Among other things that you probably already knew, Engadget reports that Steve Jobs really meant it when he said that the $99 external SuperDrive “was made for the MacBook Air”.
It turns out the MacBook Air has a specially powered USB port to handle the needs of the SuperDrive and standard USB ports on other Macs (and PCs) might not be enough to power the thing. Moreover, Apple has christened the product “Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive”, which is one very good reason to believe that it is exclusive to Apple’s newest notebook.
However, Apple has not yet issued any conclusive clarification on this one so don’t base your purchase decision on this post. We’ll keep you updated as and when more details roll in.
I wonder if any other external optical drive would work or is it this one only??
Would I be able to hook up a portable USB external drive to this laptop too (after all isn't that what an iPod is)?
@tony.d. I think you'll have trouble finding a bus-powered drive that doesn't require a second USB connection for power (the ones I'm familiar with have a fat connector that fits into a specific port that is a USB port over a power port).
Of course you can connect a flash drive/iPod. It's more than a USB port, not less.
Can it be connected to Time Capsule ?
Hum, that would have been a nice add on to an older iBook that only has a combo-drive.
Hmm, I'm wondering if it's compatible with PowerMac G4 Cubes. They also have a special (high powered) USB to drive their USB speakers.
BTW I'm sure MBA is working with other external optical drive, they're just not as compact as this plus needs a power brick.
I wonder if that supercharged USB port wouldn't allow for a bus-powered hub into which you can plug other bus-powered devices. That would be a truly unique accessory.