WTF? MacBook Air SuperDrive can only be used with MacBook Air
While the value of the MacBook Air might be up for debate, the $99 price of the portable USB SuperDrive that can be purchased as an add-on is not. However, those of us thinking we might be able to pick up a nice travel-sized SuperDrive on the cheap will have to look elsewhere.
For some reason, Apple has decided to hobble the MacBook Air SuperDrive. Despite being a USB device which should work with any Mac or even PC, it will only work with the MacBook Air. A call in to Apple has confirmed that the system requirements listed online are correct, and a MacBook Air is required to use the drive. (There go our dreams of using it with our Apple TV’s USB port).
This of course sucks. We’d like to think that somehow Apple has discounted the SuperDrive so low that it can only recoup its costs by subsidizing it with MacBook Air purchases, but since a SuperDrive can’t cost Apple more than $30 to make, we are left thinking WTF? The only thing we can figure is that Apple’s bizarre choice to continue to offer a Combo Drive model on the MacBook has proven so successful in forcing people to fork over an extra $200 to get a MacBook with a SuperDrive that they don’t want to risk cannibalizing those sales.
There are other companies that make USB powered DVD burners, completely bus powered by standard USB. See here, here, here, and here. Some offer AC power adapters that allows them to burn faster, but bus-powered burners are relatively common now.
We’re not sure how Apple has gone about implementing this “feature” – whether through software drivers exclusive to the MacBook Air or through some hardware hack on the SuperDrive end – so we’ll have to wait 2 weeks to see if some resourceful folks can find a way around this.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader TheCos for the tip!
why *should* it work with any Mac or even PC? How do you know that? How about it gets part of the necessary processing power from the Air processor so its size and cost can be reduced?
Buster, the MacBook Air doesn’t HAVE any processing power. How’s it going to share any with a drive?
I read somewhere yesterday, that there’s something ‘special’ about the USB hardware inside the Macbook Air, that allows this drive to work. Apple’s just full of hidden gotcha’s eh.
“why *should* it work with any Mac or even PC?”
The idea is that 95% of USB devices are Plug-and-play, able to plug into any USB computer and simply work. When you go into a store and buy a USB device, you expect it to work on your Mac, your PC, and your laptop. That is the reason USB was created, because years ago, you had printer ports, monitor ports, ports for floppy drives… the back of your computer looked like swiss cheese because it has so many different ports. USB was created to be an end-all for ports.
It is upsetting that Apple has created a USB device that is not Plug-and-play.
Matthew
It could be about power. A standard USB port can only put out 500mA at 5V. That’s 2.5 watts, which is probably not enough to run a superdrive.
The Macbook Air’s USB port is probably designed to put out more current, allowing this drive to operate.
This is the same thing Apple did with the 2007 iMacs; they equipped them with high current USB ports so that you could connect full-power (500mA) devices to the USB ports on the new aluminum keyboards without requiring a power supply.
So there’s two possibilities here:
– No hardware check; the superdrive just draws what it needs. If the USB port you connect it to can put out enough power, it’ll work.
or
– The drive checks to see if the machine you plug it into is a Macbook Air, and won’t power up if it’s not. Apple may implement this to protect “lesser” USB ports from overload.
The good side to this? If the Macbook Air’s USB port can put out more current, it should have no problem driving 2.5″ hard drives and other peripherals that sometimes need to plug into two ports to operate.
There are other companies that make USB powered DVD burners, completely bus powered by standard USB.
See
here
here
here
Some offer AC power adapters that allows them to burn faster, but bus-powered burners are common now.
-The Doc
Plugging a MBA superdrive into a normal apple laptop produces a low power warning. The MBA USB ports put out a much higher amount of power to be able to use that drive. It is not unreasonable that it will not work with other system as they do not have USB ports designed to power this device.
@Matthew: that is so much bullshit. Most USB printers are not plug’n’play on the PC, and if they on the Mac they’more likely than not aren’t. I don’t expect my EyeTV to work on a PC. The thing that USB standardizes is the way the data is sent through, however, the contents of the data are not something with which USB has anything to do.
Yeah, but there’s a standard for how storage devices should communicate, and we’ve come to accept and expect that, too. You just plug your flash drives and external hard disks in and expect them to work – no messy drivers or any other crap to worry about. But if it needs more power, I guess that’s a legitimate reason.
This is lame. We already knew that the “requirements” would be a MacBook Air, but you can bet that’s just a recommendation and has nothing to do with what systems it will actually support.
Additionally, you’ll notice that the 3 examples of other companies selling external DVD burners have prices that are astronomically higher than the MBA Superdrive. To be fair, a bus-powered, regular 5.25″ external DVD burner can cost as little as $40. But products comparable to the MBA Superdrive are way more.
Bottom line apple sux and a money grabbing institution. No wonder their share price is down.
Dr. Macenstein: Only the first link was true to your claims. And that requires an AC adapter for full performance? Oh and it costs more than the MBA accessory, which can burn at full speed over the MBA’s modified USB bus.
Here is they way it goes with all computers and all hardware. Anything is possible! unless Apple changes the plug of the usb to look like something funky, this USB device will work on anything. Might need to do some driver work, or just wait for a DIY to come out online.
…remember, anything is possible….when it comes to computers
Dr. Macenstein,
YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT.
The single USB port outputs more electrical splooge than standard ones in order to power the superdrive. End of story. Stop bitching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_mass_storage_device_class
There is a standard for this sort of thing. Now, I can imagine that Apple might have wanted some sort of extra special sauce; but they could do that on top of the existing MSD class. MSD isn’t perfect; but it works.
well if this is simply about the power restriction, id love to see somebody work out an ac power adapter for this so it can be used without the air
So, lemme get this right. You’re mad because your car’s temporary tire doesn’t work with a different make of car? Honestly people, I’m tired of these stupid articles. “Apple refuses to license the OS! WTF!?!” “Apple’s xyz software/hardware doesn’t work on my PC even though it’s designed for a mac! WTF?”
Honestly, does apple sell a system that doesn’t have the option to include a superdrive besides the Air? If the answer is no, why from Apple’s perspective would it make sense to produce a true plug and play so you can use it with your XPS or Lenove
maybe it’s usb3
LOL @ Buster. You’re kidding me right? With that logic, I could build a CD-rom to interface with my PS3 cell processor that could shoot discs into space.
the low-power warning is bs. you can pick up a $10 externally powered hub and move on with your life. this artificial restriction is just that, artificial.
I have 2 comments. I think that Apple should have made it clear why it won’t work on other PCs or MACs. I think there are a couple of legitimate reasons. USB Power being one of them, however I don’t think most people that buy the Mac Book Air, would use the Super Drive on another system. People that are buying the Mac Book Air need the Super Drive since the Air doesn’t have an optical drive by itself, which means people that don’t by the Super Drive have an existing computer that has an optical drive – for what purpose would they use the Super Drive? To copy from one drive and write on another? Well you can do that over the network anyway. I just don’t think it’s an issue worth bitching about. The Air is an incredible light wight laptop, the SuperDrive is just a companion (as it was introduced). It was not meant to be a stand alone product in the 1st place.
I laugh every time people trip bawls after Apple introduces a new product that have already been around for a while 😀
Ignorance is bliss I suppose…
One thing is certain. It would have been the perfect add-on to AppleTV “2.0,” giving me a reason to get rid of my DVD player. Of course they would need to add the DVD player back into the crippled version of Front Row that is AppleTV, but hey, how hard is that. All the pieces are there but users are at the mercy of Apple’s fixed notions of how they want us to use their products. Alas, I won’t buy an AppleTV (and I really want to!!!) until I can play a DVD, too (do you think it’s because a DVD drive will cut into their new rental market?). Oh well. Let’s go hackers!
that is typical though, its like a dvd , only working for a specific region, but the good thing is that mac sales have grown 40% year on year, i found the article here,http://www.opentopix.com/topic/gadgets/mac-super-driver-only-to-be-used-with-mac-book-air
Well, if it is a power issue like some have said, then it could be possible to give it external power via a hardware hack, and use said device on other machines.
I would be interested to see someone try one of these out on, say, one of the newer iMacs, or even more interestingly, on a PC equipped with a few of those newfangled high-powered USB ports.
I can’t believe they’re still referring to it as a “Superdrive”. It’s just a standard DVD burner like ANY other.
Stop censoring me “Dr. Macenstein”
You deleted my last comment, proving that you are, in fact, an idiot.
It is obvious that the MacBook air’s USB port is higher powered for this reason and yet you still feel compelled to bitch about it to drive traffic to your site… lame.
I don’t suppose you bothered to look at the inset picture fpr the FreeCom. You know, the one that shows the TWO USB connectors it needs in order to be “bus-powered”.
And the Samsung is NOT bus-powered. According to the manual it REQUIRES the external power supply.
Finally, the LG is in fact bus-powered off a single port… though it runs at half speed when doing so. Using the power adaptor is “recommended”.
The Apple drive, however, runs at full-speed when powered off a single port, due to the fact that Apple added a high-current port to support it.
If this is a power issue, Apple needs to get their crap together. As has already been stated, there are external drives that will do everything the superdrive can do….on any computer…and at a cheaper price. My favorite is the LG option that was linked to. I’ve seen that in a couple stores.
@Insider, I’d be interested to know how much power it sends.
Wow!
Oh wait no wow!
This isn’t the first time that apple/mac have made hardware components that only work with each other or in some cases only with certain models.
Mac keyboards, Mac Mice, Mac Monitors…
Remember floppies? Oh the misery every time I needed a Mac formatted floppy and a Pc formatted floppy.
this is just the same thing as apple USED to do: create interesting hardware but make it more expensive and proprietary…and fail the mainstream. just because they’re NOW doing well, resulting primarily from being inclusive, more industry standard and value-driven (intel chips, mac mini, ipod, itunes for windows, etc.) they think they can close the door and return to being the special, expensive computer. well fuck it – nobody wants that kind of attitude, this is technology and you’re not going to be taken seriously and try to hide behind some fancy design. USB is USB, I don’t want fucking “Apple USB” – forget apple man, i don’t wanna be part of their world, they have their heads way up their own asses… again.
Could this have something to do with Apple’s i-Suite of applications? Seems that some funtions (like DVD-burning in iMovie ??) only worked with Apple branded Superdrive, not with generic burners at one point. Maybe some kind of sublicensing agreement with a proprietary code provider (like a codec patent owner) is involved. People will surely try cheaper, bulkier burners with the new MB-Air and howl if there are any limitations when using a non-Apple optical drive substitute. The new remote drive software could also enforce this limitation on non-Apple hardware. This whole scenario, while not yet confirmed, smells very “Steve-ish” to me.
Why would you want to shove more power down the usb lane when the whole purpose of the Mac Air is to be lower power user in the first place?
If the problem is lack of usb power, why not use a cable that has two usb connectors? My hard drive has one of those that i can use in low power situations.
um, that probably means it won’t work via hub then?
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/MacBookAir_0801/Articles/ProductDeveloperNote.html
“and one high-power USB port”
Power is it alright.
My flash drive doesn’t “just work” on any of the PCs I have at work. Windows always whines about drives. But yes, USB is supposed to make things easier.
Your Eye TV will work with a PC 😉 You can download fre software to use it! (if you know where) It’s the same hardware as the most popular PC USB tuners.
@Buster: Before spouting bullshit, why don’t you at least try to learn what you’re talking about?
Here’s the fact: Any USB compliant device /can/ operate on a USB compliant port. The presence or lack of drivers in the host operating system does not change this basic fact.
Here’s the real issue: Apple is sneakily producing computers and peripherals that LOOK like USB and that apple CLAIMS are USB, but are not in fact USB compliant. (The computer ports putting out more power doesn’t necessarily break USB compliance; the peripherals requiring non-standard amounts of power (from the USB port) DOES break USB compliance.)
The clue is in the name you dumbf**k: “MacBook Air SuperDrive”
If you want a portable USB optical drive to use with your Mac and PC, buy one.
@Zorin
The USB spec says that it can only provide 500mA of power. The reality is that most USB controllers are hooked into a system bus that allows it to draw more power than that if need be. How do you think that people power their 80GB+ 2.5″ hard drives completely off of USB? Last I heard most 100GB 2.5″ drives needed 1000mA to do their initial spin up. To be powered completely off of a USB bus supplying *only* 500mA, you would only be able to use a 40GB or 60GB 2.5″ drive.
This really only works for the USB ports that are part of your computer though. Hubs and Cardbus cards usually can’t handle this on their own. ( I have a cardbus usb2 card that needs a “power cord” plugged into a wall socket or one of the laptop’s on-board usb ports to supply enough power to run a 2.5″ external drive, but it tends to overheat and lock up if I do that. )
@Kris
It’s not just Apple then, because most 2.5″ usb hard drives that claim to be “powered off of usb” require more power than standard usb can supply at 500mA. Same with other bus-powered burners. They probably come with one of those cords that has two usb connectors at one end: one for data and power, the other just for power.
Firewire gets around this whole thing because it can supply up to 1500mA according to spec, IIRC. But most WIntel Laptops only come with a 4-pin IEEE1394a connector (e.g. no bus-power pins).
@eric
Because without that power, the device won’t work… maybe? It’s not like the USB power operates at 100% power all the time. It gives the power that the device needs. It doesn’t burn 1500mA of power when a device is only using .01mA of power.
If you really want an external dvd burner look here:
http://www.meritline.com/slim-laptop-dvd-drive-burner-writer.html
You could easily put together a combo that combined would be ~$100.
This is the case of I have:
http://www.meritline.com/usb-firewire-combo–5-25-external-slim-drive-enclosure-laptop-dvd-cd-r-w.html
That external case comes with a USB cable (the Y-cable that has one connector just for power) and a firewire one. It’ll power itself from Firewire (have not tested USB). I put an NEC drive in mine ( I think that I picked it up from NewEgg, but it was in ’05 so I can’t quite remember specifically ). I don’t see how this Apple drive is “such a great deal.” It’s not like you can’t get something for around the same price point. Maybe not if you look towards LaCie or something like that, but you’ll always pay a premium for LaCie.
Ahem…
In Apple’s World – a “High Power” USB port = USB 2.0
They cannot go pushing more DC down the line, or they risk a new round of lawsuit defense, for frying other hardware connected to the port.
Think about it.
Now…stop calling and bugging me about this topic, and use some real deductive reasoning before opening your mouths.
Oh, boo hoo. I can’t use Apple’s $99 USB optical drive with my Sony laptop… I guess I’ll have to go buy the $19 one. Weep, weep….
It’s not very often you use a optical drive, so why not put a rechargable battery inside the external drive, and let it trickle charge from a low-power USB port. Now the drive works on any standard USB port with no AC adapter.
@Anonymous Apple Tier2 Agent
I understand why you may be under that impression but you are mistaken. When I mentioned power I did not mean volts, I meant watts. Like using an 85w magsafe on a 60w macbook it “down shifts” to the lower wattage not to do any damage. The “high power” (read high wattage) USB port on the MBA will do the same thing when the power is not required. It is the same reason that plugging in a USB 1.1 device to a USB 2.0 drive does not explode the world.
Now stop bugging me and get back to answering support calls from tier 1 agents in canada and india. Or hop on Sonar and get some real answer to questions before you supply false info from your bullet news hand-me-downs. (The following rude reply was caused only by your rude reply, we have all done tech support no reason to be a jerk)
1. Every other Mac comes with an optical drive, so why does it need a second?
2. How much would it cost Apple to qualify this drive on every other USB-equipped Mac? It wouldn’t be just the current generation of CPUs, but it would have to qualify it all the way back to the original iMac days. How long would that take? Consider the number of test cases to just qualify it on 1 machine then extrapolate? While you are thinking of all this, the price is rising incrementally over time. It just would not be cost effective when the majority of units are only going to be bought by MBA owners.
3. Third-party device makers often make their burners based on the USB specification, so they just work to begin with. They then test against a survey of CPUs to confirm everything is fine. Apple doesn’t allow itself the survey test. Its is fanatical about quality so if it says it is supported, it is only supported because it tested it. See point number 2. for why that isn’t easy.