Upgrading my 6000d Optical Drive

I think that I got the memory issue worked out. Thanks for the help. I am still looking for anyone with experience in upgrading the optical drive. When I got my new 6000d, I went with the combo drive rather than the DVD+RW but I am thinking that I should have gone with the DVD burner. Newegg has an 8X NEC Dual Layer +/- for $125. Can I open up computer and stick this one in? As I recall, dell has their connectors on their modular drives on the oposite side from what is standard but would this drive work in the fixed bay of the 6000? Does that question make sense? I just thought I would check and see if anyone has done this before I order this thing and rip apart my new computer Thanks for any help or advice.

Johnny

 

Any ideas here? I am especially curious about the DVD drive. Will the one from newegg work? Thanks for any help.

Johnny

 

I read a review of an early sonoma laptop that cam equiped with DDR instead of DDR2. The reviewer felt the performance was worse than pre-senoma laptops because the 915 chipset is not optimized for DDR memory even thougth it supports it. In my mind it really does not matter. You already have a stick of 512 DDR2-3200 (400mhz) sodimm so you will want to go with another stick of exaclty the same memory so that the laptop will work in Dual Channel mode. It is very important that both memory sticks are the same for dual channel to work. A tech at crucial told me that they have to be identical to work in dual channel mode. For optimal performance you will want to verifty that once you put the second stick in you are working in dual channel mode. The system bios can reveal that information. Don't get the DDR memory it will hurt system performance even if it works.


Inspiron 6000d
PM 760(2.0GHz)
15.4" WSXGA+
1 GB RAM (pc2-4200 533mhz from crucial, it works)
64MB ATI X300
60GB 7,200 RPM
CDRW/DVD
Bluetooth
2200
XP pro

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. I guess I'll save up for the DDR2.
Now, any ideas about swaping out the optical drive?

Thanks again,

Johnny

 

I would buy one from Dell directly so that you know it fits and looks good in the 6000d.

Let this be a lesson to all those who either buy or recommend buying less than a DVD Burner by saying "oh I dont think I need it"!

 

Well that's not possible becuase it is a fixed drive so they don't offer it. I'll post my results and if it works, after selling my combo drive, and I already have a buyer for $70, I'll have a $50 DVD-RW. Sure, if I had to do it over again, I might have paid the extra to get it from Dell but that's the way it goes.

Johnny