Question 1

I got a really good deal on a replacement laptop recently, one of those new ultrabooks, however it didn't come with a CD drive.  Would this be a viable alternative?  I'm looking for something I can connect to the computer in order to install software through CD's

Accepted Answer

This is just an enclosure for a laptop IDE disc drive. You will need a drive from another laptop, and it has to be IDE. Most new laptops will have SATA disc drives so check your drive before you buy an enclosure. So the answer to your question depends on if you can take the drive from another laptop or not. If you don't have another laptop lying around, you can get an external drive for as low as $30 US.

As for how this enclosure works, it's fine. I tried it on a eee PC with Windows 7 Starter. The drivers were installed automatically and the drive was able to read discs. One caveat is that it takes two USB ports to power it, so if you don't have two free then you'll need a hub. It also takes about 30 seconds after plugging it in before it is usable. You'll know it's done when the light stops flashing 5 times repeatedly.

Question 2

is this good for mac?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  In general, USB drives work with Windows PCs, Macs, and Linux PCs.  The only problem I've run into is when the drive is formatted with NTFS, which doesn't apply to optical drives.

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