I would like to upgrade the optical drive in an original tray loading iMac. MCE drives seem too expensive. I have read that others have used the same manufacturer of the drive being replaced so that the bezel will fit again. I also read that the MCE drives have a new bezel which allows for slot loading optical drives in the original iMac. I can't find any guides or pictures to substantiate any of this. Any help would be appreciated. :cheer:

amiga, I feel your pain. Looks like MCE is $179! Thats sticker shock for us desktop people used to paying $60 for a DVD burner! . :P I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the iMac is expensive because its a laptop optical drive. Those babies have a hefty price (probably a very nice profit margin) whether you buy one that is guaranteed to work for your Mac (from MCE) or a generic one (check out "slot loading drive" on froogle). I say go for the MCE if you love your iMac. The cool thing about the MCE drive is they guarantee the drive is bootable (nothing like realizing this after the fact :ohmy: ). I'd encourage you to upgrade to a Mac Mini or a used PowerMac G4 off ebay instead tho.

Let us know what you find.

Man, Krusher, I so absolutely have to disagree with you there.

MCE is a relatively well known name in third party Mac parts, but my dealings with them in the last year have been less than exemplary.

In the last year, they've taken weeks to get me product, regardless of how quickly I needed it, and were unable to explain why it took months to get drives. We received drives that were dead on arrival, and in several cases, sent back drives we had ordered, only to find that the replacements were also dead. In some cases, two and three times in a row. In several other cases, we were unable to get the system to even recognize the drive, patchburn be damned. Now, I dunno about you, but when the drive I order for a customer is bad, thats one thing. But when three consecutive replacement drives for the same customer are also bad, that says something.

At this point, my shop does not order from MCE. They didnt take care of us as a customer, and as a business, and therefore, we wont retail their products to others.

We've had good luck getting stuff from Other World Computing, and Fast Mac, both of whom I recommend. But as I said, my shop no longer sells MCE stuff due to their inability to be unreliable. If they treat their dealers this poorly, I dont wanna know how they take care of the retail customers..

amiga, have you considered an external drive? I know it may not be exactly what you are looking for, but for the price you can't beat it.