Buy replacement optical drive from HP or newegg

Hi,

I am working on a Compaq Presario F700 Notebook. It has a defective optical drive LG Model GSA-T20N (HP P/N: 461954-001). I found a new Sony drive at Newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118006) for $49.99 w/ $5.99 shipping. Or I can buy the replacement direct from HP for $76.95 exchange.

What should I do? Play it safe with the drive from HP for $25 more or try to get the Bezel to fit on the Sony drive from Newegg?

What size screwdriver would I need to remove the bezel--looks smaller than P-0 to me.

Thanks for your advice.

Bill

 

The Bezel should be held on by 4 plastic tabs - no screws. use a small flat screwdriver or similar to get one or two of the tabs unhooked, and the whole bezel should then pop out when you apply some pressure.

You do need to eject the tray first, before removing or installing the Bezel, so that means powering up the drive and hitting the eject button, if it is working, then removing the drive from the laptop.

The Drive itself is a standard 12.7mm slim DVD style, and either replacement drive should work just fine. I just went through this exact procedure to upgrade my DV5's DVD burner to a Blu-ray burner.

If someone wants my old optical drive (works fine, sans bezel, 8x DVD +/-R/RW w/ DL, HP model AD-7580S-H1 ver 1.1), I'll part with it rather cheaply ($10+shipping).