Need low power blu-ray burner/reader for new MacBook Pro Retina

[mtbdudex]

I just got a brand new MacBook Pro Retina 13" model 2 weeks ago, love it!

9 hours of battery life, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 802.11ac Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, two USB 3 ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, and a headphone port.

Thin, light, so fast.

I'm looking for a low power blu-ray burner/reader for it.
Ideally it would power off the USB 3 or Thunderbolt 2 port, I don't care, just don't want to lug a power brick with me.

Any advice on good choices, from people who really have them I appreciate it.
(yes, I can do a search and find them out there, I'm looking for feedback here)

1) do they work good powered solely off the laptop battery
2) can I burn a blu-ray from laptop solely, or is that rolling the dice for mis-burn?
3) etc

thx in advance for feedback.

 

[MovieGuy34]

I'm also very interested in this. So I hope you get some good feedback.

 

[tpjunkie]

I just got a 15" late '13 rMBP, and am coming from a late '06 core 2 duo MBP. I have a lot of apps like CS6 and games on disc that I'd like to continue to use, plus I burn the odd data disc now and again so I bought this:

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10602

Or if you don't want to follow the link, the LaCie Blu-Ray 6x USB 3.0 Optical drive. It draws all its power from the USB bus with a single plug, and works on battery power. I haven't tried burning on battery power, but I did rip a snow leopard DVD for virtualization on battery and it took maybe 16 minutes, and drained maybe 6% of the battery which I didn't think was too bad.

So far so good!

 

[nateo200]

I've been using a USB Memorex Blu-ray burner for about 1.5 years...it works great and is powered fine off one port, I can burn at up to 6x on Blu-ray and 16x on DVD. I burn Blu-rays for both Blu-ray video and backup. The brand is memorex but the actual drive in the enclosure is a 'PIONEER BD-RW BDR-TD03'. I was so concerned about compatibility and took a gamble and it works with 4 different MacBook Pro's including my current 15" rMBP. Thunderbolt would really be overkill for a Blu-ray drive and I doubt wasting money on a Thunderbolt enclosure for a Blu-ray drive would be worth a manufacturers time (aka dont think they exist). LaCie is also a great brand, I have 3 of their HDD's and might grab a Blu-ray burner from them since it supports 50GB burning (which my current does not but it reads them fine obviously).

 

[Laucian Nailor]

I went for the Samsung SE-506BB, which I chose for a number of reasons.

- A number of reviews had been posted that confirmed it worked fine with a Mac.
- It's powered through the USB port and unlike some that have a double connector, only needs a single USB to connect (a bit of an issue with a rMBP due to one port on each side - unless you planed to use a hub)
- Its small and light and will easily fit in a bag if I need to carry it about

I've tried it on the MBP and it worked absolutely fine. Only issue was when I tried it on my iMac; I initially used it on one of the USB ports on my keyboard and it wouldn't work. Plugging it into any port on the back it was fine, so assumed it was an issue with not enough power being supplied to the keyboard USB port.

I'd recommend it

 

[simon48]

I have this one from Amazon, the build quality isn't great, but it's cheap, works great and my Mac thinks it's a native drive (DVD Player will even play DVDs on it).

 

[mtbdudex]

Thx for feedback, I'm doing more research and getting ready for Black Friday deals!

 

[caughtinfire]

I went for the Samsung SE-506BB, which I chose for a number of reasons.

- A number of reviews had been posted that confirmed it worked fine with a Mac.
- It's powered through the USB port and unlike some that have a double connector, only needs a single USB to connect (a bit of an issue with a rMBP due to one port on each side - unless you planed to use a hub)
- Its small and light and will easily fit in a bag if I need to carry it about

I've tried it on the MBP and it worked absolutely fine. Only issue was when I tried it on my iMac; I initially used it on one of the USB ports on my keyboard and it wouldn't work. Plugging it into any port on the back it was fine, so assumed it was an issue with not enough power being supplied to the keyboard USB port.

I'd recommend it

I've got this one, too, picked up from newegg to use with my 2011 15" MBP and have had zero issues on it, and my roommate steals it occasionally to watch blu-rays on her PC and it's fine.