New Titanium PowerBook SuperDrive supports DVD-R/-RW/-RAM

[Eug]

It seems that the new SuperDrive in the 1 GHz G4 Titanium PowerBook is a DVD Multi burner - supports DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132000

[AntnyMD]

Unfortunately, if you're a Powerbook owner with a combo drive, you cannot have your drive ripped out and replaced with the new SuperDrive. ... this according to one of the "geniuses" at the Genius Bar in Apple Soho.

[Eug]

Unfortunately, if you're a Powerbook owner with a combo drive, you cannot have your drive ripped out and replaced with the new SuperDrive. ... this according to one of the "geniuses" at the Genius Bar in Apple Soho.

My guess is that the geniuses are not correct. They are correct in the sense that Apple will have no such service (at least not any time soon), but they are probably wrong in the sense that 3rd party companies have been doing optical drive swaps in the TiBook for years. However, such a swap may (or may not) void the warranty.

The main problem at this juncture is availability of the actual drive. The only slot load SuperDrive in existence AFAIK is the Matshita UJ-815, and presumably Apple is getting the entire supply at the moment... There seems there may be a shortage of them. (Any orders from Apple of the SuperDrive TiBook means a several week wait, whereas new combo drive TiBooks are readily available everywhere.)

[AntnyMD]

Interesting. Thanks for adding that perspective. It would be nice to be able to burn DVDs on the run, but I wouldn't want to void the warranty to do so.

The genius said theres a significant difference in the motherboard for the new slot-loading SuperDrives, and thats what makes it impossible to do a simple switch-out. Have you heard such a thing?

[Eug]

The genius said theres a significant difference in the motherboard for the new slot-loading SuperDrives, and thats what makes it impossible to do a simple switch-out. Have you heard such a thing?

I suppose that's possible, but the picture of the drive makes it seem like it's standard enough. (It's the one on the right.)



Maybe the sizing or cabling has been changed? I dunno. I've never owned a TiBook, much less taken one apart.

Also, if you're looking for DVD-RAM support, that may be problematic at this juncture. Check out this post by someone:

I talked to an Apple Mac OS guy today and he said the operating system doesn't have DVD-RAM drivers for the PowerBooks out yet. The drive is in fact capable of writing to DVD-RAM, and drivers are a distinct possibility in the next few OS revisions according to him

I'll test this when my TiBook arrives.