FastMac Announces 4x Dual Layer Blu-Ray Drive Burner for Apple Mac Pro &
PowerMac G5; New Internal Drive Can Burn Upto 50 GB of Data on 1 Disc at
Speeds Under 1GB/Minute
Salinas, CA – December 14, 2007
FastMac today announced a 4x Dual Layer Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade for
Apple’s Mac Pro & PowerMac G5 computers. The new 5.25-inch, tray loading
drive uses one of the fastest Mac-compatible Blu-ray mechanisms to provide
up to 50 Gb of storage on 1 dual or double layer disc, without sacrificing
compatibility with standard DVD & CD recordable media. Using a SATA
connection, the drive’s 4x BD-R DL mechanism allows professional Mac users
to burn upto 50GB of data on 1 disc in less than 50 minutes. Fastmac’s 4x
Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade is available now, and can be ordered from
(http://www.fastmac.com/) for a special introductory price of $579.95. Each
drive carries a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money back guarantee.
Fastmac’s line of Blu-ray recordable drives give photographers,
videographers & musicians the ability to save large amounts of data in a
compact and portable form factor, ideal for separating production files by
clients and/ or project. System and database administrators can archive and
retrieve large amounts of data on 1 convenient disc.
About Blu-ray
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disk (BD), is the name of a next generation
optical disk format developed by a consortium of electronics and computer
manufacturers including Apple, Dell, HP, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic,
Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony & TDK. The format was designed to
enable the recording and playback of High Definition (HD) content and to
allow storage of large amounts (up to 200 Gb) of data. While current
optical drive technologies rely on a red laser to read and write data, the
new format uses a blue-violet laser (hence the name, Blu-ray). The
blue-violet laser has a 38% shorter wavelength (405nm) than a red laser
(650nm), allowing the drive’s optical pickup unit to focus more precisely
than ever before. Data can then be packed more densely on standard sized
disks. Despite using a new type of laser, Blu-ray drives are compatible
with standard DVD and CD media through the use of a combined red, blue &
violet optical reader and writer.
In addition to broad support from the electronics, music, computer & video
game industry, 6 out of 8 of the major Hollywood film studios support
Blu-ray media and 5 out of those 6 (Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM & Sony)
have decided to release their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format.
Recently released data (based on unit sales of players & movie titles)
shows Blu-ray movie titles out-selling HD-DVD titles by a ratio of 3:1. The
Blu-ray format also dominates the recorder market in Japan, where it holds
a 97% market share lead over HD-DVD. With its forward and backward
integration with new and old media, Blu-ray is destined to become the
successor to today’s DVD format.
Specifications
Fastmac’s 4x Blu-ray optical drive upgrade supports reading & writing to
single and dual layer Blu-ray media at 4x speeds, and re-writing to single
and dual layer Blu-ray media at 2x speeds. The drive is also compatible
with standard DVD and CD media and can write to DVD-R and DVD+R media at
12x speed in single layer and 8x speed in dual/ double layer mode. It can
rewrite to DVD+RW media at 8x speeds and DVD-RW media at 6x speeds. The
drive also supports CD-R reading and writing at up to 40x speeds and CD-RW
burning at up to 24x speeds.
Compatibility
Fastmac’s 4x Blu-ray optical drive upgrade requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or
higher and is compatible with the following Apple computers:
Mac Pro
PowerMac G5 (requires SATA to IDE/ATAPI converter cable)
Blu-ray burning requires Blu-ray media (sold separately) & 3rd-party
software such as Adobe Premiere CS3 or Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium, which
enables Blu-ray disk support in the Mac OS Finder. Native support for
Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is expected in the near future, but
cannot be guaranteed at this time.
About FastMac
FastMac is a premier level Apple developer, designer and manufacturer of
innovative upgrade products that add value and extend usability of
Macintosh computers, iPods & iPhones. Fastmac’s award-winning product
line-up consists of batteries, optical drives, CPUs, LCDs and wireless
products, including the world’s longest lasting MacBook, MacBook Pro,
PowerBook & iPod batteries. More information about FastMac is available via
(http://www.fastmac.com/company)