Apple CD600 Quad-Speed CD-ROM

Apple CD600 Quad-Speed CD-ROM — In mid-April, Apple announced plans to make their first quad-speed CD-ROM drives available to customers in May at about the same price they currently charge for their double-speed CD-ROM drives ($350 to $450). The new 600e CD-ROM drive is caddy-less, has an improved seek time, and has a streaming data transfer rate of 684.4 Kbps, with a burst transfer rate of 5.1 Mbps (although performance in any given application can of course vary widely). These specs make the CD600 more than twice as fast as Apple’s current CD-ROM drives, and slightly faster than most quad-speed drives on the market today. Apple expects to build the 600e into Macs beginning this summer, with external and upgrade models also available. [GD]