There are some hacks using VLC and the free MakeMKV, but they are kind of ‘hacky’. Apple has never made Blu-ray reading an option on the Mac, so you’ll need some software. Once you have a USB Blu-ray drive, you aren’t out of the woods yet. These drives also read/write DVDs, so you still have just about all the functionality of Apple’s SuperDrive. We see a highly-rated Sony/NEC model for under $40, and of course Amazon has well-rated portable Blu-ray players starting at $44 but quality varies. Portable USB 2.0 drives that carry enough current to power a Blu-ray player and enough speed to carry 4X Blu-ray reading are probably the best bet. We talked about inexpensive Blu-ray Mac options before.

So, for those thinking of dropping $80 on a SuperDrive, we think we have a better option: But there are many nice Blu-ray titles out there, and iTunes’ compressed 1080p content still doesn’t come close the video and sound quality of Blu-ray.

Steve Jobs viewed Blu-ray as a “ bag of hurt” from the “mafia,” and Apple would frankly rather you stick to the iTunes ecosystem for video watching. The SuperDrive is an Apple-quality product and can be used as a boot drive for many Macs that need to be upgraded or repaired via DVD.īut perhaps we can get a little more for our $80? Some folks store archives, have software installers, backups, or have vast movie collection on DVD – and then there is Blu-ray…Īpple’s remedy is the DVD SuperDrive that costs $79 (well, $70/ $50 used if you know where to shop). With Apple having eliminated optical media from just about every product it makes, including the redesigned iMacs, Mac Minis, and Retina MacBook Pros, many readers will be considering whether they need to procure a separate external DVD reader for emergencies.

Tl dr: Buy a $40 Portable USB Blu-ray/DVD-R drive and $30 Blu-ray player MacGo for $10 less than an Apple SuperDrive and you get to watch/rip Blu-ray movies as a bonus.

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