Up until now, Apple had always installed Pioneer superdrives in their top-of-the-line. His G5 has a LG superdrive.
Specs wise, the LG GSA-4082B is very similar to the Pioneer 107. It burns DVD+/-R at 8x, DVD+/-RW at 4x, CD-R at 24x. It is a tad slower for CD-RW, burns at 16x against 24x for the Pioneer, and reads CDs at 32x instead of 40x.
We found a benchmark of this drive on CDR-Labs. The LG has a better seek time than the 107, however it is a little slower in the DVD area. The only advantage the LG has over the Pioneer is the ability to burn DVD-RAM, but Apple has probably disabled that feature anyway.
According to our sources, Pioneer stopped producing 107s, and fully switched their production line to 108s. This, along with a lower price for the LG drive, may have helped Apple's choice.
Until Apple finally goes with 16x DVD and DL burners, if you have some cash left after receiving your G5, get yourself a 108, the still uncontested king in the arena.
A zone free firmware for the LG drive is available here (PC flashing utilities):
http://tdb.rpc1.org/#GSA4082B
