Recommend me an external DVD writer

I'm looking for a good external DVD writer to buy for my laptop. I bricked my previous one, and it is much more difficult to repair than an internal desktop dvd drive. I believe an internal 5.25" DVD burner + enclosure will be much cheaper than an external one anyways. I also have one available eSata port that I would like to use. I've done some research and LG, Pioneer, Lite-on, and Plextor comes up often. My budget is around $60 more or less.

 

doing a search for external slim dvd drive at amazon i get a ton of hits for dvd rw ect slim usb drives. much better then those clumpy 3.5 bricks.

this one is 70. slightly over budget but there are others from 40-60.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-GSA-E50L-Powered-External-LightScribe/dp/B001M58GYY/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262584013&sr=8-14

 

I've been using this Plextor drive for about a year now...

http://www.amazon.com/Plextor-8X-Sl...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262622758&sr=1-1

It's a bit pricey, but it's one of the few slim drives I could find that would run off a single USB port for all the machines I have. I'm sure that there are other drives like that, but it was hard to find any definitive information on that...

 

Plextor is a bit expensive. I've narrowed it down to these drives.

External: Lite-On eZAU422-08

Internal and Enclosure: LG GH22LS50 and VANTEC NST-530SU

I'm still deciding between the two. What would you pick? An internal dvd drive is a lot easier to fix from a bad flash than an external drive. It also comes with an eSata. I can swap it in and out. All this for $12 more After Rebate. Or should I stick with an external drive for $50?