Filed under: Macworld, MacBook Air
Reader question: Can you use the MBA Superdrive with other Macs?
Several readers have asked about using the MacBook Air's DVD SuperDrive on machines other than the MBA. As Engadget noted yesterday, the power draw on USB for the SuperDrive may be prohibitively high for standard ports to handle, and the MBA is engineered specifically to support the high-demand drive. An Apple support rep at the booth had only one comment: the drive is designed for the MacBook Air and supports the MacBook Air, full stop. If you absolutely have to try out the drive on a different machine, best bet is to bring your laptop to an Apple Store in a couple of weeks, plug in the DVD and see what happens (there aren't drives out on the show floor for me to test with, unfortunately). There are other USB-powered options for disc burning, including the Plextor portable -- it does use 2 USB ports to guarantee adequate wattage for the power-hungry burn process, and it looks pretty awful, but it should get the job done.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason Brennan said 3:37PM on 1-16-2008
Mmmm slight problem with the plextor drive, it takes 2 usb ports... MBA only has one! Oops :)
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Dave said 3:44PM on 1-16-2008
The Drive will only work on the MacBook Air, as will the USB to ethernet adaptor.
I have just come of the UK APR Conference call with Apple.
Hope that helps
Dave
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Josh Bancroft said 3:54PM on 1-16-2008
Just get a universal bus powered USB DVD burner, like this one from LiteOn:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106097
It's only $79, one cable, and even includes LightScribe. Apple's not the only game in town.
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Sam Gross said 6:40PM on 1-16-2008
Ummmmmmmmmm....................did you even look at it? it's not bus powered.
ProudWiiOwner said 5:07PM on 1-16-2008
ah ha! but does it have an apple logo??
mmhmm. I didn't think so.
ryan10ad said 4:01PM on 1-16-2008
"pretty awful," vista looks better
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Jurjen Hoekstra said 4:06PM on 1-16-2008
well, if I remember correctly, the new aluminium keyboard supports being used as a powered USB-Hub, so powerfull enough to connect with your iPod, when connected to a new iMac. This is because the iMac has some kind of newer or more powerfull kind of USB2.0 port. My guess is that the MacBook Air uses the same port, so you won't be able to use the MBA superdrive with, say, a MacBook Pro or a Mac Mini, but it should work with the aluminium iMac.....
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anon said 4:05PM on 1-16-2008
Represents one of those very curious ambiguities about USB specification that FW doesn't have to deal with. See discussion about the asymmetrical power consumption of the MBP ports:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6261491
Even though they are rated the same, the right port is able to utilize more power than the left. I suspect that my MP's ports can power these, and possibly the right USB port on the MBP and NOT the left (unless I happen to have a cable that ... oh, nevermind. you get the picture).
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Marshall said 4:09PM on 1-16-2008
I have a removable hard drive that powers off USB. It works on one, but has a split cable in case you need to use two USB ports to get enough juice. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to get a split cord and ride off two USB ports for device power (unless it needs more than that, which is unlikely).
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KR said 4:18PM on 1-16-2008
LaCie makes a very slim USB DVD burner that is bus-powered. It's less expensive than the Apple version, should work with any computer you connect it to, and offers LightScribe.
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nanodalek said 4:20PM on 1-16-2008
It would be nice if the "Air's" USB drive would work with other computers, but in my experience thats not how Apple tech tends to be. Usually when you install OS X there are model specific drivers that are installed in the background to add functionality to said given hardware. I am certain this will be the case with the Macbook Air's Superdrive.
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Benji XVI said 4:52PM on 1-16-2008
One of the most irritating lost opportunities ever is for USB to have an even *slightly* higher max power draw specification.
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Keenkreations said 8:35PM on 1-16-2008
I wonder if I can rip out that Super Drive and install that in my one year old MBP Core Duo? Haha. The spare parts that I can find on the net are over 150 dollars. If this is only 100 dollars over at the Apple Store, then why not?
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bob said 5:40PM on 1-16-2008
"the drive is designed for the MacBook Air and supports the MacBook Air"
It'd be nice if it did work but that's one thing that annoys me about Apple. An Apple update buggered my Superdrive. I hounded them about it. They said there was no fix, nor was there going to be as they helpfully reassured me my iMac would work with Apple branded media. The Apple Store in Ireland don't sell Apple Branded Media. Buggered!
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Manuel Martensen said 7:01PM on 1-16-2008
If it won’t work, here is a beautiful slim usb-powered writer by LG, the GSA-E50L.
Same specs, no slot-loading though, but lightscribe.
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Manuel Martensen said 7:03PM on 1-16-2008
http://us.lge.com/products/model/detail/computer%20products_optical%20drives_optical%20drives_GSA-E50L.jhtml