They should have just added the firewire port in addition to the existing ports and then brought out their own Superdrive. 1 firewire port wouldn't have hurt + you can daisy chain with it.
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MacBook Air SuperDrive Accessory Needs High-Power USB Port
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On our HP tablets, which do not have an internal optical drive, the USB port is of a special design that also has a power pin receptacle next to it.
The external optical drive has both a male USB connector and a male power pin. So the USB port can provide the 1amp or so of power the drive needs, but it cannot physically connect to a "normal" USB port.
One wonders if the MacBook Air uses a similar system.
The external optical drive has both a male USB connector and a male power pin. So the USB port can provide the 1amp or so of power the drive needs, but it cannot physically connect to a "normal" USB port.
One wonders if the MacBook Air uses a similar system.
Non-Issue
This is a non-issue. I mean is there another Mac out there that needs this accessory? Most do not I would suspect. Plus there are tons of options out there to add a drive to most any computer. If and when Apple decides to forgo Superdrives on all its laptops, then I would see this as an issue. I would guess then that these drives would then be compatible.
I don't know, is this really affecting anyone?
This is a non-issue. I mean is there another Mac out there that needs this accessory? Most do not I would suspect. Plus there are tons of options out there to add a drive to most any computer. If and when Apple decides to forgo Superdrives on all its laptops, then I would see this as an issue. I would guess then that these drives would then be compatible.
I don't know, is this really affecting anyone?
I can think of a few reasons that people might prefer an external Apple SuperDrive, if it worked on other Macs:
- They might like the convenience -- small enclosure, no power brick.
- They might like buying Apple-branded products for perceived quality or support advantages.
- They might have a Mac with only a Combo drive and want to burn DVDs.
- They might have a Mac with a broken optical drive.
Superdrive on the Cube?
Before anyone starts chastising me for this, this idea would just be for the heck of it. The G4 Cube had high(er) power USB ports on it because it supplied power to the USB speakers it came with. USB provides a flat 5 volts, so is that what Apple jacked? The Cube was able to supply 500mA for a total of 2.5 Watts per USB plug, so would that be enough for this drive? Yes the Cube still only has USB 1.1, but that shouldn't matter to power specs, only transfer speed.
Just curious,
-Brian
Before anyone starts chastising me for this, this idea would just be for the heck of it. The G4 Cube had high(er) power USB ports on it because it supplied power to the USB speakers it came with. USB provides a flat 5 volts, so is that what Apple jacked? The Cube was able to supply 500mA for a total of 2.5 Watts per USB plug, so would that be enough for this drive? Yes the Cube still only has USB 1.1, but that shouldn't matter to power specs, only transfer speed.
Just curious,
-Brian
If I'm reading this correctly (and I hope I'm not) it also means that if you use a hub/other devices you can't use the superdrive at the same time. If this is true, Apple didn't think things through very well.
Alternatives
I've done a little bit of research, and there aren't too many drives that can operate off of a standard USB port's power output.
Plextor has a solution that can go bus-powered, but requires 2 USB ports or AC power. This drive, however, costs a pretty penny ($169)
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/px-608cu.html
Meanwhile, LaCie has probably a bit better of a solution. It will try to go off of one USB port, but if it can't, you can connect it to two. Also, it can go off of a firewire port, which supplies more power to begin with. It can also accept an AC power adapter. This drive is actually cheaper than Apple's solution: $89.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10986
I've done a little bit of research, and there aren't too many drives that can operate off of a standard USB port's power output.
Plextor has a solution that can go bus-powered, but requires 2 USB ports or AC power. This drive, however, costs a pretty penny ($169)
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/px-608cu.html
Meanwhile, LaCie has probably a bit better of a solution. It will try to go off of one USB port, but if it can't, you can connect it to two. Also, it can go off of a firewire port, which supplies more power to begin with. It can also accept an AC power adapter. This drive is actually cheaper than Apple's solution: $89.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10986
Ok Apple, power goes up on USB, but down on Firewire. Example, the new Macbook Pro models do not output enough power to power most firewire sound cards. We have been finding this very annoying!
What I'd like Apple to do. Make a CD drive like this able to be plugged into an Airport or an Apple TV. You could then watch DVDs on an Apple TV.
What I'd like Apple to do. Make a CD drive like this able to be plugged into an Airport or an Apple TV. You could then watch DVDs on an Apple TV.
If they included a gosh darn firewire port on the machine..all the problems would have been solved!
It is good that the one port the machine has is sufficient to power devices within a non-powered hub. Of course, I would have to have external devices on the USB port then have to remove them to attach the superdrive (which will likely need a direct connection)
I think I really may just wait till rev2 of this machine is released.
It is good that the one port the machine has is sufficient to power devices within a non-powered hub. Of course, I would have to have external devices on the USB port then have to remove them to attach the superdrive (which will likely need a direct connection)
I think I really may just wait till rev2 of this machine is released.
Damn Right
yea firewire would have been the way to go. Just because the "industry" uses crappy USB doesn't mean Apple should switch to a USB only model, DAMMIT!
yea firewire would have been the way to go. Just because the "industry" uses crappy USB doesn't mean Apple should switch to a USB only model, DAMMIT!
http://www.everythingusb.com/plextor_px-608cu.html
shows a USB powered DVD writer.. from 2006.
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C12196/
shows a panasonic offering..
Wow, google is really quite useful!!
shows a USB powered DVD writer.. from 2006.
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C12196/
shows a panasonic offering..
Wow, google is really quite useful!!
I can hardly believe the number of whiny crybabies. none of you were asking for an external apple branded superdrive before macworld (heck, i'd say 99% of you werent after an external drive at all), now all of a sudden it's (apparently) something nearly everyone wants, and it's terrible that the macbook air specific drive will only work with the macbook air. whining for the sake of whining. if you need an external drive you still have every option available to you that was available pre-macworld
The 608 Plextor portable works nicely on leopard.. Here is the link:
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/px-608cu.html
I bought this for use with a thinkpad portable, and it's nice.. I gives you two usb connections, one for power the other for connection and/or comes with a AC adapter for the wall.. USB is only 500milliamps spec, which is not enough to power a dvd writer..
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/px-608cu.html
I bought this for use with a thinkpad portable, and it's nice.. I gives you two usb connections, one for power the other for connection and/or comes with a AC adapter for the wall.. USB is only 500milliamps spec, which is not enough to power a dvd writer..
Excellent solution Apple! I'm so glad you have who you have designing your products and not most of the people in this forum doing it.
Agreed, the Air is not an option for me because I have so much FireWire stuff. Regarding the external drive, big deal it's just for the Air, what's the discussion here?
Apple is often an early adopter of interfaces (such as Firewire), but also likes to modify things like the creation of the ADC port (a modified DVI port) and the non-standard AGP bus need to support it in G4 towers...
Maybe Apple needs to change the name. They could call it a "Superport" and make a selling point out of it. "It evens works with USB devices!"
In both cases, the devices DO fully adhere to standards. They also add additional abilities. It's not exactly a contradiction, though it might seem so at first glance.
Instead of largely unpowered keyboard ports (the norm, good for a few flash drives, a mouse, and not much else), the new iMac pushes power to the keyboard so you can charge your iPod. It works as a normal USB device in all other circumstances.
Here, the USB port is fully compliant for all USB devices. The drive is fully compliant (it's permissible for a USB device to draw more power than the USB bus provides, and it's up to the manufacturer to determine how to solve that issue).
There's only one USB port. Two cables wouldn't be a solution. That said, it doesn't matter where the additional power comes from to the drive. An adapter or specially designed hub could pull off the same trick (or a splitter to use two USB ports, as long as the second port had a little bit of logic to it to request power only). Someone will work it out if there's enough interest...or people can simply use one of the other external drives that are out there.
I wonder, could there be any ramifications for supplying more power than the standard recommends? ...Like frying a device?
What's the difference between intel iMacs and my iMac G5? Do intel iMacs "knowingly" supply more power to the Al keyboard specifically, or are they simply capable of supplying more power in general?
Seems to me, the MPA is a little early. It really screams for wireless USB.
I wonder if we'll see some unique bluetooth accessories for the MPA to avoid using the single USB port.
One solution for other macs to use the MPA external drive would be for a 2rd party to make a powered external USB2 HUB that has the extra power on the ports to drive this.
One thing that concerns me is if some USB devices might get fried by Apple's high powered port? Is there a range that USB devices are supposed to be able to handle without blowing up?
I wonder if we'll see some unique bluetooth accessories for the MPA to avoid using the single USB port.
One solution for other macs to use the MPA external drive would be for a 2rd party to make a powered external USB2 HUB that has the extra power on the ports to drive this.
One thing that concerns me is if some USB devices might get fried by Apple's high powered port? Is there a range that USB devices are supposed to be able to handle without blowing up?
Only if the device requests more power than it can handle in the handshake. This would be a bad design.
These new ports "make available" a higher amount of power. They don't push it out at all times, though.
Both. The USB controllers know that there is more power (though not necessarily more than USB spec in the case of the iMac), and the keyboard knows that it can act as an intermediary and request more power on behalf of peripherals that are attached to its ports.
How Apple specifically implemented this, I haven't seen. Somehow or another, however, the power requests of the device are added to that of the keyboard (either by the keyboard itself doing the math, or by piggybacking all three requests back to the computer, or some plan C I haven't thought of), and the iMac responds.