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17" PB CD-R is 16x?

F

FlashBIOS

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 12, 2003
60
6
Glyndon, MN
According to this thread (and this one) the DWDB firmware that ships with the 17" PowerBook's SuperDrive is able to burn CD-R at 16x. Can anyone else with Toast (or some other utility that tells the drive speed) confirm this?

BIG bonus if true. Too bad it appears that DVD-R is still 1x.
 
Originally posted by Over Achiever
I can confirm that it is 16x, both based on what Toast says and on the time it took to burn a full disk.
Click to expand...

That is too cool. :cool: Since Apple is still saying that it burns at 8x, I'll take a secretive doubling of performance any day. Can Toast tell you if it still reads at 24x?
 
gosh, for near 4k apple should toss in a faster optical drive. dear god :p my dads 2k compaq evo n610c came with a built in 24x drive:D
 
Originally posted by daniel77
gosh, for near 4k [edit]$3299[/edit] apple should toss in a faster optical drive. dear god :p my dads 2k compaq evo n610c came with a built in 24x drive:D
Click to expand...

And how fast does that burn DVDs?
 
Re: 12" powerbook

Originally posted by bb0ys
Is the 12" powerbook anyfaster than 8x???
Click to expand...
24x is in the new powerbooks. Im not sure about the superdrive one though, im sure its the same as the 17 inch powerbook.

iJon
 
Re: Re: 12" powerbook

Originally posted by iJon
24x is in the new powerbooks. Im not sure about the superdrive one though, im sure its the same as the 17 inch powerbook.

iJon
Click to expand...

Actually SuperDrive in the 12", while the same drive as the 17", has an older firmware and only does 8x CD-R.

Speculation is that while the drive may be designed for a higher speed, not all of them test at that speed (a lot like CPUs). Apple sets the speed into the firmware at what all drives can handle so some people don't get faster drives than others with the same computer.
 
Originally posted by Over Achiever
FlashBIOS,

Where exactly is Glyndon, MN btw? I'm located in the cities, and have never heard of Glyndon. :)
Click to expand...

Heh, that is because it nearly doesn't exist. ;) It is a town of about 900 people a few minutes from Fargo, ND.
 
Re: Re: Re: 12" powerbook

Originally posted by FlashBIOS
Actually SuperDrive in the 12", while the same drive as the 17", has an older firmware and only does 8x CD-R.

Speculation is that while the drive may be designed for a higher speed, not all of them test at that speed (a lot like CPUs). Apple sets the speed into the firmware at what all drives can handle so some people don't get faster drives than others with the same computer.
Click to expand...

What about the 12" powerbook with the combo drive? Can it burn CDRs at 24x?
 
My combo drive has the following stats.

Device Revision: BA1D
Product ID: CD-RW CW-8122
Vendor ID: Mat****a
 
Originally posted by daniel77
no need for sarcasm. I never said that it could burn cd's. why dont you take that enormous chip off your shoudler, how about that?
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Dude, there was no chip on anyone's shoulder. The thing is, people were talking about how fast the drive burns CDs, not how fast it reads them, which, in case you weren't aware, are usually different numbers. According to the specs for the Superdrive on Apple's site, the drive does read at 24x, although somebody should verify that it's not faster, since the specs also say it burns at 8x, when it actually burns at 16x (which is where this all started).
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: 12" powerbook

Originally posted by bb0ys
What about the 12" powerbook with the combo drive? Can it burn CDRs at 24x?
Click to expand...
read my post above, yes it does burn at 24. its smart that apple does this. from burning on my 48x burner on my pc i speed test it. my burner has never broke the 40x barrier, much lest the 36. i think 32 is the best speed, anything else has been a waste in my opinion. then on the other hand i may be doing something wrong to not get these blazing speeds.

iJon
 
Overachiever,

Where are you from in the Twin Cities?

I am currently at Dunn Bros. in Golden Valley surfin wireless on my new 17". What a great machine!
 
CD-RW?

I forgot to ask this earlier: has the CD-RW speed increased along with CD-R? The Tech Specs say that it should handle CD-RW at 4x.
 
Originally posted by Gelfin
Dude, there was no chip on anyone's shoulder. The thing is, people were talking about how fast the drive burns CDs, not how fast it reads them, which, in case you weren't aware, are usually different numbers. According to the specs for the Superdrive on Apple's site, the drive does read at 24x, although somebody should verify that it's not faster, since the specs also say it burns at 8x, when it actually burns at 16x (which is where this all started).
Click to expand...

i was talking about burning, my dad's laptop burns at 24x. i dont know about read speed. its a Compaq EVP N610C
 
Originally posted by daniel77
i was talking about burning, my dad's laptop burns at 24x.
Click to expand...

Ugh.. and this is a quote from your earlier post...

I never said that it could burn cd's.
Click to expand...

Which one is it? :rolleyes:

And Nipsy asked whether it could burn DVDs because by being able to burn CDs AND DVDs it puts the cost up higher, and thus the speeds have to go lower... but Apple still managed to get the CD burning speed up to 16x...



irmongoose
 
I've been doing some more research into this issue and found this box shot

Apparently the CD-RW does max at 4x (so that didn't go up after all) and CD-R at 16x, which is what we can get. I've read (sorry, can't remember where -- it was a forum somewhere) that Apple tried 2x DVD but was ending up with a lot of coasters, so that is why they limited it to 1x.

Now, my big question is that it looks like Toast burn DVD-RAM and DVD-RW, both standards are supported by the UJ-815. I could not find confirmation that Toast supports those standards in this drive however. Has anyone tried?
 
I did research...

I was looking for info on the combo drive that comes with the 12" powerbook and found that it burns CDR's at 24x. It's the CW-8122 model. The CW-8121 model is the 8x burner. However, when I select 24x burn speed in iTunes (or Maximum Burn Speed from the same list), the timer claims it will only take about 3 minutes for the full cd (the proper time for a 24x speed). However, the timer decreases 1 second every few seconds so it ends up taking about 8 minutes or so. I'm not sure why this happens. Anyone have a clue?
 
Originally posted by daniel77
it doesnt burn dvds :rolleyes: i made a typo

note: that the 'c' key is right next to the 'd' key on a standard QWERTY keyboard
Click to expand...

well, there is your answer. dvd burners are slower than just cd burners. it is a trade off. if you do not want do burn dvd's, i bet you can get a faster cd burner.

and if not, who cares? can that pc run OS X? if not, it is worth nothing to me.
 
Originally posted by idkew
well, there is your answer. dvd burners are slower than just cd burners. it is a trade off. if you do not want do burn dvd's, i bet you can get a faster cd burner.

and if not, who cares? can that pc run OS X? if not, it is worth nothing to me.
Click to expand...

nope it runs win2k pro and it has had an uptime of 3 months so far, we have had it for 3 months
 
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