Combo Drive or Super Drive

psu guypsu guy
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I have a issue I was wondering if someone could offer me some suggestions. This question concern the up-coming revision of the PBs, as well as the current versions. Like everyone else, I am waiting on the new PBs, and I am counting on Apple putting the Superdrive as an option among the product line. As soon as the PBs are released, I am ordering one. However, I'm not sure which drive option I should get. I'm not sure if DVDR will become popular as CDR in such short time. Combo or Superdrive, any suggestions? and why?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Depending on what type of works you do....



    If you are doing video or animation stuff you better get a superdrive (to back up as much stuff as possible on a DVD)



    If not. Get a combo and save some cash
  • Reply 2 of 8
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    combo...

    you will save $200 and with that $200 you can buy an external one that will be much faster.... the only downside (admittedly a big one) is that it will not work with backup or iDVD unless there is an internal superdrive as well... of course DVD Studio Pro (or DVD Studio express if it ever gets released) should work fine as well as any 3rd party burning solution....



    most of the time you will (should) be using the superdrive for backup... no matter what you tell yourself you will burn a lot less DVDs then you imagine...



    PS are you a sophomore or freshman and are you on the main campus?
  • Reply 3 of 8
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    for me, it's still the combo drive.



    first, the price savings for the combo drive is still significant enough for me to leave the superdrive out. $100 or more dollars will get you 500 more MB of RAM, which, IMHO, will serve you MUCH better than the occasional dvd burn.



    also, i have no way of capturing video any time soon, and even if i do, it will simply be for hobbyist purposes. if i need to actually do regular dvd burning (and remember, it needs to be a REGULAR occurrence for you to justify the cost), i can buy an external drive (which, by then, should hopefully be at 6x or 8x). admittedly, idvd won't work with an external drive, but educational discounts on dvd studio pro are pretty good (and i could get a loaner copy to get me by in the short term). and the dvd-r media is still kinda pricey for reliable media.



    finally, the drive speed is a major issue. apple's cd-r's are slow-ish by industry standards as it is. the cd burning capabilities of superdrives are even SLOWER, which will annoy you if you do a lot of cd burning (which is likely). in addition, if you have never tried to burn a full dvd of data, let's just say it takes a long time still, even on a 4x drive (and the media are still in its infancy, so if you care about your data, you had better verify EVERY disc to make sure it's good -- verifying is an issue i almost never do with cd's anymore, unless i suspect something has interrupted the data flow). also, it's not exactly a great backup device, since it can't effectively backup the huge drives in these machines (edit: you may be better served by a lacie tape drive to backup the drives instead). so you're probably backing up smaller quantities that can be handled by cd's anyway. and in laptops, the superdrive will always be one notch slower than the desktop full-size version for the foreseeable future.



    so there's my reasoning.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    psu guypsu guy Posts: 13member
    PS are you a sophomore or freshman and are you on the main campus? [/B][/QUOTE]



    I will be going into my senior year in 2 weeks...
  • Reply 5 of 8
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Get a superdrive built in, and a superfast external Firewire CD-RW drive, like a Lacie D2 52X drive.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I suggest the DVD burner. It's at most $200 more for the superdrive, and DVD-Rs are about $2 each, but hold 7 times as much. Since using the superdrive, I can't imagine backing up my music or my computer for a system software install with CDs. It's so much more convenient with the DVDs.



    In addition, I know you won't do this, and of course I don't do this, but some people use their DVD burners to copy movies they rent rather than having to buy them. You can save some bucks there.



    The current PowerBook superdrive writes DVDs at 1x, which is pretty crummy. You may want to look and see if they get that speed up in the next revision. (I use a desktop superdrive, which is faster.)
  • Reply 7 of 8
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    I'm kinda in the same pickle, regarding which PowerBook option I'll go with. But I've got a SuperDrive now and since this PowerBook will be my sole computer for the next couple of years, there's no telling what I might get into. Video? Might get a digital camera and do lots of things I'd like to work with in iDVD? Backups?



    So I'm leaning toward the SuperDrive, if only for a sort of "future-proofing" thing. I know me and my luck: if I opt to save a few hundred bucks by getting a Combo Drive PowerBook, someone will give me a brand new Canon digital camcorder for a surprise bonus or Christmas gift.







    And I'll be like "son of a $#%@%!!! WHY didn't I get a SuperDrive?!?!"



    And I'd rather have a DVD-burning drive INTERNAL (the whole point of having a laptop is having it all right there, ready to go) AND one that will indeed work with iDVD. What's the point of saving a few bucks on a Combo Drive if you have to turn around and buy something like DVD Studio Pro for $999 to use with a third-party drive.



    And no: I have no interest or desire to use some third-party DVD authoring software. I dig all the iApps WAY too much and they're perfect for a doofus like me who hates reading manuals.







    Again, everyone's situation/needs are different, but I'LL be shelling out for the SuperDrive in any upcoming, new PowerBooks.



    All my reasons above may not apply to you and your lifestyle in any way, so do what makes sense for YOU and how you'll be using your Mac.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    if you want this computer to last for 2-3 + years, get the Superdrive !
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