Apple Quick Mac optical drive replacement question...

Ok, quick and easy. Will any old notebook optical drive function as a suitable replacement for the optical drive in a Macbook G4? I know the bezel might be a big iffy, but thats not too important.

I've never laid hands on a Mac before so have no idea whether they're designed to be weird about stuff like this or not, this is for a friend whos drive has just died and doesn't want to pay Apple prices for something that isn't used often.

 

What's the specific model? That's more important than anything else. Is it a Powerbook G4 Titanium, a Powerbook G4 Aluminum (12", 15", 17" ?), a MacBook Pro (15", 17" ?)? If you tell us, then we have a starting point.

 

If it's a slot loading drive (I think all of apple's laptops have been for quite some time, but I could be wrong), then you really need a model-specific drive. You don't have to get this from apple, though, there are plenty of sites that sell mac upgrades. Still won't be cheap, the cheap way is to buy an external drive (usb or firewire) and just plug it in when you need it.

 

They couldn't just standardise it could they... lol.

OK, I know for a fact that its an iBook G4 (not Macbook, my bad). After having a quick search around it seems that all the models in the iBook G4 range came with slot-loading drives.

What won't make them cheap? Are they a different size or use a different interface? Or have Apple decided to screw around with the firmware so only certain models work?

Oh, external is a vague possibility. But internal is preferable.

 

Apple usually specified a specific size/form factor for their drives, so standard drives may not have the correct screw mount spacings, or the slot may be too low, etc. OWC is a good website, I like them, but you may want to shop around and see if there's something cheaper than 109.99 for a SuperDrive.

 

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

That should take care of it. Mind you if you haven't taken apart an iBook before it is hard.

 

Cheers dude, just what I was looking for.

I've stripped various laptops down completely and read through a disassembly guide. While a hell of a lot more involved than I expected, it looks quite do-able. Thanks for the warning though

 

Just a thought - since Apple control both hardware and software, if you put a drive in that Apple doesn't ship with its hardware, is it going to have drivers for it?

 

Thats a very good point RTT - noted. Will tell him to go for a SuperDrive then to avoid any possible issues after its fitted.

Thanks for the link NoahFuLing, £75 shipped is a massive improvement over the several hundred the Apple store quoted him to have one fitted.

 

OWC does a good job checking that the drivers and everything work together, and from what I've heard, they look at the drives in existing machines, and get the closest thing possible. I know that I've swapped out hard drives and CD-ROM drives in older Macs no problem, just as long as I found a matching/close model from the same manufacturer.