mac external dvd burner??

[nickmeister]

I have an ibook g3 and am looking for an external dvd writer. Have looked around to find they are all pretty pricey especially the mac compatible ones. Pc ones are a lot cheaper & more readily available it seems?

Have also noticed these dvd enclosures you can buy which are mac/pc compatible which provide a housing for the writer. How do these work?
Is it worth me trying to find an internal writer & buy an enclosure?

If not does anyone know a decent & affordable external one which they can recommend?

[WiseWeasel]

You can get an external FW NEC-2500A 8x/4x/12x DVD+/-RW burner for $125 here:
http://www.pc4usa.com/detailSales.asp?ProductID=145&Catn=5&scatn=49
It probably won't be compatible with the iApps, but will work fine with Toast. Otherwise, you can get a Pioneer 107 or 108 drive (for about $85 or $100 shipped, respectively), and then get a FireWire enclosure for about $35, and build your own that will be compatible with the iApps.

[londor]

Patchburn (I for Jaguar and II for Panther) is an utility that in most cases will make unsupported drives work with the iApps and Finder/Disk Utility/Disk Copy. You can download it from http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/patchburn2_feedback.html#storytop

Also to use iDVD with an external drive or create a Disk Image with iDVD you need HPFurz which you can find here http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/personal_site/mac_guide/pages/15-burn_idvd_other.html

[destreaga]

You can get an external FW NEC-2500A 8x/4x/12x DVD+/-RW burner for $125 here:
http://www.pc4usa.com/detailSales.asp?ProductID=145&Catn=5&scatn=49
It probably won't be compatible with the iApps, but will work fine with Toast. Otherwise, you can get a Pioneer 107 or 108 drive (for about $85 or $100 shipped, respectively), and then get a FireWire enclosure for about $35, and build your own that will be compatible with the iApps.

I put a pioneer drive in a fire wire enclosure and it works just fine with all the apps I have.

[qshartle]

since you have an iBook, im guessing you want a slim dvd writer. I know sony makes one. cant remember the name. but its pretty tiny and has 4x speed. Its also usb powered. So less wires. Thats a plus. I myself is looking for a slimline dvd writer that can be patched for RPC-1.


Q

Any suggestions o wise ones?

[Faustus]

Yeah you could use something like this http://www.esbuy.com/pidvexusorfi.html

Or just go buy one of those NEC dual formats dual layers and a Firewire case.

I used the FW case method until the FW ports on my imac died. (leading upto my new mac, which of course came with a new burner) and it worked great.