Almost bought a MacBook...until

I had the MacBook in my hand and my VISA out, when the store clerk said something to the effect of: "Too bad they don't burn dual layer."

What? I missed that little detail. I do a lot of DVD burning, and most of it is DL. Oops--VISA went back into my pocket and the MacBook went back into the clerk's hands.

 

Hrmm, that store clerk was incorrect. The SuperDrive most definitely does support DL burning:

From http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

Not sure why they would say it didn't, unless they just didn't know any better.

EDIT: Ooops, just read that again. Double-layer read support, but not write support, I guess. Looks like the only model with DL burning is the 17" MBP.

 

Read that closely. It says: "double-layer read support." There is no mention of WRITE support for DL.

 

Yeah, you're right, just edited my previous post. Looks like the only option right now is the 17" MBP. I would have to think the 15" MBP would get an updated SuperDrive as well with DL support in the next revision as well. Looks like they are using one of the older SuperDrives though in the regular MB (given the slower write speeds, etc.) and the current 15" MBP.

 

Yea definitely sort of sucks, from what I gather the DL drives are litterally just about 1/8" too big in one of the dimensions IIRC.

 

yeah it sucks, and most comprabale PC 13" PC laptops have the option, liek thr sony SZ, and same with the MBP and PCs similar like the D820 is very comprable and it has an 8xDL DVD drive

 

DL discs are expensive.

 

you could always buy an external....

 

I agree...its still cheaper for me to burn 2 single layer disks then one dual layer....in fact I can burn about 5 disks for the cost of one dual layer.
thus I dont see this as a huge problem....and given that HD-dvd/blueray are now on there way, its unlikely that there will be much push from companies to make dual dvd cheaper.
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...and lug it with me everywhere I go. No thanks.

 

I also agree that the absence of DL is really not that big of a deal as the media is costly and not as available.

 

Sheesh...it's a big deal if it is a feature you require.

 

May I ask why it is required? And honestly, when I was looking for a notebook the CD drive wasn't too much of a concern, although mine was a drive that could be taken out and replaced with a hard drive or battery. Forgot what the term was. Although an external drive is a bit bulky, it still works, and is probably faster. But then again, its your money, and the choice is yours.

 

It is required by me because I do most of my burning on DL media. Its that simple.

 

We'll see about that in 2 years time...

 

by that time people will be worring about hd-dvd or blue ray drives.

 

Because no one uses CD-Rs or CD-RWs anymore...

 

I don't.....USB Flash Drives all the way....

 

Ya I don't either. I use USB or just DVD's that wat I dont have to buy dvd and CDs

 

And you think that people favour USB over the use DVD DL discs in 2 years because of flash memory's worse storage to price ratio? How about the thousands and thousands of DVD players out there in the market? They don't accept USB dongles.

 

Every disc has it's place. I have a friend that's still using his d@mn 5.25" drive in his computer...so the idea of DVD-DL's and CD-R's going out of style is pretty bunk.

I use CD-R's for music in the car since not all of us can afford an iPod or want to haul one of those around.

I use DVD-R's for PERSONAL BACKUPS of movies. I would like to try a DVD-DL soon also.

I'll worry about Blu-Ray and HD-DVD when that point comes.

I use USB dongles for school files and transferring stuff fast between computers that aren't on a network.

Each medium has it's place with me...I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. I wish DL media was cheaper, but it's not, so I deal.

 

No people who need/want to 'backup' dvds will still use dvds, those that are hardcore about HD, will switch to one of the new formats, flash drives are great for data transfer.

Me I live in France where tv comes via my ADSL line, soon to be HD, thus for me a hard drive is more important than physical disks.

If you have to have DL dvd then thats a huge cost you have to bear (media+mbp), but for me and I suspect 99% of everyone else, they will just stick to a mb and single layer disks.
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Not sure why you think that DL discs are expensive. I routinely buy them on sale for less than 50c per disc. On the issue of MacBook lacking DL write support - you can get an external writer with DL support for $50. Build-in writers are too slow anyway.