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Mac mini BTO SuperDrive Cut Back to 4X [UPDATE]
by , 2:40 PM EST, January 26th, 2005
On Tuesday, we noted that Apple had cut pricing for some Mac mini BTO options, and that the SuperDrive option had been boosted from 4x to 8x speed. Today, the Apple Store cut the BTO SuperDrive back to 4x, as first noted by MacCentral, but the company is now saying that the 8x option was merely a typo, and that a 4x SuperDrive has always been the only BTO option for Mac minis.
At the same time, a MacNN report noted that the SuperDrive included with the Mac mini reads at 8x speed, which may have been the source of the original mixup at the Apple Store.
Curiously, Apple includes an 8x SuperDrive on the eMac, a model aimed mainly at the education market, while the consumer iMac G5 -- a model aimed at people who want to do things like make and burn their own movies -- has a 4x SuperDrive like the Mac mini.
You can find more information on the Mac mini at Apple's Web site, and you can see the BTO pricing by selecting a Mac mini model at the Apple Store.
[Update: This story was updated to reflect additional information on the Mac mini BTO option.]
Observer Comments
Wed Jan 26, 2005 5:09 pm Subject: Not so curious...slot-loading.
QuoteBlueDjinn wrote:
eMac = standard tray-loading drive = 8x.
iMac/Mac mini = slot-loading drive = 4x max.
I presume that they haven't come out with 8x *slot-loading* DVD burners yet, that's all.
Another factor is that the iMac drive has to operate vertically (rather than horizontally like most drives) and I've heard that the Mac mini is also designed to be able to work on it's side. I remember when I had my 20th Anniversary Mac, it had a slower than normal (for the time) CD-ROM drive that Apple explained was because it had to operate vertically and there weren't a lot of suppliers that made drives that could (or at least they were a generation behind).
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