is ibook available with "superdrive"?

[mykemp]

I'm a Mac newbie... I am interested in getting a new lap top, and I've been looking at the 15" G4 Powerbook with Superdrive... however, the i-Book is a little more in line with my price range.

I plan to use my Mac for web browsing, general use, some simple programming/web page development. So I believe an i-Book would be a good choice, however, I would also like to do some DVD editing, and convert some old videos to DVD, so I'd like a "superdrive".

Does anyone know if the "superdrive" is available in the iBook? -or- if it will ever be available in the i-Book... or should I just sit back and continue saving for the powerBook?

Thanks!

[jxyama]

no superdrive option for the iBook...

in the future, who knows... but considering iBook just got slot loading, it could be a while, if ever, that iBook gets the superdrive option.

[NP3]

I would say the superdrive will not be availabe for the iBook until the Powerbooks get a G5. Because right now, the superdrive is one of the main options between the top of line iBook and 12' powerbook.

If the iBook got a superdrive without updating the powerbooks, then 12' books would loose its niche & wouldn't sell.

If you can wait until (probably June WWDC) for the G5 powerbooks, i would do that.

[loneAzdgari]

Originally posted by jxyama
no superdrive option for the iBook...

in the future, who knows... but considering iBook just got slot loading, it could be a while, if ever, that iBook gets the superdrive option.

I do remember that one company/reseller supplied G3 iBooks with DVD burners that weren't compatible with iDVD for no extra cost. I can't remember the company though, and due to the current slot loading drive i doubt they'd be able to do the same with the G4 iBook Range.

[SilentPanda]

http://www.mcetech.com

I seem to remember finding iBook G4's here but it was pretty well hidden... I'll poke around a little more.

EDIT:

Go to their store. http://store.mcetech.com

Click on Apple Products (left hand side) then on iBook. Tada! It's a $200 upgrade. I'm not gonna argue for or against if it's better/cheaper than a powerbook or what it does to warranty etc. Just noting that it is available.

[Rod Rod]

sweet! iDVD on an iBook for $19 ($30 mail in rebate on iLife) plus $200 for the 2x SuperDrive upgrade, and a free 10GB upgrade on the HD (40GB instead of 30GB).

I doubt this has any impact on PowerBook sales, because once anyone gets into editing video and creating DVDs they will quickly realize rendering and encoding take a long time, and an extra $100 or $200 is well worth a 25% performance/ speed increase. consider this a gateway drug. people will move on to the strong stuff as soon as they can.

[Real Red]

MCE will also install an 80Gig HD for $75 more than the $1333 they want for a 14 inch 933, with 384mb RAM and a 60Gig HD. They claim to be an authorized reseller. They also sell Applecare. Is Apple down with this? Will I sacrifice service buying here.

[SilentPanda]

I don't know squat about the company. I just did some poking around one day and found them.

I would definitely call them and confirm that iDVD works with their installed drives. Otherwise you might be disappointed. There's a chance they might but most of the time it won't work with iDVD.