Best DVD writers for laptop... vote !!!

So tell us which make of dvd writer you would recommend for a laptop... If a company is not listed and seems to be appreciated, I'll add it ! So if you choose "Other", please post your review here.

 

Wow 100% for NEC ! one vote... Come on guys !

 

:-( Only 3 votes... That will not reflect the general feeling of notebook users on those dvd wrieters I think. Please take 2 seconds to vote on this ! But yes, I think LiteOn make quality combos.... ;-)

 

To be honest, I don't know enough about the specific manufacturer's to say what companies are the best. In my opinion, whatever drive has the best 'specs' for performance and reliability would be the one I would choose...assuming the model falls within a doable budget range.

 

Last year I had a notebook with the Teac DV-W28EA burner. There was one media type it didn't like, but apart from that is was completely hassle-fre.

I've currently got a couple of Toshiba-Samsung TS-L632 burners (one is -D and the other -M). They are OK (but the -M had to be replaced because of burning problems). One thing I noticed is that the speed for ripping CDs is relatively low. I understand that the TS- series ODDs come off the same production line as the Samsung SN- series.

As backup I have a Liteon SOSW-852S (actually the SX which means that it came as an external unit). I previously had a similar earlier model. Neither caused me problems. If region-free DVD playback is desirable, Liteon is a good choice.

In recent years, the ODD which caused me most aggrevation was a Mat*****.

So what to vote for? I'll settle for Liteon. I have no experience in recent years with NEC.

John

 

I'm glad m a t s h i t a / m a t s u s h i t a (Panasonic) drives is not in the poll. It seems to be in the majority of laptops but is the worst maker.

I've used about a dozen of these drives and had some bad experiences.

 

What Gautam said. Saying that, I knew nothing about the drive I've got until just now when I used Nero infocheck! HL-something or other model number. Found out it has a 24x write speed for CDs. Supports DVD -/+R/RW, DL, litescribe and RAM so I am happy. Writes a DVD-R in 10 min and hasn't failed on me since last September, even though I constantly burn discs

 

Perhaps we should have a separate poll for the ODD to avoid. I would expect this brand to get a clear win.

John

 

The situation with Matshita/Matshishita (or as they are often known, mat-shi#er) is a bit odd.

I have had trouble with them in three differerent laptops so far (1 Fujitsu/2 Panasonic) but I'm not convinced they are its a quality issue, because none of the ones I had were actually physically broken - each time it was something to do with drivers and OS recognising the drive.

I think its the integration and drivers that they are bad. Its a bit weird. Panasonic for example makes high-quality laptops and Matsushit is their in-house producer, so I dont think they would be shoving crap in their own product at the very least.

But they need to do better on integration in laptops I think.

 

I have an Sony DVD-RW, but it`s actually an re badged Lite-on, so they get my vote.

regards.

John.

 

If there was an option for TSST Corp I would select it, it is what I currently have and it works great.

 

TS is Toshiba-Samsung, so you may want to give them half a vote each. I was told by a Samsung ODD support person that TS- drives are the same hardware off the same production line as the Samsung SN- series so maybe you give the whole vote to Samsung. I don't know about the Toshiba slim ODDs.

John

 

The problem with this pole: Some manufactures are cross-branded. Sony for example used to re-brand Lite-On drives, they now are partnered with Nec and make their own drives (Optiarc). TSST (as previously stated) are drives made by Samsung/Toshiba. Pioneer usually uses Nec chipsets...the list goes on. It's extremely hard to choose one manufacture as best as a result.

 

My old drive was a Sony and it worked fine for almost two years; I burned all types of media with it and it didn't complain.

When it died on me, I bought a new NEC drive but unfortunately it is stuck in PIO mode (thanks Windows Vista) so it's essentially useless for anything but a quick read.

 

My NEC has been great, the three or four coasters were entirely my fault. I read this drive, ND-6650A, may be causing some latency problems on Dell Firewire ports.

My Pioneer in old M6807 was a coaster making machine. Not tried any newer Pioneer drives.

 

LG.

*filler*

 

Other. External. Slim drives can't hold a candle to a half-height. I have no real need for a burner to be portable.