What is the best internal DVD-RW drive and why?

I hate asking questions like this (as they're so subjective), but I wanted to get some opinions about which internal notebook DVD-RW drive you prefer, and why. In terms of performance, features, speed, durability, price, and any other considerations I might not have thought of.

thanks!

 

I prefer whatever they send me in notebooks...In desktops i like liteon because they are cheap and good quality.

 

I should explain myself better.. I've got a Panasonic Toughbook with a 24X CDROM drive. I'm looking for an aftermarket IDE replacement drive.

 

Go to NewEgg and look for one that fits your laptop.

 

so are they all pretty much the same? i'm surprised

 

Not quite, I am sure there are differences, and this is why you should first see what suits your laptop. I don't think it needs an ultra slim DVD-RW.

 

There was a poll about these drives. I think NEC and Liteon came out around the top. Most notebook ODDs of the past few years conform to a standard shape and size and are 1/2" (12.5mm) high. There are a few slimmer ones.

However, before spending your money check in Device Manager (IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers) whether your ODD uses one channel for itself. Look for a device with a UDMA-2 connection. If your ODD shares a channel with the HDD then you will need an ODD preset to be slave. This is normally done in firmware. If the ODD has a channel to itself then master or slave is irrelevant.

John

 

Well, the only thing i can say is that my packard bell laptop has an optiarc dvdrw which is absolutely flawless. It works whitout a problem after 6 months of use(and it read/burned alot of discs). I think optiarc is related to nec, but i'm not sure

 

Going back to the original question about performance and what features:

Almost all the current generation of notebook ODDs support 8x DVD +/-R, 4x (maybe 6x) on DVD +/-RW and DL (dual layer). 24x is standard for CD burning. Some support DVD RAM and some have Lightscribe or Labelflash (two different ways of burning labels onto suitable media). All have brands of media which they prefer. It's a matter of trial to find out which. Sometimes you put in 8x or faster rated media and find that it will only burn at a slower speed. That's the best the burner thinks it can do with that media and, in reality, the time difference between 4x and 8x burning is a factor of 1.5, not 2, because most of the burning is done at slower than rated speed.

John

 

Thank you! I will keep my eyes open for good deals on NEC and Liteon drives. I was just wondering which drives had the best reputation for quality. I can use any of the standard form-factor drives, not a slimline style. I will look and see if the toughbook has a separate IDE channel for the optical drive. I am pretty sure it does, and there's a modification that has to be done to the interconnection cable to make the drive come up as master.

 

I'll second the NEC drives, they are excellent. I have used several before and they have always been quiet and reliable. I used to be a fan of the Sony drives but the last one I bought to replace the one before it was not so good.

 

I agree, NEC and Liteon drives have been very reliable for me. Ive noticed, at least with the drives Ive owned NEC seem to be quieter than the Liteon. I use to prefer Plextor back when I had a desktop but they are usually more expensive. Now I have a Mat****a UJ-832S (Panasonic) which alot of people seem to complain about but I havent burned one coaster yet. Maybe Im just lucky but with all the burners Ive bought within the last 5 years or so Ive never had one fail on me. I think the brand of media matters more where I would recommend TDK.

 

Thank you, thats exactly what I need to know. I will narrow my search to NEC and Liteon drives

 

I always go for NEC burners caus they have a GLASS lens and not a PLASTIC lense like most burners. I melted the lens off 2 HP drives in the past.

 

I have a TSST drive, anybody have any comment on that?
I also had a Matsush ita; had for about 8 months, not really any problems

 

Wow, I never would have guessed they get THAT hot!

 

Well in casual use they won't but I got them burning for about 50 hours straight...
Both the Hp and the LG "died" but the NEC one so far survived it twice.