Combo Drive
Encyclopedia
A Combo drive is a type of optical drive that combines CD-R
/CD-RW
recording capability with the ability to read (but not write) DVD
media. The term is used almost exclusively by Apple Inc. as a name for the low-end substitute for their high-end SuperDrive
, which was designed to both read and write DVD and DVD recordable
media. The device was created as a mid-range option between a CD burner and a DVD burner, which at the time the Combo drive was introduced was generally an expensive option costing in excess of US$300 a unit.
Combo drives are becoming less and less common on new systems, though they do occasionally appear in lieu of CD-only drives on low-end computers and business computers to lower production and sale costs. The cost difference between a Combo drive and DVD burner has been steadily declining in recent years, so most new PCs (except for the low-end budget computers) have a DVD burner (which also reads and writes CDs).
In current Apple computers, none contain Combo Drives. As of October 2008, the MacBook comes with a SuperDrive as standard, and as of March 2009, the Mac mini comes with a SuperDrive as opposed to the usual Combo Drive.
More recently the term "combo drive" is used to refer to an optical drive that can read & write CDs and DVDs, but only read Blu-ray Disc/BD-ROM.
CD-R
A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
/CD-RW
CD-RW
A CD-RW is a rewritable optical disc. It was introduced in 1997, and was known as "CD-Writable" during development. It was preceded by the CD-MO, which was never commercially released....
recording capability with the ability to read (but not write) DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
media. The term is used almost exclusively by Apple Inc. as a name for the low-end substitute for their high-end SuperDrive
SuperDrive
SuperDrive is a trademark used by Apple Inc. for two different storage drives: from 1988–99 to refer to a high-density floppy disk drive capable of reading all major 3.5" disk formats; and from 2001 onwards to refer to a combined CD/DVD reader/writer....
, which was designed to both read and write DVD and DVD recordable
DVD recordable
DVD recordable and DVD rewritable refer to part of Optical disc recording technologies. DVD optical disc formats that can be recorded by a DVD recorder, , either write once or rewritable format written by laser, as compared to DVD-ROM, which is mass-produced by pressing, primarily for the...
media. The device was created as a mid-range option between a CD burner and a DVD burner, which at the time the Combo drive was introduced was generally an expensive option costing in excess of US$300 a unit.
Combo drives are becoming less and less common on new systems, though they do occasionally appear in lieu of CD-only drives on low-end computers and business computers to lower production and sale costs. The cost difference between a Combo drive and DVD burner has been steadily declining in recent years, so most new PCs (except for the low-end budget computers) have a DVD burner (which also reads and writes CDs).
In current Apple computers, none contain Combo Drives. As of October 2008, the MacBook comes with a SuperDrive as standard, and as of March 2009, the Mac mini comes with a SuperDrive as opposed to the usual Combo Drive.
More recently the term "combo drive" is used to refer to an optical drive that can read & write CDs and DVDs, but only read Blu-ray Disc/BD-ROM.