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

Combo vs Super Drive Performance

G

g808

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 6, 2003
192
0
Bay Area, CA
I'm looking to buy a new 15" Powerbook, but am not sure if I want to fork over the extra $200 for the Super Drive.

If you own a PB with the Super Drive are you satisfied with how long it takes to burn to a CD-R/CD-RW? In fact, on average how long does it take?

I doubt I'll burn many DVDs, but am attracted to the option of being able to do so. However, the burn speed of a CD-RW concerns me (4x for SuperDrive vs. 10x for Combo).

Any insight/experiences are appreciated.
 
P

plutnicki

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2003
152
0
Are you going to use iDVD?

It seems that is the primary question to answer. Otherwise, most people seem to feel that getting an external Firewire DVD burner for infrequent burning is the better option.

Personally, I got the Superdrive in my TiBook because I wanted a full featured laptop and because I wanted to play around with iDVD. The burning is not fast, but I typically burn and walk away anyway, and I don't do enough that burning faster means anything to me (same thing with print speed, BTW).

I've never timed the burn speed, but it's not fast, that's for sure.

If you don't need iDVD, or are going to pop for DVD Studio Pro anyway, skip the Superdrive since you have performance concerns and go for the faster external.

That'd be my $0.02
 
G

g808

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 6, 2003
192
0
Bay Area, CA
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW):
reads DVDs at up to 8x speed,
writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed,
writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed,
reads CDs at up to 24x speed

SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW):
writes DVD-R discs at up to 2x speed,
reads DVDs at up to 8x speed,
writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed,
writes CD-RW discs at up to 4x speed,
reads CDs at up to 24x speed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom