Apple Macbook Air SuperDrive (MB397G/A)
 | List Price: $99.99 Our Price: Too low to display Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Customer Rating:    |
Editorial Reviews:
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 Read and write DVDs and CDs on your MacBook Air. |
The new Apple MacBook Air is thin and beautiful, and is able to do tricks such as borrow the optical drive of another computer on a network. But sometimes you need an optical drive on the go, and that's where the Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive comes in. Made by Apple with a design to complement the MacBook Air perfectly, the MacBook Air SuperDrive connects to your MacBook Air with a built-in USB cable you'll never lose. No extra power adapters are needed, as the SuperDrive simply draws power from the USB connection itself, regardless of whether or not your MacBook Air is plugged in.
The SuperDrive features speedy performance, writing DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 4x speed, and DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed.
Small Size for Easy Portability
The MacBook Air SuperDrive employs a slot-loading design that makes it miniscule--barely larger than a CD case. You can easily drop the MacBook Air SuperDrive into your bag and take it everywhere you go. Now you can enjoy a DVD movie while on the plane or you can burn onto a CD that song you've been working on while you were on the tour bus.
What's in the Box
MacBook Air SuperDrive with attached USB cable, user's guide.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: not good at all...
Comment: Have you ever seen the clip from madtv about a bunch of people adoring Steve Jobs, and crying everytime he open his mouth? I'm that kind of people, I love Mac, fanatically. But in this case after been with the air and the 'superdrive' for some months now, really is not worth the price and effort. I have a multiple hub, and so I have no problem with the only usb provided. But everytime one of my students bring something in a cd, I have to disconnect everything, 'cause this thing only works directly attached to the macbook air. Besides about two weeks later the cable started to peel from the unit!.
If apple says I only do need one usb port I believe it. I can live without firewire. And maybe they are absolutely true about cds and dvds being obsolete when there are usb drives with 5gb in the size of a nail. But the thing with the superdrive is that is made to be annoying. Really does not solve any problem, itself is the problem. And at the end I'm going to buy a sony just for functionality. If you are thinking in it, skip it. Heresy on my behalf!!!!! forgive me Apple!!!!! aaggghhhhh -a thunder strikes!!!......-
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great device for the MacBook Air
Comment: I purchased this when I ordered my MacBook Air simply because I wanted the back-up security in case it was difficult to install programs through my iMac. I have used it consistently since that time and find it to be a perfectly adequate product. In fact, I would recommend it to anyone who purchases the MacBook Air. It is lightweight and almost as portable as the Air. Definitely recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Comment: My main concern was to buy a light notebook where I can carry with me where ever I go...Mac Air is a great piece of art with all Apple powerful features. The screen size is wonderful and every thing you need is.built in that laptop. Two comments I have, hard desk size comes in two options either 80 G or I guess 64 SSD technology. On the other hand, DVD drive is external. I believe Apple has the capability in building in the super drive and also giving us more hard desk options of 120 or 240 G. other wise, a perfect buy :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: USB port hogging is very inconvenient
Comment: An optical drive is pretty much indispensable with a MacBook Air, and this drive is certainly a high-quality product in many ways. But (1) it won't work with anything but a MacBook Air, and (2) it won't work on a USB hub; it has to be plugged directly into the MacBook. This can be very inconvenient, as you may really need to have other devices plugged in (e.g., a tablet, a camera, a printer, the Air ethernet dongle, or any number of other devices that you don't want to have to unplug just to use the optical drive).
There are of course ways around this, such as copying the contents of an installation disc to your hard drive and installing from there (but the Air's largest disk is only 80GB), or, as Apple recommends, installing over the WiFi network from an optical drive on another system on your LAN (considerably slower).
So although I haven't hit any showstoppers yet, I know that some people have, and frankly, Apple needs to come out with a USB hub that will solve this problem.
Otherwise, as mentioned, it's an excellent product - great price, great performance, great packaging design. But if you really want better connectivity and performance at a better price, you might seriously consider sacrificing the light weight and sexy looks of the Air and its SuperDrive and get yourself a 2.4GHz MacBook (with bigger disk and more max ram) for a lot less $$. This machine is no slouch, has integrated optical drive, an extra USB port, an ethernet port, and a Firewire port. A lot of value.
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Update 2008-09-16:
I saw a review on another website that this drive works on a hub when running Windows, so I tried it and amazingly it does! If you boot the Air into a BootCamp partition running Windows, the SuperDrive works perfectly (I'm using a powered hub - not sure if other hubs would work). It can read, play, and eject CDs and DVDs fine. It didn't seem to work when running Windows under Parallels or VMWare (which makes sense), but running native it worked fine. This was XP SP2. So apparently, the restriction is purely in MacOS, not in the Air or SuperDrive hardware (or even firmware). This would suggest that Apple could fix this with a MacOS update. Perhaps there are marketing reasons why they don't, but as long as it remains impossible to use the SuperDrive with any other USB device under MacOS, this product remains less useful than it might be.
The next thing to try would be to see if the SuperDrive will work on other Macs running Windows (with or without a hub), because it doesn't work on any other Mac under MacOS, only the Air. I would bet that it will work, but will be very interested to hear from anyone who tries it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not unique, but very nice design at a good price
Comment: Quote: "But if you want to install Boot Camp or play DVDs, it's pretty much the only game in town right now."
Actually, pretty much any external portable DVD drive should work with the MacBook Air.
I have an external Targus DVD drive and a no-name brand; both work with the Airbook.
Most external, portable DVD drives have two USB cables, one for data and power, the second for extra power alone. The reason is that USB is limited to 2.5 Watts, but DVD drives tend to use more than that (same is true for most external 2.5" hard drives). Apple is boosting the power in its USB port by providing extra amps; this is why the MacBook Air SuperDrive needs only one cable.
So, any external, portable DVD drive should work by plugging in a single USB cable. The converse is not true: the Air SuperDrive will only work in extra powered, non-standard USB ports, ie. virtually no others.
Still, this is a beautifully designed drive for a very good price (being a minimalist, I'd like to see a version that is a little lighter, but I haven't found one that is smaller and lighter than the Air SuperDrive yet).
Cheers,
Godo, author of "The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook"
PS: you may want to consider using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard if you find the single USB port too limiting.
Accessories:
Technical Details
Binding: ElectronicsEAN: 0885909213092
Model: MB397G/A
Release Date: 2008-01-24
Warranty: 1 year warranty
