comments (and your scathing diss of Drummer/Singer/Genius Phil Collins) I can no longer listen to you and your Anti-Apple rhetoric. Unfun...SERIOUSLY?!?!
A bunch of MS waterboys who don't know there ass from a hole in the ground....keep feeding them Gizmodo!!!! So they can all be happy with there DRM, Virus & malware infested 300 dollar pieces of crap computers. They can use their 25 dollar low DPI erratic mice. Play with a 2 year old iPod called the Zune & use an operating system that if you took away the GUI ideas they "borrowed from Apple' & left what they took from Xerox Parc would do absolutely nothing. The Macbook Air is comparable & beats most notebooks in price in the thin notebook category that it is in, even with the additional 99 bucks for the superdrive....OH NO....but that's reality. Here's your reality check.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/22/how_the_macbook_air_stacks_up_against_other_ultra_light_notebooks.html