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Oops! I bought an IMac without a SuperDrive.

J

JoeBean

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 20, 2004
3
0
My IMac came without a SuperDrive, (I went Cheap). Now I want to Download / Edit Home Video and Burn it on DVD. Can someone more knowledgeable than myself (That means just about anyone!) recommend which device I can connect to my IMac as an external periferal DVD burner?

Thanks
JoeBean (I LOVE BOTH THIS MACHINE AND PANTHER!!!) :) :) :)
 
JoeBean said:
My IMac came without a SuperDrive, (I went Cheap). Now I want to Download / Edit Home Video and Burn it on DVD. Can someone more knowledgeable than myself (That means just about anyone!) recommend which device I can connect to my IMac as an external periferal DVD burner?

Thanks
JoeBean (I LOVE BOTH THIS MACHINE AND PANTHER!!!) :) :) :)
Click to expand...
iDVD does not work with external drives, so you'd need to use third party software like toast. I know lacie makes external DVD burners that connect via firewire. probably others as well. Checking out the major mac retailers and roxios site will probably yield more options.
 
iDVD 4 has a 'hack', or an easter egg; if you add or modify some file it will allow you to use an external burner.

Unstuff this file to your home folder- and Voila!

You can also save your dvd as a disc image, to be burned later.

It really is a .bin.hqx file- just delete the .txt off of it.

aj
 
Ajmbc said:
iDVD 4 has a 'hack', or an easter egg; if you add or modify some file it will allow you to use an external burner.
Click to expand...

these are the sort of things that make he hesitant to recommend Apple computers to people i know... it's just sneaky and corporate. i can figure these things out myself, be glad it works at all, and pass it off as typical corporate behavior, but the people that don't know how to enable "hacks" such as these are basically conned into buying something that they don't need to buy. things like this, not to mention the "latent" video features and "stealth" overclockability of the eMac, seems like obvious profiteering to me.

i know, i know, Apple is a company, not a soup kitchen.... every company does it, blah blah blah. whatever. these are straight-up cases of CrippleWare... if you keep buying CrippleWare, a company will see no reason to change their ways.
 
603 said:
i know, i know, Apple is a company, not a soup kitchen.... every company does it, blah blah blah. whatever. these are straight-up cases of CrippleWare... if you keep buying CrippleWare, a company will see no reason to change their ways.
Click to expand...

unfortunately, if you do not want to buy apple 'crippleware' you either need to buy top-of-the-line only (which would be an example of buying what you don't need), or move to another platform (which many are unwilling to do. after-all, that option seems like replacing crippled hardware with crippled software).
 
603 said:
these are the sort of things that make he hesitant to recommend Apple computers to people i know... it's just sneaky and corporate. i can figure these things out myself, be glad it works at all, and pass it off as typical corporate behavior, but the people that don't know how to enable "hacks" such as these are basically conned into buying something that they don't need to buy. things like this, not to mention the "latent" video features and "stealth" overclockability of the eMac, seems like obvious profiteering to me.

i know, i know, Apple is a company, not a soup kitchen.... every company does it, blah blah blah. whatever. these are straight-up cases of CrippleWare... if you keep buying CrippleWare, a company will see no reason to change their ways.
Click to expand...

ALL companies do this. One product is made; then it is crippled to create cheaper products.

Specifically regarding the eMac:

The 1 GHz G4 is an overclocked 667 or, more recently (7445, 7447A) the baseline. The 1.25, 1.33, 1.42, and 1.5 GHz G4s are chips overclocked safely by Motorolla themselves. This is (unfortunately) standard business practice.
 
Don't go for an expensive firewire or USB external drive!!! ;) Buy an internal DVD burner off www.newegg.com. $80 for an 8X DVD+R burner. Then buy an External enclosure for $44. All you have to do is plugin the drive to the enclosure and it has firewire coming off and power in, just like other external drives for $200. And they work just as well, if not better becasuse you can choose the drive you want. It is mos def the way to go. ;) :)
 
coopdog said:
Don't go for an expensive firewire or USB external drive!!! ;) Buy an internal DVD burner off www.newegg.com. $80 for an 8X DVD+R burner. Then buy an External enclosure for $44. All you have to do is plugin the drive to the enclosure and it has firewire coming off and power in, just like other external drives for $200. And they work just as well, if not better becasuse you can choose the drive you want. It is mos def the way to go. ;) :)
Click to expand...

But does it work with iDVD?
 
idkew said:
with the hack, yes.
Click to expand...

you have to make sure the burner is recognized by Finder, and if not, if it's recognized by Toast. I don't know where the list of supported burners under 10.3.3 is, but it'd be best to check that before you get any $80 burner.
 
titaniumducky said:
The 1 GHz G4 is an overclocked 667 or, more recently (7445, 7447A) the baseline. The 1.25, 1.33, 1.42, and 1.5 GHz G4s are chips overclocked safely by Motorolla themselves. This is (unfortunately) standard business practice.
Click to expand...

Sigh. I wish people would stop saying this, as it is simply not true. Overclocking a chip involves increasing the chip's FSB speed or clock multiplier beyond the chips factory set defaults, usually involving some sort of hardware modification. However, Apple sets what the factory clock multiplier is in the first place, so they have no need to overclock!

You seem to be under the impression that the chips in the eMac are something less than they claim to be, this is not the case. There is no technological difference between a 667MHz G4 chip and a 1.5GHz G4 chip. They are both architecturally identical, and contain the same amount of transistors. The only difference is that the manufacturing process is invariably refined over time, allowing them to be run at higher clock rates without error.

Chips of various MHz ratings are manufactured at the same time, on the same silicon wafer as chips that will perform at higher clock rates. They are tested to determine the highest speed that they will perform at without error, and used as such. It costs the exact same to produce a 500MHz G4 as it does a 1.5GHz G4, the 1.5Ghz part can simply be sold for a higher profit, so they do. This is the case with every CPU manufacturer.

So, if Apple has a G4 that can attain 1.25GHz clock rate and be stable, that chip is a 1.25GHz part and is no more "overclocked" than a 667GHz G4.
 
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