I would recommend not buying the Apple USB SuperDrive and instead buy one of these http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/ (have no clue why firewire is in the url when most are usb). The works with one machine and not another turned me off to the Apple product. Plus, actual ejection mechanisms are kinda a necessity in this imperfect world.
Do they work on MBA's single USB without external power? I guess they don't. Sadly they have cornered the market on this one. If I'm going to use a drive that isn't portable, then I can use my desktop computer instead 99% of the time.
I bought a generic one, pretty much the first hit on Amazon, and it works fine on the Air. It never occurred to me that this was a difficult requirement to meet anymore.
They come with those dual-headed connectors, but I've never encountered any situation where you had to use both.
Also, the Air's USB ports put out the higher current that the iPad needs to charge faster, hence are even more likely to be able to handle this.
