External DVD Drive

[jensepollense]

Hey

I have a 12" PowerBook 1.5ghz with 1.25 GB RAM, and ripping movies is painfully slow. Now I was wondering if getting an external drive would make this process faster, or is it all dependent on the computer's power and not the drive's?

Thanks

[yippy]

When you say ripping do you mean just copying off the data (leaves you with a folder that is about 8-9Gb) or do you mean copying and compressing which leaves you a single file smaller than that?

If just copying, an external might speed it up slightly although DVD drives have not gotten much faster than what is in your PowerBook.

If you mean copying and compressing, a new DVD drive will not help at all. Compressing video is one of the most processor intensive things that a consumer or prosumer will do and is the reason why PowerMacs/MacPros exist.

[jensepollense]

Yea, I meant compressing movies or TV shows through Handbrake. I guess it won't help, but I was sick of it being so slow so I just wanted to see if there was a way to speed it up.

Thanks