Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

greenguy4

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 2, 2005
289
0
I was thinking that eventually I may upgrade my combo drive to a superdrive on my iBook however I couldnt find them anywhere. Is this possible to do and if so where could I buy the superdrive?
 

ldburroughs

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2005
258
0
Virginia Beach, VA
greenguy4 said:
I was thinking that eventually I may upgrade my combo drive to a superdrive on my iBook however I couldnt find them anywhere. Is this possible to do and if so where could I buy the superdrive?

It should take between 1 to 2 hours to do yourself and you can buy one from someone selling in eBay for about $100. I did this when I bought mine in February and it worked out well. You will void the warranty if that is a concern for you, so you may want to keep that in mind. While your in there you might as well swap hard drives too. I upgraded it at the same time to save the extra hassle in the future. Both are relatively easy. By the way my system is a 1Ghz, G4 iBook if that helps any. Good luck!
 

rosalindavenue

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2003
855
282
Virginia, USA
ldburroughs-- if you get a chance, please post a bit about your upgrade experience. I had heard that do-it-yourself upgrades on the ibook were very difficult-- what kind of drive did you put in, and did you ever feel like you were in over your head? thanks.
 

Artful Dodger

macrumors 68020
greenguy4 I was thinking that eventually I may upgrade my combo drive to a superdrive on my iBook however I couldnt find them anywhere. Is this possible to do and if so where could I buy the superdrive?

Hi, were you thinking of doing this because you are mobil a lot or because you want a superdrive? Just asking because I bought an external unit instead of a superdrive and it's noise is lower than my combo in my iBook.
Once you get one you'll be glad you did...enjoy :p
 

shorty116

macrumors member
Dec 8, 2004
50
0
what type of drives would you recommend, i'm on a ibook g3 700mhz. what brand/model...is it possible to swap the front of the drive to match the ibook? on which brands/models will the front of my ibook's combo drive fit?
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
shorty116 said:
what type of drives would you recommend, i'm on a ibook g3 700mhz. what brand/model...is it possible to swap the front of the drive to match the ibook? on which brands/models will the front of my ibook's combo drive fit?

Shorty, you want one that is also slot-loading, like the one you already have, such as the one from MCE. This upgrade is *not* for the faint of heart, though. When you pull your current drive out, the "front" -- the white plastic on the outside -- will not come with it. It mounts essentially flush to this on the inside of the iBook. The combo drive you have should basically work in any G4 iBook or G3 iBook or G4 PB with a slot-loading drive, but there are very few of those that don't already have combo drives...so if you're looking to sell it, it will basically go as a spare part, and probably not très cher.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.