I had an external DVD/CD drive and it just went bad so I'm going to replace it. I am looking at one option such as Apple's external USB drive. It's $79 but I've seen it as low as $50 on eBay and Amazon. I am thinking of getting that one but then I came across this other drive by OWC:
OWC MRSSBD6X Slim USB2 Portable Blu-Ray 6X +... in stock at OWC
What I like is it also both reads and writes CD's and DVD's. It's super small and sleek which is important to me since I plan to use this drive a lot when traveling. Another plus is it doesn't have a separate power cable and gets all power through the computer. What I like also it is reads blu-ray. I don't need a blu-ray writers since I have one in my Mac Pro.
I have a few questions:
-It says in some situations it may require a power cable. Would it need this for playing blu-ray?
-It is only USB 2.0 and now USB 3.0 is coming to Macs and there is also firewire and especially thunderbolt. Would USB 2.0 be able to easily handle playing blu-ray?
-I realize that both Windows and Mac out of the box don't play blu-ray. Is there software available for the Mac that would easily be able to play a blu-ray? I don't know if copy protection is an issue but if it's not able to play protected BD's could it play unprotected BD's?
-Are there other options other than this drive I should look at?
I like Apple's drive but really like the option of Blu-Ray. With retina macs coming out now this would be nice. I am glad to see the latest MBP added USB 3.0. I want retina though and won't get the upper end MBP but I'm hoping after a year or two more product refreshes that retina makes it's way to the rest of the MBP line and i'll try to hold off purchasing until then.
OWC MRSSBD6X Slim USB2 Portable Blu-Ray 6X +... in stock at OWC
What I like is it also both reads and writes CD's and DVD's. It's super small and sleek which is important to me since I plan to use this drive a lot when traveling. Another plus is it doesn't have a separate power cable and gets all power through the computer. What I like also it is reads blu-ray. I don't need a blu-ray writers since I have one in my Mac Pro.
I have a few questions:
-It says in some situations it may require a power cable. Would it need this for playing blu-ray?
-It is only USB 2.0 and now USB 3.0 is coming to Macs and there is also firewire and especially thunderbolt. Would USB 2.0 be able to easily handle playing blu-ray?
-I realize that both Windows and Mac out of the box don't play blu-ray. Is there software available for the Mac that would easily be able to play a blu-ray? I don't know if copy protection is an issue but if it's not able to play protected BD's could it play unprotected BD's?
-Are there other options other than this drive I should look at?
I like Apple's drive but really like the option of Blu-Ray. With retina macs coming out now this would be nice. I am glad to see the latest MBP added USB 3.0. I want retina though and won't get the upper end MBP but I'm hoping after a year or two more product refreshes that retina makes it's way to the rest of the MBP line and i'll try to hold off purchasing until then.
