Powerbook G4 Superdrive Upgrade

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studio896studio896
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I have a Tatanium Powerbook G4 500 (15") and was wondering if the Superdrives in the newer Powerbooks are compatable with the first generation G4 Powerbooks (500/550/667)?



If so, has anyone tried it and do you know of a place to get the OEM Superdrives other then Apple/eBay?



Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    There is no reason why they wouldn't be compatible. I know apple charges outrageous prices for the superdrives used in PBs (i was quoted $1000CAN). Unless you need to be able to burn DVDs while on the road, i would suggest an external firewire burner.



    The only drawback would be that iDVD wouldn't let you burn on the external drive (unless this changed in iLife '04.
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  • Reply 2 of 5
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    MCEtech.com has a Superdrive upgrade available for older PowerBooks. However, it's nearly $400 to get it added. If you get a 5.25" Firewire drive case and a Pioneer DVR-106, it would only cost about $150. It's faster and cheaper than the MCE internal upgrade, although it's a lot less portable, and not compatible with iDVD.
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  • Reply 3 of 5
    studio896studio896 Posts: 19member
    Thanks for the info, I was pretty sure that it was backward compatible. I own by own business and use my Powerbook to travel around a lot and work at places like coffee shops and bars when I need to get out of the office, so an external is kinda bulky to carry around... not to mention none of my DJ friends have Apples (so no Protools or Logic) and they are always pulling me all over the place :-)



    So, does anyone know of a good Apple OEM/Parts vendor?
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  • Reply 4 of 5
    studio896studio896 Posts: 19member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    MCEtech.com has a Superdrive upgrade available for older PowerBooks. However, it's nearly $400 to get it added. If you get a 5.25" Firewire drive case and a Pioneer DVR-106, it would only cost about $150.



    Cool, thanks. I'll look into it.
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  • Reply 5 of 5
    isracesisraces Posts: 92member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Studio896

    I have a Tatanium Powerbook G4 500 (15") and was wondering if the Superdrives in the newer Powerbooks are compatable with the first generation G4 Powerbooks (500/550/667)?



    If so, has anyone tried it and do you know of a place to get the OEM Superdrives other then Apple/eBay?



    Thanks in advance.



    IIRC there is somewhat of a size difference internally between the G4 400/500 (first gen.) and the rest of the powerbooks so something special needs to be done before you can slap a superdrive into them. Modify the connectors I think. Anyway, I'd look more into this before you go get a superdrive and try to get it to fit in a G4 500. Of course, then again I could be remembering something totally different, so take this for what you will.
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