Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
Compact and convenient, the MacBook Air SuperDrive connects to your MacBook Air computer with a single USB cable and fits easily into a travel bag. It lets you install software and play and burn both CDs and DVDs, including double-layer DVDs.
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Overview
The sleek, compact SuperDrive for MacBook Air.
Everything you need in an optical drive.
Whether you’re at the office or on the road with your MacBook Air, you can play and burn both CDs and DVDs with the MacBook Air SuperDrive. It’s perfect when you want to watch a DVD movie, install software, create backup discs, and more.
Take it anywhere.
Only slightly bigger than a CD case, the MacBook Air SuperDrive slips easily into your travel bag when you hit the road and takes up little space on your desk or tray table when you’re working.
The essence of simplicity.
You’ll never have to worry about lost cables with the MacBook Air SuperDrive. It connects to your MacBook Air with a single USB cable that’s built into the SuperDrive. There’s no separate power adapter, and it works whether your MacBook Air is plugged in or running on battery power.
What’s in the Box
- MacBook Air SuperDrive with attached USB cable
- User’s Guide
System Requirements
- MacBook Air computer
Technical Details
Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 4x speed
- Writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed
- Writes DVD-RW discs at up to 6x speed and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
- Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
- Writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed
- Writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed
- Reads CDs at up to 24x speed
Dimensions
- Size: 5.47 x 5.47 x 0.67 inches; 139 x 139 x 17 mm
- Weight: 0.71 pounds; 320 grams
Most Useful Reviews
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
One Trick Drive
Written by CK from Chicago
Jul 8, 2008
As an owner of a MacBook Air SuperDrive I have to say it is a good external drive, but it is a bad investment. If you only own a MacBook Air, then this is the device for you. However, if you're like me and have access to a few other Macs, this drive is a dud.
But why?
Well, it only works with the Air. I can't use the drive with any other machine: MacBook, nope. iMac, nope. PowerMac G5, nope. Just the Air. Why would you care about my hardware problems? Well, here's my real-world example: the DVD drive died on my personal MacBook so I tried to use the Air SuperDrive instead. Useless. Wouldn't inject the disk. Yes, there's a lot of technical reasons for this, but the fact of the matter is that the drive shouldn't be dedicated to a single machine. Let's face it: in two years when you drop the machine and have to replace it, you'll discover that the drive won't work with the machine you've replaced it with. The MacBook Air hardware will change and render your external drive instantly obsolete.
If you only own an Air and need a battery-powered drive for watching movies on a plane (then again, if you have an Air, you probably have an iPhone and watch movies that way, but I digress...), I'd recommend this drive. However, for the rest of you out there, buy a third party USB drive that plugs into AC power and gain a whole lot of flexibility down the road. At least when you decide to change machines, you won't be stuck with a piece of hardware you can't use such as the myriad monitor adapters over the years (ADC, mini-DVI and now micro-DVI) and the Apple SCSI dock for the PowerBook Duo 210 (okay, I'm really, really old when it comes to Apple notebooks and have seen this many times before -- and never learned). …More1781 of 1923 people found this useful
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
Light and compact, but doesn't share well.
Written by WM from Haverhill
Feb 10, 2008
The MacBook Air SuperDrive is light and compact as advertised. It slides into a bag pocket and hardly adds any weight or bulk. And it performs as advertised, quickly and quietly.
But, it consumes the MacBook Air's only USB port and works only with that one port -- it does not work with USB hubs! With no downstream ports of its own, you can't use your SuperDrive and any other USB device at the same time. Like a keyboard or mouse, or your iPhone or iPod, or a USB printer.
This is a remarkable oversight. But if you want to install Boot Camp or play DVDs, it's the only game in town. …More1322 of 1691 people found this useful
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
USB HUB DEVICE
Written by DD
Mar 4, 2008
2300$ cash (CA$) for the new and beautiful MacBook Air + Superdrive, surprisedly my usb hub wont work with it...
PLEASE MR. JOBS ASK YOUR R&D DEPARTEMENT TO DEVELOP A NEW USB HUB DEVICE...
I will pay any retail prices for that new device 40$ 100$ 150$, will be OK...
From a disappointed costumer.
…More1157 of 1647 people found this useful
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Most Recent Reviews
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
Cool?
Written by DS from Shelter Island
Nov 9, 2009
I rely on a mouse for my computer work, but only one usb port??? NOT Cool.
11 of 15 people found this useful
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
Won't work with USB hub!
Written by MA from Edmond
Nov 5, 2009
The device itself is beautiful and works perfectly, but it consumes the Air's SINGLE USB port and does not work with any USB hubs! As a college student, I prefer to use a mouse while spending hours at my desk and when I need my SuperDrive I can't use my mouse or any other USB device, such as my flash drive. It's irritating and I wish Apple would invent a USB hub that could handle the SuperDrive's extensive power needs and provide the user with more USB ports for things such as keyboards or flash drives. …More
18 of 23 people found this useful
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Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive
OK
Written by CH from Newnan
Nov 3, 2009
I've bought this along with the MBA and when I had to install the new Snow Leopard that shipped with the air, it took a few hours where on the Macbook pro's internal drive it goes much much faster, it also took a long time to install Ilife 9 and IWork. Also, when the drive was running it kept making a grinding noise that "never" happens on the pro drive. Once it was unable to read the disk and one time while installing Snow Leopard I had to start installation a 2nd time because it didn't install the 1st time. Although I haven't so far experienced any eject problems, I don't understand why they couldn't have put a pin hole eject button on it, in case the drive doesn't recognize the command from the laptop, I also find it ridiculous that you can't use this drive w/ another laptop (Like my Toshiba NB205 Mini) It caused me to have to buy another drive for that netbook separately and I haven't checked as to whether or not another brand or a generic drive would work with the MBA, does anyone know? …More
13 of 16 people found this useful
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Questions & Answers
Most Interesting
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My 4 year old iMac DVD / CD drive is no longer working, can I use a Air Super Drive? I have read that it is just set up for Mac Air's
- Asked by SS from Thetford
- Oct 3, 2009
Best Answer
It is only functional on MacBook Air models, you would need to replace the internal of your iMac, or look into another brand of USB external optical drive. …More
- Answered by BM from Winnipeg
- Oct 7, 2009
- 16 of 17 people found this useful
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can you play dvd's from any region in the super drive?
- Asked by RR from Melbourne
- Oct 7, 2009
Best Answer
The previous answer is incorrect.
The drives are not region free. the drives enforce the regions through their firmware. the Computer or the OS helps you change it, but it cannot "undo" a change. 5 changes lock a drive.
- Some third party programs like VLC will ignore a region code mismatch, but it is only useful if the disc data is not encrypted. Most discs are. so VLC will fail to read a disc that is encrypted, because the drive will not play along in decrypting the data for VLC.
- The Optical drive's firmware only allows for the region on it to be changed 5 times. after that it is locked by the drive itself, and the region can't be changed again.
- There are ways to change the firmware of optical drives to ignore the regions, but for most modern drives that Apple uses, there is no "region Free" hacks that currently work, and probably not anytime soon.
The short answer is you can change the region 5 times, and that's that. After that, it is locked to that region. …More- Answered by JW from La Mesa
- Oct 20, 2009
- 5 of 5 people found this useful
- 1 more answer
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Now that this works with the new Mac mini, will it work on other macs also?
- Asked by BB from EVANSTON
- Oct 20, 2009
Best Answer
This accessory does NOT work with the Mac Mini. (It does work with the Mac Mini Server.)
- Answered by MR from Santa Fe
- Oct 22, 2009
- 10 of 10 people found this useful
Most Recent
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If this Superdrive is plugged into a third party powered USB Hub connected to the Mac will it work with other Macs?
- Asked by PH from LINCOLN
- Nov 5, 2009
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Will this continue to work on my Mac Mini Server if I reload it with Snow Leopard Client?
- Asked by SH from Redcar
- Oct 30, 2009
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Now that this works with the new Mac mini, will it work on other macs also?
- Asked by BB from EVANSTON
- Oct 20, 2009
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Does it work with macbook pro less than 2 years old
- Asked by JS from Spokane Valley
- Oct 18, 2009
