Roland, The Pioneer 110D is an internal DVD player. It is very easy to install. A novice should take little more than 15 minutes to install one. Because you are using OS-X.3 you will need a small program called Patchburn 3. You can find this program via the Accelerate your Macintosh! News Page http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ With Patchburn installed, all your Apple apps related to your player/recorder will be recognised. If you were using Tiger this Pioneer drive is now supported and therefore there would be no need for Patchburn. External drives seem to have a history of having various challenges in relation to OS-X. The above web page has a section of their site devoted to DVD player compatibility with lots of linked info. A bit of reading should help answer all your questions. Possibly there are others on this list with more ideas to help you. Good luck, Bill