Can I use any brand of slot-loading optical drive in a MBP?

A

AVR2

macrumors 6502

Original poster

Jan 16, 2006

444

15

• Mar 30, 2008

• #1

The Superdrive in my MBP 2.16 is starting to become unreliable at burning, so I want to replace it. Can I use *any* slot-loading optical drive of the appopriate form factor?

 

alphaod

macrumors Core

Feb 9, 2008

22,193

1,258

NYC

• Mar 30, 2008

• #2

The ones your buy have to be the slim slot loaders that conform to standards. Some slot loading drives do not work as they are mostly too thick. I think all the Matsushita drives should work.

 

A

AVR2

macrumors 6502

Original poster

Jan 16, 2006

444

15

• Apr 1, 2008

• #3

alphaod said:

The ones your buy have to be the slim slot loaders that conform to standards

Click to expand...

Yes, I figured that the form factor had to be correct, but I was wondering if there were any other potential gotchas. I guess that optical drives all use standard protocols, so as long as it physically fits inside the case, any drive from any manufacturer should work OK.

 

2

2fives

macrumors regular

Nov 7, 2006

158

0

Surrey BC

• May 19, 2008

• #4

My optical drive is gone too. Unfortunately my MBP is out of warranty, I was to cheap to spend $400 on apple care.

The drive has to be 9.5mm thick. From what I can see on ebay it will be hard to get away with much less than $140 give or take. Frigen ridiculous for a DVD drive. I also price the fan replacements at around $50 each. All of a sudden the $400 for Apple Care didn't seem to bad.

 

alphaod

macrumors Core

Feb 9, 2008

22,193

1,258

NYC

• May 19, 2008

• #5

2fives said:

My optical drive is gone too. Unfortunately my MBP is out of warranty, I was to cheap to spend $400 on apple care.

The drive has to be 9.5mm thick. From what I can see on ebay it will be hard to get away with much less than $140 give or take. Frigen ridiculous for a DVD drive. I also price the fan replacements at around $50 each. All of a sudden the $400 for Apple Care didn't seem to bad.

Click to expand...

You can get this one:
http://www.slidirect.com/web/do/pub/sku/view?categoryId=45&id=133
$145 with warranty.

Or if you feel rich:
http://www.slidirect.com/web/do/pub/sku/view?categoryId=43&id=136