Review: Add a SuperDrive to your Mac


The world's most-popular DVD±RW is probably Pioneer's 8X8 DVR-107. Built into a range of pro and consumer desktop Macs, it's now available as a retail-package upgrade kit.

IGM advertiser Other World Computing offers three versions of the Pioneer DVR-107, as well as five unique drive/software/media bundles. With prices that start at $99 for a bare drive, this upgrade won't tax your wallet.

And, it just works...

If you have a G3 or G4 PowerMac, installation is rather painless and, because the DVR-107 has been cataloged by Apple, you don't need to install any drivers or worry about software compatibility. In fact, System Profiler punctuates it very nicely -- "Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped."

Upgrading the optical drive in an iMac or eMac will be somewhat more challenging depending on the model. But, you can download Apple's very-own service manuals here, which should give you a leg up on getting the job done.

Nuff said...

Editor's note: I installed the DVR-107 purchased at a local (Taiwan) computer store in about 15 minutes. It was immediately recognized by my heavily modified (1.33GHz CPU upgrade, RADEON 9000 AGP card, [3] hard disks, 1GB RAM) Quicksilver tower running X.3.5. Further, I burned an existing iMovie 4 project to disc using iDVD 4 and then played it on our home DVD player.

Just like that... in under an hour.

The kids were giggling with glee as they watched themselves on our Sony. I bet their grandparents back in Pennsylvania will giggle too.