Amex Digital gets a little too inspired with new portable Super Multi Drive
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 9th 2008 9:58AM
posted Jul 9th 2008 9:58AM
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Nobody is allowed to make a white slot-loading external anymore. Only Apple, otherwise you're RIPPING THEM OFF! Thieves!
yes, I realize it is cool to hate apple, or anyone who supports apple,
but there is more likeness than the slot loading.
it looks exactly the same.
even a color other than *white* would have made this go over better.
and yes, i know there is a black option.
I swear to God engadget keeps proving it's allowing retards to write their stories.
Whether you're attempting to support Engadget's comments, criticize them, or make a bad joke, take note that the MBA SuperDrive is silver anodized aluminum, not glossy white plastic.
They can make whatever color they want (although white never looks good on a non-apple product). Thing is, THEIR DESCRIPTION SPEC IS WRONG! There is no such thing as a 20X slimline drive, and when you look at their own media spec for DVD-R they only mention 8x write speed.
All optical drives require >800mAH therefore this drive breaks USB spec (which limits 500mAH).
The only way to do this without breaking spec and possibly shutting down your PC when you plug it in is this way (Li-Ion Battery integrated in for supplemental power) http://www.slidirect.com/product40-129.html
I'd agree. I don't think a slot loading superdrive took a lot of R&D either, in any case.
wtf is this website about? applefanatism? u guys really dont want users to splash slotloading minimalistic electronics pictures into comments do you?
get real, go to africa help people, go to north korea and drink muddy water from the slums with the orphans.
stupid site with big money
yea!
why are you even on this site?
sell your computers and donate to orphans!
"the paris hilton of tech"
...do i really need to elaborate further on the irony of your statement?
so apple is having a patent on round edged bricks?
I guess the rip off sucks, but if Apple did their drive with a proper IDE controller this product wouldn't have a reason to exist.
Why is Engadget so obsessed with who rips off who?
Give it a rest please...
No, just with who rips off Apple. Steve got himself a fine set of Guidos here, for free. They won't break your legs, but they sure will yelp like a mad gang of Chihuahuas at anything that looks remotely like an Apple product.
If they can make the same thing for cheaper, im for it...
If for some reason I got a ultra-slim portable laptop without a disc drive that I could potentially snap in half...
I would totally buy this.
If you can snap a laptop made of aluminum in half, I'd like to see it. In fact why don't you film it and put it on YouTube, I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy seeing you try to snap an aluminum laptop in half. Sometimes I have to wonder if people like you were born this stupid or whether you had to work at it.
Yes, it is stealing. Because Apple has never stolen an idea, concept, or design from ANYONE.....especially Linux or Unix. Apple is an untainted saint and you should not forget it.
Haha love the sarcasm couldn't have said it any better myself
+rank
or, indeed Sony (Apple admitted it 'borrowed' the keyboard from big S, amongst other things).
btw, love the GITS:SAC reference!
Your ignorance is astounding. Apple's "Stealing" from Linux / Unix
Oh, you mean GNU? Like the stuff that says: "Use me, redistribute me, re-write me, do what you will with me!" As long as they provide the source? (Which they do)
Oh, and all that stuff that Apple contributes to the open source community?
I don't understand how you can think Apple is "stealing" from "Linux or Unix", when they are complying 100% with the Open Source community standards, and being a good active participant.
Yeah, try again when you have any idea what you're talking about.
Don't forget Creative Labs.
Awwwww someone sounds a little butt hurt...
and not from sitting on his iDildo
*cough* Xerox *cough* big big big one right there.
but for the GNU argument, you have it completely wrong.
The entire spirit of GNU is that it should be free, that is why it was started in the first place, to protect free software.
Now granted someone can take things from a GNU licensed software and redistribute it at a cost; however, it just goes against the entire flow and spirit of GNU.
it is like taking all the change out of the give a penny take a penny WITHOUT ever giving back.
If apple gave back, it would be ok by me. and they should have their OS open sourced too. At least if that is not open sourced
do not charge for freaking updates! that is crazy! sure it takes man power and time to make the updates, but damn, nearly every company gives free updates to software.
that would be like Sony charging me to update my PS3.
i would like to add that i do believe they have the right to charge for BIG greatly significant updates every 2-3 years. just not for performance enhancements. 10.6 should be free, they really havent added any new features.
nearly every external DVD drive of that size will look like a "jewel case" CD box. No surprise here.
have you seen all the variations in external hard drives?
it says available on july 8th.. WHERE? i've just cancelled an order for a LaCie Portable DVD-RW and waiting to get this instead..
FFS Engadget. Give it a rest. Your Apple fanboydom has gone well beyond embarrassing now.
personally i think the companies with NO design team should be embarrassed, they will stop reporting on it when other tech companies stop ripping off apples designs, which doesn't look like any time soon, if your going to be annoyed with anyone it should be with these companies that instead of being original or innovative just copy.
The funny thing is Apple's drive is just a rip off of all the other external solutions that many ultraportable laptops have been offered with over the years. they just changed it to a slot load (ugh) and made it white and rounded the edges.
That's advancement!
@neihprome:
no one said apple invented the external slot loading drive. the funny thing is how this small little company blatantly ripped off the design from apple and no one can see it. you're minimising the crime here and setting up a strawman by saying, "oh, no one can make a slot loading drive with a low profile, sharp corners, and rounded edges now!"
I'm sure there's a LOT of R&D involved in putting a slot load drive in to a white box with a USB cable.
Too bad they couldn't include an eSATA port next to that USB... I'd be all over this!
Well, compared to the fruity version, this one has an eject button. So, yeah, it's better than the "original" :D
Well, it is significantly faster than anything apple is selling. I still dont get why they ship their stuff with 8x drives!
Wow, that is sexy.
I cannot wait for the new mac mini to come out though first.
This will be awesome for when I get my MSI Wind. Big emphasis on WHEN, but I know within3 months I'll get a netbook, and will want a drive for movies and copying files to go. And its only 90 bucks, perfect.
Where! Where! Me want one to go with the MSI Wind!
Seriously, if you ask me, apple's superdrive looks a lot like my Iomega USB floppy drive. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=699098&CatId=287
Give it a rest, Apple isn't the only one with the notion that if you pull all the labels off an object, make it small and compact and a solitary neutral color, it will sell...That's called minimalism, and it is part of an entire contemporary movement in design. Get the hell over yourselves for thinking Apple is the end-all of anything. They're just a duechebag company that sells style for a premium, just like prada or coach, which are still just bags that hold your nasty habits, with a fancy label.
Seriously, if you ask me, apple's superdrive looks a lot like my Iomega USB floppy drive. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=699098&CatId=287
Give it a rest, Apple isn't the only one with the notion that if you pull all the labels off an object, make it small and compact and a solitary neutral color, it will sell...That's called minimalism, and it is part of an entire contemporary movement in design. Get the hell over yourselves for thinking Apple is the end-all of anything. They're just a duechebag company that sells style for a premium, just like prada or coach, which are still just bags that hold your nasty habits, with a fancy label.
double post, crap... sorry
You mean the horrendous R&D cost of looking through a handful of OEM DVD drive makers for a slim, slot loading DVD drive and using a CAD app to design a two part shell for a case that fits it?
Yeah... that would bankrupt most companies.
I've designed and specced electronic devices - it's really just not the huge issue most Mac fans seem to think it is.
and yet no one thought of doing that until apple. yeah, say how uncool it is to compare everything to apple products, but has everyone at engadget gone blind? the fact is that it looks exactly the same as the air's superdrive. design your own 2 piece cases in CAD if it's so easy for pete's sake.
Jeff nailed. Apple did nothing but package an off the shelf item. The same factory producing Apple's drive is likely making minor variants for numerous other companies.
It's the same for most consumer network equipment. Companies like Linksys and Netgear do very little real R&D. They primarily take an OEM offering and customize it.
Except the Apple product does NOT work with any other PC or Mac except for the MacBook Air... It is clearly NOT a standard product.
However the the reason it does not work with other PCs is simply that Apple chose to give it a "special" controller.
My papa always used to say "if it looks like clone and acts like a clone, it probably is a clone" and I guess it holds true to this. I'd by this simply because its cheaper and if you think hard enough and believe hard enough, you can convince yourself this is the apple's superdrive.
Perhaps they were trying to match it to Macs? Macs like the Mini (and of course the Air) need something like this. Probably easier to sell to those markets if your product follows the same aesthetics. How is this a rip-off of an Apple design, when a external drive case that looks almost exactly like a Mac Mini isn't? It's an *alternative* to an official product, that's better (eject button, works on non-Air computers). That's good, remember...
@.jedi @ Jul 9th 2008 11:15AM
you do of course realize that Apple isn't taking GNU licensed products and redistributing them don't you?
Because then of course they would have to make the source code available for free as well, and this isnt happening.
Instead they took BSD licensed code (entirely different lisc) and closed sourced it.
This was the whole reason for using Darwin as a base.
It wasn't GNU
it was BSD.
It *is* a rip off of the Apple product.
Slimline drive mechanisms have been available for a long time, way before Apple came up with their slim external drive. Within a few months of Apple making such a product out of the long standing slim mechanisms, this comes along looking identical to the casual eye. Coincidence? Yeah right...
Apple make translucent blue computers, PC makers start making translucent blue computers. Apple make white glossy laptops, PC makers start making white glossy laptops.
While Apple certainly aren't innocent on the copying front (Xerox being a great example) since 1997 there has been way more copying of Apple, then the other way around.
@ Daren
Shut-up! and go write for cultofmac. This is an absolutely terrible post. Instead of focusing on the products actual strengths and weaknesses you hammer it for being a white square. Please pour just a little ounce of journalism into your work next time.
Wow...
I think comments on here are starting to resemble Youtube's comments...
"OMG, he's sooooOoOoO, lYkE, in LUV w/ HIM!@!$#"
I do prefer Apple products because personally I've had better luck with it. Lasted me longer, now available to have 3 OS that I want to have, and has the style factor. It's not that I want to show off that I have a mac, they just happen to design their hardware with simple/minimalist concept - which just happens to be everything else in my apartment. But that doesn't mean I only buy Apple products.
The thing is that Apple had it "first". Whatever that's widely publicized/distributed (even just in design) will be compared to that of the "followers". So the comparison (or in this case, 'taking' their 'idea') is obvious. And that guy who said it looks like iomega external floppy drive... That's like comparing apples to oranges... I've never seen a tray coming out of a floppy drive to take my 1.44. ^.^;
It is cheaper, and burns discs faster than Apple's version...
Andrew, I doubt Apple went to the trouble of putting a different controller in the unit. All it takes is a ROM string match if you wish to make a device exclusive to a specific product range. That is part of the customization options OEMs offer in their reference designs.
My only hope(s) are that it works with iMovie and the rest of the iApps and that after the next update Apple doesnt make it stop working...
a) The timing and design of this product indicate it was indeed "inspired" by Apple's drive.
b) Apple's drive only works with the Air, so it's a wonderful idea to design an alternative drive for all other computer users.
c) While Engadget's R&D comment seems a little over-the-top, it would have been ridiculous to write a story on this drive without mentioning the point made in a).
what a fun post!
Apple is founded on taking (or ripping off, or stealing) ideas already being worked on and developed, and then claiming they have created it. They have done this over and over, and are masters at it.
For example:
- widgets and the now famous "dock" - these were being developed in the early 90's for the "acitve desktop" on pc, and were called "Things" (may require some research to find them - but i remember downloading and trying them out)
- apple's new Multiple desktops - another side windows development started a few years ago
- the iphone itself - can anyone say Prada? or HTC? or Origami?
- "push" - again, microsoft has been doing this for years...
- iphones new handwriting app - someone developed this as an adaptation of the Palm software, and they (thankfully) bought his idea from him, you won't see them give him credit though....
- the app store - "installer" anyone?
this list obviously goes on and on -
sleek, yummy and coveted yes, but original? No. Apple takes things already being made and repackages them in a much easier way to use, and (only sometimes) actually better.
Keep in mind how crappy the Airport was/is, and how incredibly slow and useless the laptops were, much less the desktops, until the latest versions have come out and they switched to Intel.
be a fan, but don't be blind....
Don't get me wrong, I think this was a horribly written article and pretty much ignores the fact that the AIR drive is about the same as any other USB optical drive, but your points are not well made yourself.
Widgets are indeed not a unique invention, but neither were "things". The idea of lightweight, small puprose, ubiquitious utilities have been kicking around in the industry for a long time, but were probably first popularized by konfabulator and similar ilk (even though that postdates things. Active Desktop was a horrible implementation). Apple certainly liked the idea, but the sidebar in Vista owes a great deal more to konfabulator that it does to the "things" back in the day as well.
Mulitple desktop is not an MS innovation in the least. It is more a *nix scheme, and in my opinion a poor hack to accomidate for an inneffective way of dealing with numerous open windows. Now the "stacks" on the dock, those are pretty much a direct ripoff of the consolidating tabs in Windows, with pointless animation added, but who cares.
The Iphone, handwritting app, etc, could be traced back to the illfated newton as much as anything.
But all of that said, who the hell cares. A world with only one company allowed to adopt and build on an idea is a completely wretched world. If Apple was the only one allowed to work on PDA like devices because of the newton that entire market segment wouldn't exist, the iphone wouldn't exist, etc, because the newton would have died and no company would have renewed interest. The new Envy is a direct response (not copy) of the Air, and the market is better because of it. A mark of a product's impact is not how well it does, but how much an industry changes as a response.
Engadget, this is just embarrassing. I'm pretty sure Apple hasn't patented "White box with slimline drive in it." We all know you love Apple to pieces, but seriously... this product is BETTER in every significant way than Apple's device, yet all you can say is that it rips off their "design"? Seriously, as another commenter said: Apple didn't invent minimalism. That's like saying any modernistic piece of architecture is "ripping off Frank Lloyd Wright."
Fail, Engadget. Fail.
does steve jobs write for engadget now?
So you need massive R&D to design DVD drives? Come on, how different can you make a DVD drive?
While I realize the intent of the comment, I cannot help but mention that R&D "overhead" should never be factored into the price, it is a sunk cost.
Big Apple fan, I am. But.
Nothing to see here. You make an external DVD-RW drive slim, it's going to look like this.
At least this drive has an eject button, like all drives should :p
One thing I can't figure out about Apple's drives is their lack of eject buttons. Yes, it looks clean without. Bud goddamnit, I want to eject stuff every now and again when the friggin' OS won't let me!!!!!111!!11!!
I really could give a shit who ripped of who's design team, if at all. All I know is this will look damn sexy with my white macbook, and give me an excuse to get an optibay, finally.
http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/
1TB Macbook here I come! (maybe get an SSD for my boot drive?)