Reviews for Apple USB SuperDrive

I have a MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which has no built-in optical drive, and I was in need of one. Initially, when I saw the price of the Apple USB SuperDrive, I laughed and looked elsewhere for a Mac-compatible external USB DVD Burner. I found one on Amazon by a very reputable manufacturer at less than half the price. It had good overall reviews, so I didn't hesitate to order it. I got it, and my first impressions were, "wow, this thing feels cheap." It was made of glossy, cheap-feeling plastic, which I had no problem with since I would only have to use it occasionally.

However, the performance of the unit was awful. It would disconnect at times, burn jobs would fail, and when it did work, it was painfully slow even for an optical drive. I had to return it because it was practicably unusable. I then bit the bullet and ordered an Apple USB SuperDrive, and I'm glad I did.

My first impressions were, "this feels sturdy," and "wow, that's pretty." It matches the MacBook Pro perfectly, with the same finish and build quality. Performance was excellent compared to the first drive I tried, and it "just works."

Overall, I'm very happy with it. Yes, the Apple drive is a little overpriced, but you definitely get what you pay for in this instance, at least in my experience. I would recommend just going with the Apple USB SuperDrive if you don't want to deal with the hassle of the cheaper drives.

Yesterday I rated the drive 1 star. I put in an HP DVD-R 16x with LightScribe disk and it refused to recognize the disk at all. Total fail. I tried several known virgin disks.

Today I bought some Memorex DVD+R 16x disks and popped one in and it worked perfectly first time. Not the fastest drive in the world (limited to 8x on my system) but like all Apple stuff, it just worked, no fiddling with man pages!

Wonder if it is the minus R that is the problem, or the Lightscribe, or something else?

However, if you have a DOA drive as mine was, I suggest putting in a new, vanilla +R disk.

I bought this to use with my Macbook Air, I only need it occasionally and for the most part it does its job. After using it for the last few weeks (6 or 7 times) it seems pretty reliable my only complaint is if the drive isn't completely flat it doesn't always eject the cds. Most of time I have to eject them a couple of times before it works. Otherwise it's great, light device. I am not sure though if I would recommend it for regular use considering the price and the problems with getting to eject.

Purchased one today to use with the 15" MBP Retina display I purchased yesterday. I used it to install Office for Mac 2011 and CS5 Design Premium. It worked quickly and flawlessly. Frankly, I am not sure why so many people have issues with this optical drive. Only 4 stars as the design is adequate but not breathtaking.

Just like the product description, takes up very little space. The short cord is both a positive -no mess of wires and a negative -short wire means it has to be close to the unit (air, mini or pro).

Overall though it burns fast and the design is very nice.

Vibrates, but not enough to be bothersome.

I was disappointed the drive wasn't capable of bluray technology. I'm a long time pc user, my last pc had bluray 5 years ago, this is my first Mac. That's why I gave it 4 stars. Other than that, it works good and the size is great, and nice looking!

My late-2012 iMac (my first Apple computer) showed no signs of recognizing a new device when I followed the 4 line-long instructions to plug the Super-Drive into the USB. I opened up Finder/Devices/Remote Disc. No information. But upon pushing a CD into the device, it awoke and listed the CD in Finder/Devices. No big deal, I am just used to Windows.

Thunderbolt has been out since 2011, so why does this drive not do Thunderbolt, or USB 3? Also, it's high time that Apple made this thing work with more than just Macs without an optical drive. What's up with that? For all of the people who come here to bash this product, and complain about it not working, why don't you contact AppleCare instead of complaining? Bad reviews are fine, but don't you think you should get help before writing the bad review? Perhaps you just got a lemon, or maybe you're doing something wrong? I've used this drive a lot, and it has always performed well. I would rate it with 5 stars if it had more current I/O.

I use this product all the time and it works great.

OK Run software update install al updates plug in the usb superdrive then it should work.