Why do imacs only have an 8x dvd burner? Before switching, my pc had a 16x dvd burner in it, and I built it over 4 years ago. So how exactly is the imacs burner considered a "superdrive"?
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8x "Super" drive?
- Thread starter gnortenjones
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"SuperDrive" is a legacy name, from the days when a computer optical drive that could burn DVDs as well as CDs was a technological miracle - and Apple were the first to release a tower with DVD burning capability.
8x speed (maybe) because of vertical optical drive placement in iMac, rather than horizontal placement (as in tower PCs/Mac Pro).
My 2007 Al iMac burns (in Toast 8) DVDs (even 16x media) at 5x max and CDs (even 52x media) at 8x max.
My external LG 16x optical drive burns DVDs at about 9x max: I figure the iMac in Tiger or Leopard (I use both) is "throttling back" for some reason.
Hope this helps.
Consolation? Friends with a PC tower are running XP at a snail's pace compared to the zippy (if you have to use it) Boot Camp experience.
Currently the slot loading optical drives are only at 8x, the larger drive used in towers due to being larger can spin and read faster due to it having space for the more powerful optical drive hardware. Superdrive itself refers to the drive being able to read a write CDs and DVDs.
I bought an external Samsung burner that burns as 20x. Bestbuy is selling it for about $85 this week. It works like a charm with DVD Studio Pro and iDVD despite no official Mac support from Samsung.
Oh yeah it even does lightscribe but no Mac s/w for it. I don't use it anyway so I cannot be bothered but get an external burner is your best option.
Oh yeah it even does lightscribe but no Mac s/w for it. I don't use it anyway so I cannot be bothered but get an external burner is your best option.