Formac DVD-ROM drive

Advantages: Combo drive
Disadvantages: slighly slow CD burn rate compared to others

...I got this drive to eliminate the need for having separate DVD and CDRW drives when I was building a PC for someone. The drive is IDE and lives quite happily on your secondary channel as a master - this is the recommended option to eliminate CD writing failures and DVD playback artifacts. The drive comes complete with CD burning software in the shape of Nero Burning ROM V4, as opposed to the usual suspects of Adaptec Easy CD Creator or CeQuadrat Win On CD. This does not mean that the software is not up to par - far from it! NBR4 can do everything the competition can and more, such as overburning media and bootable CDs. The main reason for this is the DVD read capability. Although the 4x read is somehat behind what most dedicated DVD drives offer nowadays, in reality you only need 1x DVD read to view a movie. Let's face facts - how... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap to buy and massively upgradeable.
Disadvantages: Not as compact as an iMac. Limited bus speed.

...that possibility. The standard optical drive is a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM combo. So some sort of CD or CD/DVD writer is probably desirable. The options are somewhat limited as you need Apple ROM onboard in order to boot from CDs or DVDs. A good work-around is probably a combo drive in a firewire enclosure, allowing a cheaper third party burner and maintaining the original for booting from optical media. Software: The B&W G3 is supported right up to the latest OS 10.4 (Tiger). They are also capable of booting into OS 9, a feature not incorporated into PowerMacs after the mirror disk drive G4s. So they will allow you run all of the old "classic" software, as well as the newer OS X software. Verdict: A great basic machine that sells for next to no money. With due caution and research it can be upgraded to rival many later machines for less outlay. More than... Read review

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Advantages: cool
Disadvantages: Costly

...The iMac is one of the best lookers around but it just hasn’t got the grunt as with a standard PC this becomes quite frustrating when typing and other things because it takes ages to load. The software is good though but it is difficult to swap stuff with friends easily because there is no floppy drive to be seen. All it has is a DVD or DC rom with some upgrade connections. It’s not enough though to make this computer a viable alternative to a normal PC. Still it is good for the internet.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful