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Best external DVD burner for 2012 iMac

rgdigital

rgdigital

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 30, 2012
22
3
Now that the optical drive is dead (for the iMac at least), let's use this thread to post the best Mac-compatible, External DVD burners, with links.

Preferably USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt or Firewire 800. :apple:

EDIT: I've included FW800 because of my 2 external HD's, so I'll have to buy a $29 adapter anyway. I might as well daisychain one more device.
 
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rgdigital said:
Now that the optical drive is dead (for the iMac at least), let's use this thread to post the best Mac-compatible, External DVD burners, with links.

Preferably USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt or Firewire 800. :apple:
Click to expand...

Remembering there is no FireWire on new iMacs, so you'll have to price in adapter cable
 
you might want to reconsider the FW800 options, as there is no FW800 port on the 2012imac (unless you're considering paying for an adaptor as well)
 
Good thread!!

Dont care about FW whats that do anyway? I'm looking for just a simple USB Optical we can do this right, no need for third party adapters?
 
JustMartin said:
Remembering there is no FireWire on new iMacs, so you'll have to price in adapter cable
Click to expand...

Good point. I already have to get a Thunderbolt to FW800 cable for 2 of my external HD's. Add $29 to any FW800 burner.
 
rgdigital said:
Good point. I already have to get a Thunderbolt to FW800 cable for 2 of my external HD's. Add $29 to any FW800 burner.
Click to expand...

Well, if you're already getting a converter for your external HDs, you might be able to daisy chain off them for your burner. Would save on cabling costs.
 
So far, usb 3 burners are hard to find, but there are a ton of usb 2 burners:

ASUS USB 2.0 Black External Slim CD/DVD Writer Model SDRW-08D2S-U
$29 on newegg

SAMSUNG USB 2.0 Ultra Portable External DVD Writer Model SE-218BB/RSBS
$35 on newegg

LaCie Slim DVD±RW USB 2.0 Portable Burner (301910)
$65 on macmall
 
rgdigital said:
So far, usb 3 burners are hard to find, but there are a ton of usb 2 burners:

ASUS USB 2.0 Black External Slim CD/DVD Writer Model SDRW-08D2S-U
$29 on newegg

SAMSUNG USB 2.0 Ultra Portable External DVD Writer Model SE-218BB/RSBS
$35 on newegg

LaCie Slim DVD±RW USB 2.0 Portable Burner (301910)
$65 on macmall
Click to expand...

There's no reason to get a USB 3 burner because of the bottleneck of DVD writing speeds.
 
I'll probably just get the Apple Super Drive, unless a USB 3 drive appears before next March, but saying that though the writing speeds would be slower than USB 3 so perhaps they'll be no point in making USB 3 external dvd/cd burners?
 
I'll just take the cheapest usb-powered external drive off of amazon...

Just in case, because right now i wouldn't even need it for my software and media.
 
If I decide to get a 2012 model over the 2011 I'd be looking to add a blu ray drive with DVD write, I can really take advantage of the claimed screen quality then with movies.
 
There's also OWC -here's a nice fast one:

OWC Value Line 24X USB 2.0 External DVD Writer - $49
 
I bought a blu-ray reader, which also burns DVDs, for under 60 bucks on Amazon.

I have really only used it for Blu-rays so I cant speak much to its burning capabilities.
 
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ield-keywords=Blu+Ray+DVD+Burner+external+mac

Since I have an old iMac, I have never looked for external options, but I am now. There's a ton of them, at many different price points and capabilities.

This explains why Apple excluded it altogether:
1. the problems of including an inferior DVD Burner that compromised their design and display goals, adding extra weight and component costs to the new iMac... Do not underestimate the savings Apple gets (and apparently is not passing on to us?) from a 30-40% reduction in shipping weight, especially when you an use that weight savings to ship over hi-dollar iPad and iPhones for no increase in corporate shipping costs. Apple's Revenue-per-Shipping Container just went through the roof!

2. Those who seriously need one (like me) would find these aftermarket options compelling esp with Blu-Ray and would have carped about Apple's inferior DVD burner

3. DVD burners are contrary to iTunes and iCloud profit centers.

4. I am guessing that internal surveys that focus on the decision for a customer to buy an AIO in the first place, the number of people putting "dvd burner" in the top 5 reasons to buy is not big enough to compromise all these other considerations. Including a DVD Burner in the iMac for that audience apparently would not sell incrementally more iMacs to offset all that cost savings.

Seems like an easy business decision to produce a better looking machine, achieve huge gains in shipping and component costs, and leave those who need to burn DVD's and could not be satisfied by Apple's choice of DVD burner to shop from this superior list of products.
 
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As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Can anyone in the UK recommend a good external DVD writer that can be flashed to make it region free please? I have been all over Google trying to find one!
 
rgdigital said:
There's also OWC -here's a nice fast one:

OWC Value Line 24X USB 2.0 External DVD Writer - $49
Click to expand...


I tried this and though it would play audio CD's it would not burn either through iTunes or the provided Dragonburn software. I sent it back, the replaced it, same problem. Called Apple and spent 45min, they said probably incompatible.

Anyone else able to use this with the late 2012 iMacs with IntelCore i5?
 
Bought one and love it

I almost forgot about this thread. I ended up getting an external FW800/usb2/esata Blu-ray drive (not burner) from OWC for $129. Great, fast drive that will rip a Blu-ray in about 35min, and CD's in less than 5min.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MRF8USD12X/
 
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Please excuse the newbie and humour the (what I'm sure is a silly) question - if I'm wanting an external optical drive mainly to play games (nothing hardcore, just Sims 3!) and watch the occasional dvd, am I alright to buy any old drive or do I need to be looking for something specific in the specs? For example, would this do the trick?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005N2UEGU/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

Thanks in advance! Just bought my very first iMac and not 100% sure what I'm doing yet....:D
 
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Lyilly said:
Please excuse the newbie and humour the (what I'm sure is a silly) question - if I'm wanting an external optical drive mainly to play games (nothing hardcore, just Sims 3!) and watch the occasional dvd, am I alright to buy any old drive or do I need to be looking for something specific in the specs? For example, would this do the trick?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005N2UEGU/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

Thanks in advance! Just bought my very first iMac and not 100% sure what I'm doing yet....:D
Click to expand...

Yes, that should work just fine.
 
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I just ordered this one today and should be here next week.

Samsung BR/DVD/CD burner external drive

It has some good reviews so I figured I would give it a try. Only $10 more than the Apple SuperDrive but with BR ability so figured the $10 extra was worth it.

I will let you know more after I get it and get a chance to use it.

BTW, I have a i7 2.6GHz quad core Mac mini with 16 GB of ram. Is there a stock app that will allow me to burn CD/DVD/BR disk or is there a recommended, easy to use App/program to download to accomplish this? Preferably free or low cost.

Thanks.
 
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