External DVD Burner recommendation
Howdy, I just bought my niece a new Macbook but kinda blew it because I got the model without the DVD burner and she needs it for class projects.
Can anyone please recommend a DVD Burner for her? It does not have to be small and portable as she will keep it at her apt. She needs a hopefully inexpensive one. The guy at the Apple Store says we should be able to find one at or below $100.
Any tips would be really appreciated. Thanks.
Can anyone please recommend a DVD Burner for her? It does not have to be small and portable as she will keep it at her apt. She needs a hopefully inexpensive one. The guy at the Apple Store says we should be able to find one at or below $100.
Any tips would be really appreciated. Thanks.
Comments
Howdy, I just bought my niece a new Macbook but kinda blew it because I got the model without the DVD burner and she needs it for class projects.
Can anyone please recommend a DVD Burner for her? It does not have to be small and portable as she will keep it at her apt. She needs a hopefully inexpensive one. The guy at the Apple Store says we should be able to find one at or below $100.
Any tips would be really appreciated. Thanks.
Since you seem to be a nice guy, buying your niece a MacBook, wouldn't it be best, since you just bought the MacBook, to take it back to Apple and see if you can just pay $200 additional and get a MacBook with a DVD burner in it, 1 more gig of ram, a larger hard disk, and a faster processor?
Apple Education Store--MacBooks
Since you seem to be a nice guy, buying your niece a MacBook, wouldn't it be best, since you just bought the MacBook, to take it back to Apple and see if you can just pay $200 additional and get a MacBook with a DVD burner in it, 1 more gig of ram, a larger hard disk, and a faster processor?
Apple Education Store--MacBooks
I wanted to do that, however I bought the base macbook but had them install the extra 1 Gig Ram. I realized that it didnt have the DVD burner in it while they were installing the Ram!
They said if I wanted to switch I would have to pay the restocking fee.
I wanted to do that, however I bought the base macbook but had them install the extra 1 Gig Ram. I realized that it didnt have the DVD burner in it while they were installing the Ram!
They said if I wanted to switch I would have to pay the restocking fee.
Yelp, that's what a lot of people don't realize when they quote Apple's 14 day "no questioned asked" return policy. Once you add something, you have customized it and you can't return it. The "nice guy" for buying your niece a MacBook still stands.
Yelp, that's what a lot of people don't realize when they quote Apple's 14 day "no questioned asked" return policy. Once you add something, you have customized it and you can't return it. The "nice guy" for buying your niece a MacBook still stands.
Thank you.
She spilled water in her old Macbook and it couldnt be revived. Her father wanted her to buy the cheapest PC laptop she could find and I said no way.
By the way, he is rich, and I am not even comfortable. But, she's the only niece I have and I have no children so off to the Apple Store we went! She paid for Applecare.
OWC has some nice full featured external burners, but, I prefer to buy separates. The Pioneer 115 is a good burner, and you can find separate enclosures with USB 2 and FW interfaces.
I want to keep it simple. She is going to school out of town.
I want to keep it simple. She is going to school out of town.
Well then, OWC has ready to roll external DVD burners.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
Well then, OWC has ready to roll external DVD burners.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
That looks good, thanks a bunch!
I guess another alternative would be a USB stick. She's going back to the Applestore tomorrow and I told her to get a 4Gb USB stick. Maybe she wont need the burner after all.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10996
Very solid build and very reliable. That one with lightscribe will print onto compatible CDs to save you writing on the discs.
For class projects, a flash stick is quite good but you can also get a USB powered hard drive and you get much more storage.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10984
She can carry her music collection, movie projects etc. If it's just text documents, a USB pen is probably the best option though and much more affordable.
Rather than get low quality plastic case burners, you can get a Lacie drive:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10996
Very solid build and very reliable. That one with lightscribe will print onto compatible CDs to save you writing on the discs.
For class projects, a flash stick is quite good but you can also get a USB powered hard drive and you get much more storage.
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10984
She can carry her music collection, movie projects etc. If it's just text documents, a USB pen is probably the best option though and much more affordable.
Thank you, that DVD burner looks good, good price also.
Rather than get low quality plastic case burners, you can get a Lacie drive:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10996
That LaCie burner comes with software for Windows and a LightScribe download for Linux. It doesn't mention software for Macs. What would you need to use it with a Mac? Would you have to buy Nero or something? That raises the cost considerably.
Also, it lists:Minimum System Requirements
• USB equipped computer
• Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows VistaTM / Linux- based system**
• Pentium IV processor or greater
• 256MB of RAM
• Direct-disc labeling requires LightScribe CD/DVDs
(not included)
Again, no listing for a Mac
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11001
That LaCie burner comes with software for Windows and a LightScribe download for Linux. It doesn't mention software for Macs. What would you need to use it with a Mac? Would you have to buy Nero or something? That raises the cost considerably.
These drives are normally supported by Apple's own software. I even put an off the shelf LG drive into a Lacie case and it works with everything including itunes and imovie even though the box said Windows-only.
The Lightscribe feature is just an added incentive. If it doesn't work, it's no big deal as you have to use lightscribe discs anyway. There is Mac software for it on these pages:
http://www.lacie.com/more/?id=10016
http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadS...ex.aspx?id=813
The LaCie site shows the d2 burner w/Toast 8 titanium for Mac. The cost is $169.99.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11001
This one is Mac compatible too, just with the older Toast 7 and is $129:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11005
Toast 7 is better as it doesn't have all the pointless animation in the interface that Toast 8 has. But still, you're really paying for Toast with these devices. The cheapest USB drive should work just fine with the Mac as it will use the same USB interface as the more expensive one. If Lightscribe doesn't work, you're not missing much functionality but the drive is still competitive with cheaper brands and has much better build quality.
I would personally get the $129 model to get firewire and Toast 7 as it's great software to have but to save money, the USB-only version is fine and you can get free software like Liquid CD to get hybrid disc burning.
I would personally get the $129 model to get firewire and Toast 7 as it's great software to have but to save money, the USB-only version is fine and you can get free software like Liquid CD to get hybrid disc burning.
Thanks, Marvin. I can always count on you for guidance.
You can stick a $20-30 DVD buner in a $20-30 external case from somewhere like newegg and call it a day (just mind the connectors; IDE->IDE, SATA->SATA). That's what I did with the 2nd DVD burner I had in my PC, so that I could use it with my Mini (and PC). They're both silver, so it even matches my MIni. I've never had a problem burning disks with Finder or Disk Utility.