Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What is a slot loading and drop-in external?
The "slot loading" is referring to how the disc is inserted into the enclosure. They have more mechanisms in place for pulling and pushing the disc but is just another component to fail. Most of the slot loading, such as Apple's drive, don't have a means to manually eject the disc without some disassembly. It looks nice and seems to be a benefit in the beginning until you have a drive fail with your disc inserted.
The "drop-in external" is an enclosure that houses a 3.5" or 2.5" drive connected to a controller board inside the enclosure. The benefit is choice of drive and replacement if the drive fails. The con is incompatibility of the drive and enclosure, connection reliability, firmware updates may not be possible, etc.
 
OP:

That drive looks fine to me.
It even comes with M-DISC capabilities.
That's a GOOD thing.
 
Looking at the review of this product, it says that it's just a normal blu-ray player and doesn't support UHD (4K), but is mislabeled as such. Anyone knows which one does support UHD?
[doublepost=1549496522][/doublepost]
The "slot loading" is referring to how the disc is inserted into the enclosure. They have more mechanisms in place for pulling and pushing the disc but is just another component to fail. Most of the slot loading, such as Apple's drive, don't have a means to manually eject the disc without some disassembly. It looks nice and seems to be a benefit in the beginning until you have a drive fail with your disc inserted.
The "drop-in external" is an enclosure that houses a 3.5" or 2.5" drive connected to a controller board inside the enclosure. The benefit is choice of drive and replacement if the drive fails. The con is incompatibility of the drive and enclosure, connection reliability, firmware updates may not be possible, etc.

So Drop-in has its cons, but the pros outweigh the cons?
 
Looking at the review of this product, it says that it's just a normal blu-ray player and doesn't support UHD (4K), but is mislabeled as such. Anyone knows which one does support UHD?
[doublepost=1549496522][/doublepost]

So Drop-in has its cons, but the pros outweigh the cons?

Yes, drop-in components have cons, as well, with third-party enclosures and drive support. The factors which determine your choice can sway the weight of each one. I prefer a portable device for different reasons over the larger 5.25.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.