External CD/DVD burner

Post #278,422

3/16/07 7:53:03 AM

I'm looking for a birthday present for a niece. She bought a used Dell Latitude C610 that she thought came with a cd/dvd burner. Alas, the drive is read only and she didn't look into it closely enough before buying to realize this. I would look at getting an internal she could use in the laptop drive bay but from what I remember when my company was using these, the internal drives on the C610 were flimsy and had a high failure rate. I'm not even sure if this model came with a burner option or only had read only drives available. I've already asked her to see if the eBay seller would take it back, no luck there.

The C610 has USB (although it's usb 1) so there shouldn't be a problem with using a new external drive. The prices I'm seeing are all over the map. From units in the 60 dollar range to over $400 USD. Here's what Newegg shows [link|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106056|link]. I'm looking at the cheap side of things, like [link|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106056|this]. I think she can live with a noisy drive as long as it works. Anyone see good reason not to get this one?

-----------------------------------------
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Post #278,424

by static

3/16/07 8:00:10 AM

Lite-On are a good brand.

I don't see a reason to not get that one.

Wade.

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Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

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Post #278,427

by Another Scott

3/16/07 8:23:02 AM

I got one that looks like that.

I got it a year or more ago, so it's probably slower and the features are probably different. It was $100 then.

I've only used it a few times, but it's worked every time. Having burner software in the box helps save aggravation when you're moving it between machines. I can't ask for much more than that.

It is a standard size drive resulting in a fairly large enclosure, and has a power brick, so it's not terribly portable, but I don't have experience with any other external DVD drive that might be smaller.

It'll be pokey over USB 1.1 though. :-(

Recommended.

You might look occasionally at [link|http://stores.ebay.com/Recycle4va_Laptop-Parts_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ6QQftidZ2QQtZkm|Recycle4VA]. They sell used computers and parts. They have some Dell laptop drives, but they're not R/W. I've had good luck with them (for Thinkpad chargers).

HTH. Good luck.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #278,445

by SpiceWare

3/16/07 12:41:32 PM

PCMCIA card should take care of that

[link|http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4098202|QPS USB 2.0 PCMCIA CARD]

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Post #278,434

by andread

3/16/07 11:01:56 AM

Re: External CD/DVD burner

using the old USB sounds like a loser for DVD burning

A

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Post #278,440

by folkert

3/16/07 11:41:10 AM

Get and external case for a 5.25" and then stuff

with your choice of drive. Should bring the pricing down to under $100.

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Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars?

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